Tag Archives: Aaron Pichette

GKings Comeback Falls Short

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The Nanaimo Buccaneers scored three goals in the second period and held on for a 4-3 win over the Comox Valley Glacier Kings. The loss is the Glacier Kings second in a row and 3rd in their last 4 games while the Buccaneers won their 3rd straight and are now victorious in 5 of their last 6 contests.

It was a very even opening period which saw Nanaimo having a nice power play and with the Glacier Kings had big chances by Ethan Gobel and Westin Churchill. However it took almost 17 minutes before the first goal. Brandon Taylor took a shot from the point. It appeared that Westin Churchill may have got a stick on it to deflect it high in the air. The puck landed behind goaltender Aaron Pichette where Gavin Munro poked it into the net.

The lead wouldn’t last long. Less than 2 minutes later Jaxin Karst won an offensive zone faceoff. The puck would get tipped back to Dreyton Hayward at the blue line. The 5’9″ defenceman wristed a shot that went through a maze of bodies to beat Anthony Ganoung blocker side.

That goal made the score 1-1 and the period would end with that score. Shots were 11-7 in favor of Nanaimo.

In the second period, the Buccaneers would take their first lead of the game on an innocent looking play. Zach Spafford gave a 10 foot pass up to his own blue to Jack Barrett and by the time he got to center he skated between both defencemen to go in on a clear cut breakaway. Barrett quickly went backhand-forehand and beat Ganoung stick-side before the second period was three minutes old.

The Bucs made it 3-1 on a power play goal. Jaxin Karst won the faceoff and the puck subsequently never left the Glacier Kings zone after that. Madden Cruickshank eventually took a shot-pass to the side of the net where Porter Williamson deflected it behind the goalie.

Davis Young made it 4-1 with less than a minute to play in the 2nd period as he crept in from the blue line undetected and took a rink wide pass from Jaxin Karst and one-timed it between the arm and body of Ganoung.

The middle frame ended 4-1. Nanaimo outshot Comox 10-9.

Curtis Toneff must have fired the team up during the intermission because the Glacier Kings started off fast. After Nanaimo won the opening faceoff into their own zone, Comox Valley forechecked hard and Kyle Mayenburg did a good job keeping the puck in at the blue line. He directed the puck towards the net and a scramble ensued. Cameron Collins found a loose puck among the bodies and buried it past Pichette to make it 4-2.

That goal took 16 seconds from the drop of the puck. Unfortunately, the Yeti never got any momentum after that goal as Nanaimo tilted the ice afterwards dominating the play. However late in the 3rd period after Comox took a penalty, you could see that they were thinking offence. Cohen Kallin poked the puck off a Nanaimo stick at the Glacier Kings blue line then passed it up to Isaac Dunsire for a 2-man breakaway from center ice. Dunsire went in and snapped the puck past Pichette on the glove side for a shorthanded goal and it was suddenly 4-3.

Unfortunately the Yeti would take another penalty for “Too Many Men On The Ice” when they had possession inside the offensive zone with 19 seconds left. I’m guessing it was a good call because you could see the crowd and the Buccaneers bench pointing and yelling for a penalty. Pichette made a big save with 4 seconds left and that’s the way the game would end. Shots were 11-7 for the Bucs.

The win improves Nanaimo’s record to 11-5-1-0 for 23 points and are 3 points ahead of 2nd place Oceanside. Comox Valley drops to 7-9-2-1 for 17 points and remains in 4th place in the North. They will host the Oceanside Generals Saturday night. The Bucs are in Victoria on Sunday.

Other Observations:

  • Jaxin Karst had 3 assists to extend his point streak to 5 games (3G, 6A)
  • It took the Bucs 11 seconds to score their PP goal in the 2nd period after an offensive zone “Holding The Stick” penalty against the GKings.
  • Leon Mikhalchuk has 5G, 3A in his last 8 games.
  • The Yeti have only drawn 2 power plays in their last 200 minutes of hockey.
  • That was Gavin Munro’s first goal as a GKings player since coming over from Nanaimo. After his goal he pointed up to the stands at the NIC.
  • It was nice to see former Buc Brandon Taylor stick up for Thomas Scobie-Gyug after he got hit from behind. He went after the much bigger Rhys Wilcox who is 4″ taller and and 50 pounds heavier. He simply pushed him before getting into a scrum with Koen Gauthier where Taylor got his helmet taken off. I didn’t love that the referee making it a 4 on 4 instead of a PP for Comox.

  • Despite being outscored 3-0 in the second period, I thought it was a very even period. With that being said, I thought Nanaimo outplayed Comox in the 3rd despite being outscored 2-0.
  • Cameron Collins has 1G, 4A in his last 5 games.
  • Brandon Taylor picked up his first assist as a Glacier King with an assist.
  • The Yeti are 1-7-1-1 when trailing after the second period.
  • It is so refreshing to listen to Larenzo Jensen do play by play, a true professional, not biased, very descriptive. Good job Larenzo!

Darryl Skender

Comox – Nanaimo Preview

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Today couldn’t come fast enough for the Comox Valley Glacier Kings. After an 11-1 drubbing last Saturday night, they have been anxious to redeem themselves as quickly as possible. It will be a tough test however as they will be playing the best team in the VIJHL’s North Division. The Nanaimo Buccaneers come into the game with a solid 10-5-1-0 record which is one point ahead of the second place Oceanside Generals. Comox is 7-8-2-1 and 4th in the division. These two squad have played twice so far this season with both sides winning one game apiece. Nanaimo won on opening night (September 6th) 4-2 while the Yeti took the second match on September 27th by a score of 5-3. The Bucs are the highest scoring team in the North so it will be a tough task for a team that gave up so many goals in their last contest.

For the most part, the GKings penalty kill has been pretty good this season up until their last game when they gave up 4 goals on 5 Peninsula power plays. That dropped them from 1st to 8th place in the league. The power play has been streaky this year but has been non-existent the last couple games because they haven’t been getting any opportunities. In their past 2 games they have a total of 1 power play opportunity. I talked to head coach/GM Curtis Toneff about that. He says his club only have themselves to blame, “That should tell you a lot about our legs and our effort and our moving our feet. Any team in this league should have at least 4 power plays over the course of a game. I don’t think it was a ref thing either. It was our guys not working hard enough to draw any penalties. There was no second and third efforts. Sometimes those draw penalties. So in my opinion, that’s on our performance. I didn’t even love our performance on Friday night (in Lake Cowichan), I loved our finish but I didn’t love our performance on Friday overall.” The Buccaneers have the advantage in the special teams situations. Here is a look at the stats for each side:

Power Play
Nanaimo: 22.7% (3rd)
Comox Valley: 16.5% (8th)

Penalty Kill
Nanaimo: 84.3% (2nd)
Comox Valley: 81.7 (6th)

The Glacier Kings are desperate to get some scoring from anyone right now. One player that has shown he has an upside is Westin Churchill. Some games he looks like the best player on the ice than we don’t hear from him for a bit. Toneff says he likes what he can do offensively but knows he has more to do than what we’ve seen so far, “He’s a streaky scorer. Westin has shown a lot of flashes of someone that can do some damage in this league and be a difference maker. With Westin, he’s a busy kid, he goes to school, he works. For him it’s about managing his energy to be able to perform like that. He’s a guy who you can tell after 3 or 4 shifts if he’s going or not. And quite frankly he’s got to be going more than he has been this year. Points are great and all that but he’s got to be more consistent to be relied upon down the stretch night in and night out.” The consistency should come with maturity. Westin just turned 17 a month ago. He is 5th in team scoring with 4 goals and 5 assists.

The Bucs are led by Madden Cruickshank who has already amassed 9G, 15A in just 16 games so far. That ties him for 8th place among VIJHL scorers. Intersting, it’s a rookie 17 year old defenceman that is second on the team in scoring. Nate Barclay has been really good and very consistent. In fact he has at least 1 point in each of his last 8 games. That includes scoring 4G, 3A in his last 3 games… what!? In net, it’s former Glacier King Aaron Pichette getting the lionshare of the work. He sports a 6-3 record with a 2.41 GAA and .927 save percentage. That’s 4th and 3rd respectively in the entire league.

So Nanaimo has a better record, scores more goals, allows fewer goals and has better special teams than Comox Valley. They will definitely have their work cut out for them tonight. Curtis talked about what will be key for this evening, “It’s important to just not let anything slide any further. You have a terrible night last Saturday. It’s a chance for a bounce back, have a great first period as well as attitude and detail. I don’t know if there is any better place to do it than on the road against a divisional rival opponent. They’ll probably be looking to jump on us, jump on a team that is coming off a weak performance. We have to be ready to compete and get back to our game that helped us dig out of an 0-3 start. We have an even record with 90 percent of the league. It’s a good opportunity for us to get an upperhand on a season series against a good hockey club that’s done a great job this past year turning their trip around.” These two clubs will still have head to head match up once more in December, January and February.

A regulation win would move Comox within 2 points of the first place Bucs as well as propel them over Campbell River into sole possession of third place. As hard as I’ve been on the Glacier Kings lately, they are still well-positioned in the North Division. That’s due to winning 4 of their last 6 contests. A good start is paramount. Remember they gave up 6 goals in the first 11 minutes last Saturday. When the Yeti score first, they are 4-2-1 this season. Anthony Ganoung will get the start in net. Puck drop is at 7:15 PM at the NIC. Comox Valley’s line up for tonight is up on the Gameday Lineups page of this blog. Have a good one everybody!

Darryl Skender

Comox Puts In 60 Minute Effort In Win

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings have certainly looked like two different teams so far this season. It’s not surprising considering how early it is. Teams are still looking for chemistry and still trying to find their identity. Last night the Glacier Kings looked good throughout and came out with a 5-3 victory over the Nanaimo Buccaneers. That’s the second time these 2 teams have met with each side winning by 2 goals. The Bucs came into the game tied for first place in the North Division. 

Nanaimo started the scoring on a second consecutive power play. Haden Parker took a boarding penalty which Comox killed off. But after the penalty was over Parker was still on the ice and got into a scrum in front of the opposition net. He ended up taking a roughing penalty for giving Ethan Nordli a face wash. It took 17 seconds for Madden Cruickshank to make them pay on a rebound off the pad of goaltender Anthony Ganoung. The GKings tied it up right after the mandatory timeout. Ethan Gobel took a shot from the left dot that was stopped by Aaron Pichette but the rebound went to Declan Johanneson who made no mistake. The boys in white would score again a few minutes later with a lucky bounce. Zaya Morro stole the puck inside the Nanaimo blue line and and attempted a backhand pass into the slot. The puck ricocheted off Davis Young’s skate and into his own net. The period would end 2-1.

In the second period, Isaac Dunsire had a terrific shift chasing down pucks, forechecking and getting to the dirty area to score his team’s 3rd goal from a crowded slot. The middle stanza would end with Zaya Morro’s second of the game after he was in the right place at the right time burying a rebound off the stick of a Kyle Mayenburg shot from the point.

The Bucs weren’t finished yet however. They got goals by Ethan Nordli and Koen Gauthier to make it a one goal game. Morro would complete his hat trick with an empty net goal just before the buzzer sounded to make it a 5-3 game. Final shots were 45-36 in favor of the Yeti.

With the Buccaneers loss and the Lake Cowichan win on Saturday, Nanaimo has dropped into second place in the North at 4-2-0. Their next game is next Thursday at home to Saanich. Comox remains in the basement but they do improve to 2-4-1 for the season, just 1 point behind both Oceanside and Campbell River. They play again Sunday in Peninsula. The Panthers are a perfect 6-0-0 this season.

Other Observations

  • The Glacier Kings now have points in 3 of their last 5 games.
  • Their PP goal in the 2nd period makes it 4 consecutive games with at least 1 goal with the man advantage.
  • This game marked the 4th time already this season that Comox has had 40+ shots on net.
  • Zaya Morro showed patience on his hat trick goal as he knew time was running down. Instead of shooting the puck from his own blue line, he skated down the ice and shot inside the Bucs line as the buzzer sounded.
  • Speaking of Morro, he has a 3 game point streak  (3G, 3A)
  • The Bucs Madden Cruickshank is off to a great start having points in 5 of his team’s 6 games (10 points).
  • This was just the 2nd time this year Comox has lead after 2 periods. They are 2-0 in those games.
  • Goaltender Aaron Pichette has played in both of Nanaimo’s games against his former team. He is 1-1 against Comox Valley.
  • The Glacier Kings only have 18 hours from the ending of this game to the start of Sunday’s afternoon match.

Darryl Skender