Career
He played defence and shot left-handed. After playing with the Hamilton Steelhawks in the OHL for 3 years, Vial was drafted by the New York Rangers in the 6th round, 110th overall in the 1988 National Hockey League Entry Draft. That year he went back to the OHL and played with the Niagara Falls Thunder, followed by a year with the Flint Spirits in the IHL for the 1989–1990 season, scoring 35 points in 79 games and registering 351 penalty minutes.
Throughout this time Vial established himself as a hard hitting enforcer and defenceman and got the call up midway through the 1990–1991 season to join the Rangers.
He played in 21 games before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings that same season, appearing in another 9 games. Vial then split the next two seasons between the Red Wings and the Adirondack Red Wings of the AHL. Prior to the 1993–1994 season Vial was traded from the Red Wings to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
He was left unprotected in the 1993 National Hockey League Expansion Draft and was picked up by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim a few weeks later. Finally, in Phase II of the Expansion draft Vial was picked up by the Ottawa Senators, with whom he made his greatest National Hockey League impact.
With a Senators" lineup scarce in talent, Vial was able to make the team and play full-time, and in 1993-1994 he was given the team"s Frank Finnigan Award as its most improved player.
He led the Senators in penalty minutes, major penalties, and fighting majors. Unfortunately, Vial"s aggressive and all-out playing style resulted in many injuries throughout his career and he played in at least half of the games in a season only twice. His last season in the National Hockey League was the 1997–1998 season.
Foreign the next 7 seasons Vial played with a number of minor league teams including two years in England in the BISL. He retired following the 2004–2005 season where he played in the UHL with the Missouri River Otters and Richmond Riverdogs.
Vial remained the Ottawa Senators" all-time penalty minutes leader until being surpassed by Chris Neil. Vial was suspended for six games and fined £750 ($1,675 Cdn) for numerous offences, including instigating the brawl by cross-checking Nottingham"s Greg Hadden, and squirting water at fans in the stands.
Britain"s Press Association described the event, which escalated into a 36 man bench clearing brawl, as "one of the worst scenes of violence ever seen at a British ice hockey rink."
Vial currently resides just outside Halifax, Nova Scotia.
