The Comox Valley Glacier Kings have definitely had their ups and downs this season but have seemed to have made adjustments and are playing much better in the past few weeks. They have had two 4-game losing streaks so far but right now are winners of 3 in their last 4 for a second time and have points in 4 of their last 5. Even though it seemed like a disastrous start by losing their first 4 games of the season, the head coach made sure his team didn’t panic. They dug themselves a hole early but have been slowly getting themselves out of it and are now back to a much more respectable 6-7-2-1 record. In fact, the club is only 3 points out of first place. The Glacier Kings have found their identity and that’s important. If a team doesn’t understand who they are, they can get lost. They know they won’t score 6 goals every game this year so they know that they need to be strong on their defensive assignments. With that being said, they have been getting a lot of shots and opportunities lately.

Comox Valley played a pretty strong game last Saturday against a Predators team who are better than their record shows. It was an important game for the Yeti after the disappointing loss to Westshore after holding a 2-goal lead in the second period. Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff talked about Saturday’s game against the Predators, “I thought we did a good job to bounce back from an early goal against. We were just discussing the importance of a good start and scoring that first goal and then they score a couple minutes in. Maybe that’s my fault for talking about it too much. It was good to see us get a quick one in response on the power play. And finally towards the end of the second period we got some puck luck that we were missing at home in I don’t know how many weeks, it seems like a few anyways. It was nice to go in the the third period and find a way to get 2 points at home for the first time in awhile.” The early goal against that he was referring to was when Josh Yolkowski scored just 1:23 into the first period to give Saanich the early lead. The coach knows what he’s talking about when saying they need to get off to a good start. His team is 5-0-0-0 when leading after the first period.

So it’s back to practice for the club. It is great to see the coach back on the ice again after struggling with an illness for a bit. Despite the squad playing better lately, there’s still a lot of work and improvement that needs to happen. Toneff talked about practice, “A little bit of battle, just getting back to that classic junior hockey work week. We had a battle day yesterday, a little bit more flow and skills today, we’re touching on our system play Wednesday and special teams Wednesday and Thursday. I was under the weather last week and Brad (Smith) had the reigns for the most part. It’s always good to have another voice. It was maybe a good natural break for the players from me because I can get on them a little bit. It’s been a really good two weeks we hope as we move into this next phase here.” The GKings have been practicing more this year than they did last season.

I’m looking forward to Friday’s game against Lake Cowichan as it is a chance to the Glacier Kings to distance themselves from the Kraken. And if Port Alberni beats Nanaimo on Thursday, it will be their chance to be tied for 3rd place in the North Division. Who would have thought that after the first 4 games this season?

Later this week I’ll have posts on topics like Ethan Gobel’s importance to the team, a couple of unsung heroes, if the faceoff situation is getting better, where the club needs more depth, the goalie situation (again) and a preview of Friday’s game. That’s it for now, Go Blue Jays (and Glacier Kings of course)!

Darryl Skender