Vernon Vipers top BCHL in attendance
Published 10:34 am Friday, February 27, 2026
Despite having the third fewest wins in the league, the Vernon Vipers lead the BCHL in attendance.
The website hockeydb.com has compiled a graph that shows Vernon atop the 20-team loop in attendance, averaging 2,140 fans per game. The Vipers are the only team above the 2,000 mark.
“Attendance is based on numbers from a team or league, either released as an official yearly per-game average figure, or compiled into an average from individual boxscore attendance,” says the website. “In some cases when boxscore attendance is unavailable for a small number of games, the attendance is computed omitting the missing games and annotated as approximate.”
The Chilliwack Chiefs – who are leaving the BCHL after this season to join the Western Hockey League – sit second averaging 1,925 fans.
The Trail Smoke Eaters (1,590 avg) and the Cranbrook Bucks (1,538 avg) from the Interior West sit third and fourth, respectively, while the team leading the league in overall points, the Cowichan Valley Capitals, round out the top-five at 1,342 fans per game.
The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (1,284) and the West Kelowna Warriors (964) from the Interior West are ninth and 14th, respectively.
The Powell River Kings are 20th, averaging just 550 fans per game.
• The Vipers, with their 11 total wins, will look to be the top cheese in their pair of weekend games.
The Snakes visit the Interior West Division-leading Warriors Friday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. at Royal LePage Place.
Less than 24 hours later, Vernon will entertain the Silverbacks at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at Kal Tire Place. That night, Vernon will salute residents to the north on what is officially Armstrong Night.
The team’s social media department had some fun putting together a promo for the event:
Armstrong residents can get discounted tickets online by putting in code Armstrong2026.
The Vipers enter the weekend in fifth place in the Interior West, seven points behind Cranbrook for the fourth and final playoff spot, but also five behind in the Wins column, which is the first tiebreaker should the teams be tied at the end of the season.
Vernon has three games in hand on Cranbrook, with the game against the Warriors being one of them. Cranbrook hosts Trail Saturday, then entertain the Vipers in a weekend doubleheader March 6 and 7 in the East Kootenays.
The Snakes have 11 games left in the season, the Bucks have eight.
The hometown Warriors have won five of the six meetings with Vernon this season, including the last four in a row. Salmon Arm has taken three of four with the Vipers, including the last three meetings.
• Vipers recruiting for 2026-27 continues.
Vernon has landed recruit Jason Piccirillo, an 18-year-old defenceman from Yorktown Heights, NY.
He stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 160 pounds.
Piccirillo developed with the Bishop Kearney Selects 18U AAA program in Irondequoit, NY.
