Tag Archives: Curtis Toneff

Game 4 Preview Vs. Gens

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings will make another attempt tonight to get their first win of the season. They’ve started 0-2-1 after a 3-2 OT loss in their home opener to Campbell River on Saturday. It’s the first time they haven’t recorded a win in their first 3 games since 2019 when they started the season 0-12.

Things have been trending upwards from game to game for the GKings. A big reason is because of their recent acquisitions. Head coach & GM Curtis Toneff talked about how they are settling in, “Real well, I think this week of practices has really helped. They are starting to fit in. They are all quite different players and they all compliment our team in different ways. Leon Mikhalchuk has the big shot, a long reach, puck protection skills and has an ability to beat guys one on one which is pretty rare at any level. Geon Park has a good low base to him, he has a good shot, plays with his head up, likes the puck on his stick and likes to make plays. He can fit anywhere in the line up on any given night. Tommy Scobie-Gyug had a real good weekend. He’s obviously had a great summer as far as his training. His conditioning is elite. He found himself with his first goal after a great shake of a d-man at the point, had a great shot and got his first junior goal in his second game. He’s going to make our D better and Anthony Ganoung obviously had a great game on Friday.” Scobie Gyug took a big hit on Saturday and hit the ice pretty hard. The book on him has always been he plays bigger than he is and he has definitely shown that so far. He’s listed at just 5’7″ and 155 pounds but has been a big pickup for his squad.

Both teams have struggled to find wins to start the season. The Generals have been scoring at a higher rate but also giving up more goals than the Glacier Kings. Toneff said the simple things can give his club their first win, “We need to be making plays when they’re there with the puck, being a hockey player not a robot. If there’s not a play there, play a man’s game, whether it’s having a battle in the corner, or protecting the puck or simply seeing the other D’s number turning to go get pucks all night. That’s kind of the difference where these guys come from in Midget. Certain plays they’re taught are bad plays. Buying into simplicity, you can always build on simple but when you try and do too much it’s tough to get on the same page.” 

Meanwhile for the Oceanside Generals, they’ve had an up and down start to their season. Play by Play broadcaster Kyle Ireland said he was impressed with the season opener against Campbell River where they downed the Storm 5-2. He said there is a youngster on the team that has impressed him, “Braeyen Newans, a 17 year old Parksville product has been a huge bright spot for them with 4 points in his first 4 games. Goals in back to back.” A cool story about Newans is that he scored his first VIJHL goal last Saturday on his 17th birthday. The 4-time VIJHL Broadcaster of the Year also let us in on a recent trade yesterday, “The Gens have made a huge move just minutes ago sending forward Jasper Fellbaum to Westshore for forward Jacob Leamy.” Fellbaum had a goal and an assist in 2 games for the Generals while Leamy potted 1 goal and 2 assists for the Wolves before the trade. Ireland said he thought his club played well against Victoria 5 days ago but special teams hurt them, “The Gens looked good on Sunday at moments against the Cougars but could not get anything going on the power play going 0 for 6.” Oceanside and Comox Valley are currently sporting the worst 2 PP’s in the league. The Generals are at 4.3% (1 for 23) and the Glacier Kings are 5.9% (1 for 17).

Oceanside comes into the game on a three game losing streak. although they deserved a better fate against Port Alberni where they outshot the Bombers 45-24 but lost 4-2 thanks to an empty net goal at the end by Joel Dorn. The same could be said about their 5-3 loss to the Westshore Wolves where the Gens jumped out to a 3-1 lead midway through the game but allowed 4 unanswered goals including another empty netter.

Game time tonight is at 6:30 pm at the Sports Centre. Either Rob Hudson or Matt Parnell will have the play by play on FloHockey (Matt has a new baby on board, congratulations!) while Kyle Ireland will do the honors on the radio at 88.5 The Beach. Go Glacier Kings!

Darryl Skender

Glacier Kings Goaltending Situation

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings have had a tough start with their offense this year and have had too many turnovers in the defensive end. One area that they haven’t struggled in is goaltending. As most people are aware, last year’s standout, Aaron Pichette was moved to Nanaimo to complete a deal with the Buccaneers. Aaron put up terrific stats for Comox last year posting a 3.24 GAA and a .914 save percentage. He has actually started 2 out of the first 3 games for Nanaimo this season. In his 2 starts, he allowed just 2 goals against the Glacier Kings and 1 goal against Port Alberni, both were victories. It’s very early but a 1.50 GAA and a .939 save percentage isn’t too bad.

The GKings are carrying 3 goaltenders right now. Timothee Fengos has started in 2 of the 3 games so far. Fengos is a 17 year old out of Pierrefonds, Quebec. He has looked good in both games, made some huge saves in the last game in particular against Campbell River but would probably like to have that OT goal back. Anthony Ganoung started in Saanich and played well enough to be the 3rd ‘Star of the Game’. Comox Valley is carrying a third goaltender who has not seen any action yet. That’s 17 year old Silas Dromarsky out of Alberta. He saw action in the pre-season but hasn’t appeared in a regular season contest yet.

With the Glacier Kings carrying two 17 year old goalies and one 18 year old, I asked head coach & GM Curtis Toneff, what the situation looks like for his netminders. Toneff replied, “I think we’re in a position where Luca Vanzo could very well come back in October. One of our other goalies Anthony Ganoung is knocking on the door and challenging the other two (Fengos & Dromarsky) and has done a great job doing that. He’s making the other guys better everyday.” It will be interesting to see who he goes with tomorrow night.

Everyone knows a competition is a very healthy way out of getting the very best out of each individual. The question is, who’s the number one goalie. The bench boss said, “If someone gets hot, they might play back to back. But there’s always a good possibility that the guy in the crease is rested and not overworked. I think it’s a great combination. It’s too early to tell who’s running away with it.” Considering we’re only 3 games into the season, there’s still lots of time for someone to emerge. And if they both play well, that’s a bonus with 2 strong rested backstops.

We’re all wishing the best for Luca Vanzo first and foremost and also hope he can make it back to be a part of the equation in Comox. That would really make the competition fierce in the land of the Yeti. On a team that finished under .500 last year, Vanzo had a very respectable 6-6 record, 3.49 GAA and .903 save percentage.

Now if only the offence can give these guys some support. They’ve scored just 4 goals in 3 games to start the season. The Glacier Kings play tomorrow evening at home to Oceanside. Hope to see a big crowd at the CVSC. That’s it for today, have a great Thursday.

Darryl Skender

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