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