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January 19, 2010
By Mike Scandura
Special to USAHockey.com
Any resemblance between this season’s North Shore Vipers and the organization’s initial team in 1994 is pure coincidence.
When Larry Minehan founded the Massachusetts-based girls’ program, he had only one Midget team, which consisted of nine girls and was a division of Peabody Youth Hockey.
In the 2009-10 season, the Vipers consist of seven teams from at least 22 different towns and involve 117 players along with 21 coaches.
In 1997, the program moved out of Peabody Youth Hockey and developed into the Peabody Women’s North Shore Vipers.
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The North Shore Vipers team photos are getting crowded as the organization continues to grow.
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Then, in 2004, Minehan merged the North Shore Vipers with the Masco Girls’ program. At that time, Ray Hendrickson became the president. In 2009, Breakaway Ice Center in Tewksbury, Mass., purchased the Viper Program, which resulted in the organization that exists today.
Leigh Keefe was hired by the Breakaway Ice Center (Tewksbury, Mass.) in the fall of 2008 and was named the Vipers’ acting director. She eventually was promoted to the organization’s director when she succeeded Ray Hendrickson.
“Right from the beginning, the Vipers have had an emphasis on skill development,” Keefe said. “We felt other programs were lacking the skills portion. Larry and Ray did a great job in the Super Skills rink and, now, Mario Martiniello is in his sixth season with Super Skills and is continuing with a strong emphasis on developing skills.”
How successful have the Vipers been in “developing skills?”
Since 2005, Viper teams have finished first, second or third in at least 15 leagues or tournaments.
Last season, for example, the 14-U major team won the Bay State Girls’ Hockey League championship while the 12-U major team captured the 2008 BSGHL tournament.
In addition, Viper alumni have played — or are playing — at colleges like Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, Northeastern, Providence College, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Yale.
Since Viper alumni have been admitted to Ivy League schools like Harvard and Yale, it attests to their success in the classroom.
“We feel that well-rounded girls also do well in the classroom,” Keefe said.
And since Viper alumni have played at traditional women’s college powers like New Hampshire and Providence, it attests to their prowess on the ice.
“Our overall philosophy is we’re committed to high-level competition,” Keefe said. “We want to keep the game fun and remember it can teach us a lot about life.
“We’ve always had a strong emphasis on skills. But, recently, with Breakaway coming in, we took a step back and made major changes in our practice-to-game ratio. We’ve added on-ice practices. All teams receive three on-ice practices a week.
“Now, we’ve added dryland training where we focus on the four physical components needed to become a well-rounded athlete — strength, speed, flexibility and endurance. We’re trying to hit on all aspects — technical, tactical, psychological and physical. We want to offer a full-service program to all of our girls.”
The Vipers’ program is aided immensely by the facilities available at the Breakaway Ice Center.
The center recently added a second sheet ice, which means it now has two NHL-sized rinks under one roof.
It also contains a new, state-of-the-art, dryland training center that has a 30-by-30 synthetic ice station that’s geared toward developing well-rounded players.
“We also have Russian boxes [which increase leg power and agility], plyometric tools [which utilize explosive moments to develop muscle power], a sprinting track, a weight training area and a dedicated area for dryland games and quickness training,” Keefe said. “We have on-sight, college-level strength and conditioning coaches. That staff is provided by Xcelerated Performance and is run by Patrick Gigante, who’s a former goalie who played junior hockey and has trained hockey players at all levels.
“We also have the Ed Walsh Goalie School. He’s been coaching goalies for over 20 years and is an assistant coach at UMass-Lowell. He goes on the synthetic ice and coaches small groups for the Viper goalies who work with him weekly. Ed works with a three-to-one ratio.”
The Vipers this season field the following teams: 10-U major; 12-U major; 12-U minor; 14-U major; 14-U minor; 14-U half (a half-season team for prep school players in the eighth and ninth grades who are trying out for their school team); and 16/19-U (a half-season team).
The 10-U team was added this season and is coached by Brittany Forgues, who played for four years at Cornell (Class of 2008).
“We’re proud to have her on the Viper coaching staff,” Keefe said. “We also have dads coaching who played in Europe and dads who played semi-pro and Division I hockey.
“We feel we have a high-quality staff which enables us to build the players’ confidence and self-esteem and create well-rounded hockey players.”
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