Who are the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Vipers?

The Vipers are a limited travel youth hockey team under the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Hockey Organization. The organization is in its first year which consists of a Bantam level with hopes of adding – Squirts – PeeWee and Midgets 18u & 16u. The Vipers are a limited travel hockey team. “Limited” travel in reference to the amount of games that the Vipers play. Our teams will play approximately 15 games a season, plus 2 or 3 tournaments (TBA).

Our Vipers travel team will play teams from – Binghamton, Sunbury, Reading, and a few locations near Philadelphia and possibly New Jersey. Our tournaments would consist of one home tournament, 1 TBA and possibly 1 CanAm tournament – either Montreal or Lake Placid providing we can get in. This past February our Bantam team finished fourth in Montreal and won the fair play award!

Practices will be held once a week both on ice and off ice. Each practice will consist of teaching each player the fundamentals of stick handling and skating and to play as a team. To max the ice time to keep everyone busy and minimize standing around, and to challenge each child no matter what his/her ability or skill level.

As a team we put together fundraisers of different types to help get the community involved. The cost will be approximately $950.00 a year plus fundraisers to offset some cost and to help with organization expenses. The price includes weekly practices, approximately 15 games, plus 2 tournaments fees. The CanAm tournament would be an extra fee, plus the cost of jerseys and socks.

Our organization is staffed with USA Hockey certified coaches. As an organization, our primary goal is to have each child learn and play a sport that they love, to have fun and to learn sportsmanship!

Our Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide children with a noncompetitive environment in which they can focus on having fun, meeting new friends, learning sportsmanship and leadership. While doing such, they will also learn the mastery of the game and the skills of hockey without all the pressure to win all the time. Most importantly they will be playing a sport they love, be treated equally, play fairly, and most of all, having FUN!

Goals of our Organization

Our goal is to develop a player that has the following characteristics:

• Practices Hard
• Shows dedication
• Understands winning is a consideration
• Knows the rules and plays by them
• Shows desire to learn and improve
• Understands the game of hockey
• Respects others around him
• Understands teamwork