There will be an extra Wray of light at the Vernon Vipers’ 2023-24 B.C. Hockey League home opener.
The team will hold a tribute night to honour former team owner, the late Duncan Wray, on Saturday, Sept. 23, as the Vipers host the Cranbrook Bucks. The game will start at 6 p.m. at Kal Tire Place.
The special evening will kick off with a Vipers’ alumni barbecue at 4 p.m., followed by an outside ceremony at 4:30, where the access lane in front of Kal Tire Place will be named after Wray.
Another ceremony will take place before puck drop inside Kal Tire Place.
The team is also planning to give away a limited number of commemorative posters honouring Wray, plus there will be a number of special promotions and contests.
Tickets for the home opener go on sale on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
Wray owned the Vipers (Vernon Lakers) from 1992 until his passing in 2018. His teams won six Fred Page Cup B.C. Hockey League crowns, 12 Interior Conference championships and four Royal Bank Cup (now Centennial Cup) national Junior A titles.
The Vipers hosted the Canadian championship tournament in 2014, but lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion Yorkton (Sask.) Terriers.
He was inducted into the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011 and his 1999 RBC-winning Vipers team joined the same shrine in 2017.
Wray, a retired oral surgeon, was a key member of the BCHL board of governors.
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roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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