(Red Deer Vipers/Supplied)

By Ian Gustafson

First time since 2018

Red Deer Vipers advance to HJHL Finals

Mar 9, 2026 | 11:18 AM

The Red Deer Vipers are Heritage Junior B Hockey League (HJHL) North Division champions.

On Thursday, they knocked off the defending league champion Sylvan Lake Wranglers with a 4-2 victory in Game 4 of the best-of-five North Division final matchup.

Brodie Van Riper, Brady Leroux, and Evan Lemke (twice) all found the back of the net for the Vipers. Meanwhile, Liam Tennant and Avery Shadbolt scored for the Wranglers. Red Deer netminder Meyer Gaume stopped 32 or 34 shots faced, and Sylvan Lake’s Brock Lott made 26 saves on 29 shots.

With the series victory, they advance to the HJHL league finals, where they’ll face the Medicine Hat Cubs in a best-of-five series.

Game 1 is set for this Saturday, March 14, at Servus Arena at 8 p.m., followed by Game 2 in Medicine Hat on Sunday at 5 p.m.

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Game 3 will return to Red Deer on Saturday, March 21, at 8 p.m., and if needed, the Cubs will host Game 3 on Sunday, March 22, at 5:15 p.m., and Game 5 will be played in Red Deer on Saturday, March 28, at 8 p.m.

This marks the first time the Vipers have returned to the championship series since winning back-to-back titles in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.