The Comox Valley Glacier Kings first game of the season is in the books and head coach & GM Curtis Toneff wasn’t overjoyed with his team’s performance. They dropped a 4-2 decision to the Nanaimo Buccaneers on Saturday. To be fair, the Glacier Kings had a ton of people out of the line up and had to put some players in unfamiliar territory. Toneff wasn’t using that as an excuse however. He said, “I didn’t think we were very good, maybe the bright spot was we woke up in the 3rd period. Not sure why we refused to shoot the puck in certain spots. It seemed like we were still stuck in summer hockey mode. With 5 exhibition games you would think that some of these habits would be buffed out. We have a lot of work ahead of us.” Help is in on the way as at least 4 players are coming back to help shore up some of the weak spots and make the roster a little more full in all positions. We’ll get more into the additions to the roster tomorrow.
The club is getting set for their practice this morning at 11:30. I asked Curtis what he has his team working on, ” Honestly, a lot of puck touches, a lot of puck movement, looking for sticks and entries. Maybe in past years, I’d really be focused on systems, systems, systems but I really think you need to have the skill to execute these systems. So now we focus on the game as a whole more. Now that we have our roster pretty much filled out as of last night… today, tomorrow and next week we can get into more of the technical work, but right now just a lot of puck touches. A couple practices we were short-manned. It’s been tough to run a proper practice with injuries etc. and being low on bodies.” It will definitely be interesting to see what the future holds with the line up getting stronger.
The GKings next game is Friday in Saanich who have started the season 1-1. As I mentioned earlier, I will get into the specifics of all the bodies that have been brought in on tomorrow’s post. From what I see on paper, it should definitely be an upgrade. Until then, have yourself a great day!
Darryl Skender
