By John Humphrey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeshore News Reporter
A veteran-laden LaSalle Vipers have opened their 2024-2025 Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) season under the guidance of a new but championship- pedigree head coach.
Anthony Iaquinta, who guided the Lakeshore Canadiens of the Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) for the last six seasons and won two Schmalz Cup titles in the last three seasons, has taken over as the bench boss of the Vipers. He replaced Chad Shepley, who resigned after his first season as head coach in LaSalle due to personal reasons.
Milan Dobrich and Jack Bowler, who served as assistant coaches under Iaquinta with the Canadiens, have both also joined the Vipers in that same capacity.
Fourteen players have returned to the Vipers this season and having a large number of veterans has been a perpetual game plan for team general manager John Nelson.
“It is always a goal for us to have a solid core of returning veterans every season,” he claimed. “Not only do they take on bigger roles both on and off the ice for us, but these players play a large part in helping bring along our new and younger players every season.”
Among the Vipers’ returning forwards are Adriano Tonin, Connor Chartrand, Brendan Gouin, Jaksen Ward, Stefan Djordjevic and Jak Thiessen while fourth year veteran Owen Findlay leads a talented but young group of rookie rearguards that includes up to four first-year players.
Dante Bertolin, who served as the Vipers’ backup goaltender last season, has returned and will be asked to carry a larger workload in 2024-25.
But the Vipers’ roster of 20 players who opened the regular season with a 3-2 overtime win over the London Nationals at home on September 11 isn’t necessarily the same one that will be iced in a few weeks or by the time the holiday break rolls around.
“I always tell people that it is my job to put the best product as possible on the ice,” Nelson offered. “We’ve committed to the players who started the season with us and it is up to them to stay in the lineup every night and on our roster.
“My job is to always try and improve the team,” he continued. “So, it is a two-way street for everyone.”
One objective that Nelson accomplished when it came to recruiting players for this season was to add a few more physically-imposing players.
“It was our goal to bring in some bigger players as it seemed the past couple of seasons that we were getting physically worn down by the time we got to the second round of the play-offs,” he pointed out. “We have not only maintained and improved our overall skill level, but we’ve added some size throughout our roster.”
The Vipers opened the 2024-2025 GOJHL regular season with several of their players from last seasons team still in training camp with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.
The Spitfires, who have the Vipers as their top affiliate team, still had defencemen Michael Lavigne and Adrian Manzo and forward Alec Stewart on the roster as of mid-September. And another 2023-2024 Vipers’ player, forward Nathan Gaymes, signed with the Spitfires in September too and is unlikely to return to LaSalle for any lengthy period this season.
“There’s no set number of roster spots that we have to keep open for the Spitfires and there’s no set number of players that the Spitfires have to send us every season,” pointed out Nelson. “We are here for player development and if a player’s development is better-served by receiving more ice-time and rebuilding their confidence with us than by seeing limited ice-time with the Spitfires, we will have that player sent to us.
“And if a player’s development and performance with us warrants that they move up to the Spitfires, that will also happen,” he continued. “It is a win-win situation for everyone involved.”
The Vipers followed up their season-opening victory at home over the Nationals with a 5-2 win on the road over the Elmira Sugar Kings on September 15.
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