The Comox Valley Glacier Kings have 1 point in their first 3 games to start the season so there is obviously a lot of work ahead to right the ship. It does seem like the Glacier Kings are getting closer every game but it hasn’t converted into wins yet. Therefore, head coach & GM Curtis Toneff has the boys focusing on different aspects every practice to try and fine tune a lot of the details. Yesterday, Toneff talked about what they have been working on, “We’ve hammered away everyday over the past week and a half, we’ve picked one thing and have tried to hammer away at it. For instance, yesterday was ‘tracking’. Today was D-Zone, tomorrow will be exits, Thursday will be a variety of things with an emphasis on special teams. We do have a game skate now which will help with our touches and keeping the flow going for the guys confidence. I like our day to days right now. I think we’re getting better and getting in better shape. It’s easy to do that in September, it’s nice out, everyone’s playing right now but we’ll see the true character come through in about a month, or after that 3 in 3 at the end of next weekend when things aren’t going as much as some guys would like. The 3 games in 3 days he’s taking about is September 26-28 when Comox travels to Campbell River on the Friday, are at home to Nanaimo on the Saturday and then have a late afternoon match up in Peninsula on Sunday. That will certainly be a test considering Nanaimo and Peninsula are the top teams in their respective divisions and the Storm are above .500.

It’s not just games where players need to try and step up and be noticed. They have to put the work in at practices. It’s still early so the coach hasn’t named a captain or assistant yet. The only player with a letter on his jersey right now is Haden Parker as he wore the ‘A’ on his jersey last year. Curtis said that has seen some players rising to the top as leaders, “I think Zaya Morro has been pretty darn good in that aspect, Kyle Mayenburg has a great presence to him and has a good hard hat, work boots type mentality. I think Cohen Kallin has stepped up, he’s kind of a glue-guy in the dressing room. There’s a lot of different faces from different places. There have been some hiccups but it’s good to have the hiccups early and then you can gel and emerge forward in a positive way as a team.” The bench boss did also say he will probably attach some letters to players fairly shortly. He has admitted he is practicing ‘patience’ in evaluating more than in any other year that he has coached and acknowledged that you get excited in the summer but it really needs to be a careful decision even if it takes 5 or 6 games.

I’ll get more into the goalie situation on tomorrow’s post. It seems they have a couple good ones with possibly another one returning. Have yourself a great Wednesday!

Darryl Skender