Glacier Kings Add 5 Players

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings have bolstered their roster by adding key players in key positions. In Game 1 in Nanaimo, the team was short-handed dressing 5 true-defencemen and having players fulfilling in unfamiliar positions. The club looks more rounded after moves Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff made this week. Here are the additions:

 

Kyle Mayenburg – Defenceman (6’1″ 175lbs)

Kyle played 10 games with the Powell River Kings of the BCHL last season but didn’t get into any playoff action as the team failed to qualify for post-season action.  In his 10 games with Powell River, the rearguard went pointless and was on a tryout this season. He played in 1 exhibition game on September 6th wearing jersey #3. He did not play in their second exhibition game and was released back to the Glacier Kings. The Powell River native had 2 goals and 9 assists in 33 games with Comox Valley last season. Mayenburg previously comes from the Delta Hockey Academy U17 Prep and did play 1 game for the Campbell River Storm on December 22, 2023.

 

Thomas Scobie-Gyug – Defenceman (5’7″ 157 lbs)

Tommy has spent the past 3 years in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) with the North Shore Warriors.  In the 2022/23 season, he advanced from the U16 to the U 18 team.  The Drumheller-born blue liner has 1 career goal and 12 assists in 74 games for the Warriors. He also netted a goal and an assist in 3 games at the 2024 U18 Prep Western Championships.

 

Geon Park – Forward (5’9″ 174 lbs)

Geon spent last season playing in the the CSSHL for the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy U18 Prep where where he tallied 10 goals and 12 assists in 33 games. That included a 2-goal performance against RHAK (Kelowna). At the 2025 U18 Prep Division II Western Championships, the South Korea native had 5 points in 4 games including 2 goals. Park finished 4th in scoring for the Wild and most likely would have finished 2nd if he hadn’t missed games. In total in U18 AAA, he amassed 15 goals and 34 points in 51 games which was also 4th on the team. The high scoring winger was one of only 3 South Koreans to play CSSHL U18 hockey last season.

 

Leon Mikhalchuk – Forward (6’3″ 181 lbs)

Leon committed to the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL back in July and had a tryout with them. He played in both pre-season games going scoreless and 2 PIM’s. Mikhalchuk played in Belarus last year for the Yunost Minsk U17 team where he scored 25 goals and 42 points in just 39 games. He then got bumped up to the Yunost Minsk U18 team in the Belarus U18 league where he gathered an assist in 2 games. Prince George General Manager Mike Hawes said, “Leon is a young player with great size and tremendous skill who has a huge upside and loads of potential.” He is still young being a 2008 and will most likely be back in the BCHL next season after getting more experience in the Canadian game.

 

Anthony Ganoung – Goaltender (5′ 10″)

Anthony played for the Wenatchee Wild last season along with Geon Park. Ganoung played well despite the team not not faring so well. The Vancouver, WA native ended the year with a 10-15 record and a 4. 20 GAA with a .887 save percentage. In his previous season with the U16 squad, he was very impressive. Despite only having a 4-12 record, the backstop collected an impressive .898 save percentage and a .927 in the playoffs.

Needless to say, Curtis Toneff is excited about this past week’s additions. He said, “For now, adding those 5 guys and when Cameron Collins gets healthy, we’ll be looking at getting guys into their proper spots starting this weekend.” In case you were wondering, Collins is a Comox native who played for the Pacific Coast Academy U18 Prep team in the CSSHL last season but has yet to an exhibition or regular season game with the Glacier Kings.

Have a good Thursday. On tomorrow’s post, I’ll preview the Glacier Kings game tomorrow night in Saanich. 

Darryl Skender

Coach Not Satisfied With Season Opener

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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

Glacier Kings Drop Opener

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The Nanaimo Buccaneers got their 2025/26 season off to a good start as they downed the Comox Valley Glacier Kings 4-2 on Saturday. The game was scoreless over halfway through the second period when Madden Cruickshank opened the the scoring for Nanaimo on the power play. It started with Jack Barrett feeding Ethan Nordli on a cross-ice pass at the blue line. Nordli quickly gave it to Cruickshank at the face dot who ripped a wrist shot up high, short side to make it 1-0. The Glacier Kings would counter just 2:48 later when Joel Schmidt sent a rink wide pass through the neutral zone to Cohen Kallin who carried the puck over the blue line and took a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. Goaltender Aaron Pichette made a stick save but the puck would ricochet up in the air and Maxim Lefebvre knocked it out of the air and into the net. The goal was credited to Kallin unassisted but it was Lefebvre at the right side of the net who scored. The Bucs would then score 3 consecutive times, two late in the second and again in the third before Comox would answer. Nanaimo dominated a lot of the second period outshooting the Glacier Kings 16-6. With the score 4-1 midway through the third period, and the Glacier Kings on a power play, Lucas Dionne checked Kingston Gowans up high and took a roughing penalty to give the Yeti a 5 on 3 for 1:10. Head coach Curtis Toneff took the opportunity to take a timeout and it paid off.  A beautiful Tic-Tac-Toe play would pull the GKings within 2. From the right hash, Westin Churchill passed the puck back to the point to Evan Marko who quickly got it to the side of the net to Isaac Dunsire. The Courtenay native would one-time a cross-crease pass to Zaya Moro who buried it into the open net. Marko should have been credited with a second assist but wasn’t on the official game sheet. Comox Valley would have more chances, including a couple more power play opportunities but Pichette closed the door. All in all, it was a good third frame for the Glacier Kings but they fell short.

The game was physical at times, some clean, some not so clean. Comox was 1 for 7 on the PP while Nanaimo went 2 for 4. Timothee Fengos stopped stopped 30 of pucks sent his way while Aaron Pichette blocked 21 of 23.

The Glacier Kings next action is Friday in Saanich. The Predators are coming off a 7-3 victory over the Kerry Park Islanders on Friday. Travis Swanson had a hat trick in that one. He also potted a couple of goals in pre-season. As for the Bucs, they travel to Westshore on Wednesday. The Wolves lost 7-2 to Peninsula on Friday.

Other Observations

  • This is the 3rd year in a row that the Glacier Kings have lost their season opener. Last time they won their first game was 2022-23 when they beat the Westshore Wolves 5-2 at the Q Centre.
  • The first period of last night’s game wasn’t shown on FloHockey due to technical problems.
  • Going back to pre-season action, Zaya Morro has scored in 3 straight games.
  • It was nice to see Larenzo Jensen back behind the microphone. Larenzo has also helped out with a lot of Nanaimo Clippers broadcasts in the past as well.
  • It only took the Glacier Kings 17 seconds to score on their 5 on 3.
  • The announced crowd at the NIC on Saturday was 355. That was their biggest crowd since September 6th, 2018. That was also their season opener when they beat Campbell River 3-1. The announced crowd that night was 370.
  • During the game, I was texting with Comox Valley owner Marsha Webb and former Campbell River Storm play by play broadcaster Mark Berry. One of the reasons I started a blog again was because I was missing the hockey community.
  • This was the first time since 2015 that the Glacier Kings opened their season against Nanaimo. They have started against Campbell River the majority of the times before this. In case you’re wondering, the Buccaneers won that game 4-3 in OT.

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