Coach Working On All Aspects During Practices

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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

Optimism On The Horizon

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Despite going 0-1-1 over the weekend, the Comox Valley Glacier Kings probably deserved a better fate.  The 3-0 loss in Saanich on Friday (including an empty net goal) certainly could have gone either way and the 3-2 OT loss Saturday to the Campbell River Storm definitely could have been 2 points for the home team. The Glacier Kings didn’t start out well in either game. Early penalties and giveaways in their own end was the downfall as they seem to really play much better as the game goes on. In Saanich, the Predators scored an early power play goal and at home, the Storm scored 2 early goals on defensive zone giveaways. As both games continued, Comox would start turning up their play and be the better team in the last 30 minutes. Head coach & GM Curtis Toneff talked about the games on the weekend, “In Saanich, I thought we deserved a better fate. We had miscues on our PK that coast us a big goal. We also didn’t have enough net presence which in turn made their goalie look really good. On Saturday I thought we had that classic ‘nervous home opener’. In the first period, we made mistakes that we didn’t even make in exhibition. I thought we turned it around. I thought we took over the game in the second half, at least parts of the second and third. They definitely had their looks. I thought that Fengos made big saves. Overtime I thought we just tried to push it a little bit too much, gave up possession and watched them play with the puck for a minute and a half. They found a sneaky little goal. All in all, I think it’s trending in the right direction.” Obviously the key for Comox Valley is to be ready from the opening faceoff, instead of waiting until they’re down a goal or two early.

I did like the goaltending on the weekend. Anthony Ganoung was very good in Saanich and Timothee Fengos was outstanding on Saturday. This may end up being a position where the Glacier Kings have depth. Toneff talked about that, “I don’t think its (goaltending) cost us anything. We need to do a better job offensively, getting to the net. I think we’ve given up 10 goals in 3 games, I think 1 empty netter so we’ll say 9 goals in 3 games. That okay for this time of year. You can live with that. But the flip side, we’ve only scored 4 goals. I’m pretty sure that we have guys that can score. It’s time to start executing when it’s time to shoot the puck or clean up a rebound. Just gotta be a little more proactive and have more killer instinct around the net. You gotta want to score, have the will to take a cross check or whatever it may be to get that chance.”

Getting back to Comox Valley’s underwhelming starts that they’ve had in the first 3 games, it is being addressed. The opposition has scored first in all 3 games so far this season. This team is probably better built more for defending leads than coming from behind. They need to be ready at the opening puck drop. Nobody knows better than the coach that this issue needs to change, “We need better starts, simpler starts. Games are won and lost in the grey areas which in my opinion are the 10 feet inside and outside the blue lines and perhaps even the red line at times.” The problem is that the next team they play is the Oceanside Generals who have gotten off to great starts. They scored the first goal of the game in their first 3 games before allowing Victoria the first goal. But even in that game, the Generals replied right away and had the game tied just 2:33 into the contest.

Before I go, I would like to mention an earlier post that I ranted about the 3 Star Selections every game. They are picked by the someone on the home side. It may be the play by play guy, the score keeper, the online scorer, the public address announcer etc. It is very bias so I suggested that the league needs to go back to a Star of the Game for both sides. I still believe that. My rant was after the Saanich Predators game. However, the third star of the game has now been changed to Anthony Ganoung. That was the decision of Clay Cochrane (the Preds play play guy) on his post game show on Friday night. Somehow from that it got recorded as another Saanich player and put into the online scoring which made it official. A few days ago, Clay told me he was trying to get that corrected and I also spoke with someone from the Glacier Kings organization also trying to get it changed. It took a few days but I see it has now been rectified. If you’re wondering what the big deal is, please remember, these players are not being paid, they have to pay to be on these teams. If they have been named a star in the game, they deserve recognition. Also it looks good on their resume when trying to get a tryout with another organization or a scholarship. And I am certainly not hating on the Predators. EVERY home team does it. In this case, Clay explained to me that it ended up being an administrative error due to a miscommunication but did get rectified. So kudos to him as he does respect the selections as much as I do.

Comox will try again for their first “W” of the season this weekend when they play a rare Friday night home game against Oceanside. Puck drop will be 6:30. Have a great night.

Darryl Skender

Glacier Kings Earn First Point

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It was another shaky beginning for the Comox Valley Glacier Kings but they battled back and earned a point in their 3-2 OT loss to the Campbell River Storm on Saturday. It was giveaways that killed Comox Valley in the opening frame. It started when Storm forward Armaan Punn stole the puck from Haden Parker and backhanded the puck in front of the net. The puck would glance off Kingston Gowans’ skate and into his own net just 3:12 into the home opener.

Just 1:07 later, another defensive zone turnover would prove costly. Glacier Kings defenceman Maxim Lefebvre got the puck stuck in between his skates in his own slot and Campbell River’s Dylan Toth dug it out and fired it past Timothee Fengos and it was quickly 2-0 just 4:19 into the first period.

Comox wasn’t about to fold the tent however. Westin Churchill would win an offensive zone draw. Joel Schmidt won the puck battle at the side boards and got it back to Thomas Scobie-Gyug who walked into the faceoff dot and beat goaltender Luc Gravel to the far side with a wrist shot. That made it 2-1.

The Storm had a terrific chance to go back up by 2 goals when Elliott Turgeon was sent in on a breakaway but was stoned by Fengos who squeezed his pads just in time.

The second period may not have had any scoring but it was exciting from a fan’s perspective. Both teams had scoring opportunities but Campbell River had more of the Grade ‘A’ chances but Fengos stood tall stopping everything that came his way in that middle stanza.

That set up an exciting 3rd period. The Yeti would tie the game when Westin Churchill received a pass from Landen May at centre ice and raced down the right side, took the defenceman with him and backhanded the puck in front of the net to Zaya Morro. He was slashed by Emmanuel Grenier to cause a delayed penalty. However, the loose puck slid to the side of the net and Churchill poked it home to make it 2-2.

There were so many chances in the 3rd period with Comox getting the better of the opportunities but both goalies were fantastic. And yes, it was fitting that the contest would go to OT. The Storm owned the puck for most of the extra period and won the game when Thomas Curri circled at his own blue line skated all the way down the left wing and beat Fengos from a bad angle.

On the bright side, Comox Valley picked up their first point of the season. They showed a lot of heart after being down early once again. This is the kind of effort that could turn things around. They have shown to be a good 3rd period team, now they need to learn how to get off to a better start. We’ll see if they can come out of the dressing room stronger on Friday for a home date against the Oceanside Generals. Have a great day everyone.

Other Observations

  • Unfortunately the audio didn’t work on FloHockey so I had to do play by play in my head.
  • This is the GKings 3rd straight home opener against Campbell River. The Storm are now 3-0.
  • I really believe Campbell River won 80% of the faceoffs. It was mind-numbing.
  • With just under 6 minutes left in the 3rd period, Holden Smith tripped Maxim Lefebvre as he took a pass and was behind the defenceman in front of the net. The referees got together to discuss if it was a tripping penalty or a penalty shot.  Unfortunately they chose to go with a 2 minute minor.
  • Comox forward Leon Mikhalchuk had an unreal dangle around a defenceman and then the goalie only to backhand it wide.
  • The Glacier Kings played without a captain again. It is unknown when Curtis Toneff will be naming one.
  • The 3rd period Saturday was the first time Comox has outscored an opponent in any period this season.
  • Next Friday’s home game will be the first of only 4 home games the Glacier Kings will play on a Friday this season.
  • It is nice to see Dave Dueck back for another season as the public address announcer. Not only is he great on the P.A., he is even a better person.

That’s it for today. Have a great rest of your weekend!

Darryl Skender

Darryl Skender – Former Play by Play Broadcaster of the Comox Valley Glacier Kings