The Comox Valley Glacier Kings have a tough task on hand as they will be travelling down south to Victoria for a game against the Cougars this evening. Victoria comes into the game on a 3-game winning streak including an 8-2 romp over the Oceanside Generals last Sunday. As impressive as that win is, it is even more impressive in their previous game where they handed Peninsula just their 4th regulation loss of the season with a 4-2 victory over the Panthers. Comox Valley has also been doing well lately going 6-1-2-0 in their last 9 games.

One player who will be key going down the stretch will be forward Easton Sangris. Easton is a 5′ 10″ 175lbs local kid who has come back to his hometown to play hockey. He has already looked good in his 4 games getting some key points. Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff talked about getting him on the roster, “He’s been a big pick up for us. He was a very good prep player out of Shawnigan last season. I knew the name, I had watched the player but I heard that he was just going to go to school, which does happen, especially for Shawnigan guys. But then I got a text from a little birdie in the sky who told me he was going to come home and that he really missed hockey. Him being a local Comox guy, it was really a no-brainer for us. He is a type of ‘hasn’t missed a beat’ guy. He’s already scored some goals and been a star. He’s practiced with Cowichan of the BCHL so he’s coming along nicely for a guy that has missed a chunk of the season here.” The 18 year old already has 3 goals and 2 assists in his 4 games with the junior club. Last season with his Shawnigan Lake U-18 Prep team he tallied 19G, 21A 40Pts in 36 games. He also added 2 G, 1A in 3 playoff contests. He isn’t listed in the line up for tonight however.

These next 4 games coming up for Comox is probably their toughest stretch that they will have this season. They play in Victoria (24-8-1) tonight, in Oceanside (25-11-1) Saturday, in Peninsula (30-4-1) next Friday, then are at home to the Cougars (who I already mentioned are 24-8-1) a week from Saturday. They are all the top teams in the VIJHL (along with Westshore). There is definitely no easy points in there. Toneff talked about this the string of games coming up and how to approach it, “I would say it’s our toughest stretch as far as our opponents. This league gets a lot better as time progresses. You see some of the names that teams are picking up so based on the timing of it all and where we are in the standings and where other teams are at, it is absolutely the toughest stretch. The easiest way to go about our business is to focus in on our next game. If we can get into the win column or at least into the point column in the game tonight, we can build on that and take that momentum into the next game. One of these teams that we’re playing in the next 2 weeks… you’ll have to go through one of them to win a championship so it’s a great test for us.” Combined, these clubs have a record of 79-23-3. There is not a lot of room for error coming up.

This is the second game of 4 in a row on the road for the Yeti. They have been decent away from the Sports Centre this season holding a 9-8-1 record. Some of the arenas down south are quite often empty so the electricity in the building is not that high but the top 3 teams in the South have very good home records. How much of an advantage is playing at home versus play on the road? Obviously the revenue is what the home side likes but what about on the ice? The coach says he doesn’t feel like home ice is that much of an advantage in this league, “Not really. To be honest I don’t think it makes a major difference. It can be a little bit more encouraging to get on the road with your 25 teammates, just being together. I think you can maybe focus a little bit more when you’re on the road. You have less distraction and more time to think about the game and be ready for when that puck drops. So we’re hoping that this will be a blessing in disguise going on the road. I know you were on Vancouver Island 6 or 8 weeks ago and the weather has been beautiful. It might be a little bit of a good thing to get some more Vitamin D on the bus (chuckles) but that’s how we’re going to approach it.” Victoria is 13-3-1 at the Archie Browning Arena this season.

There’s no question that Victoria is the real deal and will be a serious contender in the playoffs and will most likely play the Westshore Wolves in the post-season unless there is an unforeseen collapse by the Peninsula Panthers. The Cougars potent offence averages the second highest goals per game (4.86) and have 6 players averaging over a point per contest. They are led by the VIJHL’s leading scorer Joseph Melichar who has torn the league up with 33G, 38A, 71 Pts in just 33 games. To put the 2 offences in perspective, the leading scorer for Comox (Leon Mikhalchuk) would be tied for 5th in scoring if he he played for Victoria and if it weren’t for Ben Wetterberg only joining the Cougars in late October, Mikhalchuck would be tied for 6th on the roster. Wetterberg is 6th on the team in scoring but averages 1.55 points per game in his 20 matches he’s played in. An interesting note is that the Glacier Kings will be starting Lane Maarhuis in net for the first time since acquiring him from the Cougars a few days ago. He has an impressive 10-3 record with a 2.27 GAA and a .925 save percentage. Victoria still has Jesse Pye as a terrific starter. Coach Curtis talked about what a well-rounded group his squad is facing tonight. “It’s a team with a potent top 9, great goaltending and some very good defencemen. A lot of teams will have 6 good forwards, the Cougars have 12 so we have to focus on our game. Not give them too much off the rush and make them earn any type of opportunity they get. We are playing solid ‘team first defence’, that’s when we are at our best anyways. We have to limit high-danger chances and execute when it’s time perhaps for us to get a look.” Another former Cougar player that was just acquired and playing in his first game tonight for Comox is Tee Hagel. He is a 5’11” forward who tallied 4 assists for Victoria this season. We may also see defenceman Gavin Mowat see his first action this campaign. He played in 45 games last year between Comox Valley and Campbell River.

The GKings come into the game in 3rd place in the North Division with an 18-14-4-1 after their 4-3 victory over Kerry Park on January 10th. Victoria has been impressive all season long but sit in just 3rd place in the very tough South Division, 3 points behind Westshore and have a game in hand on the Wolves. Game time is 7:00PM. I have Comox Valley’s line up posted on the Gameday Lineups page of this blog.

Darryl Skender