Tag Archives: Curtis Toneff

Cougars Beat Kings In OT

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings fought back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game late in the third period, only to lose to the Victoria Cougars 3-2 in overtime. The fans got their money’s worth as it was a terrific, exciting game right from puck drop. There were a lot of scoring chances and marvelous goaltending so it was fitting that 3 periods would not decide the outcome. After it’s all said and done, the Glacier Kings had to settle for a single point.

The Cougars had the first grade ‘A’ chance just a couple minutes into the game on a 2 on 1 with Jordan Ramsay passing it over to Grady Slugget who came in all alone but was stopped by Lane Maarhuis. Shortly after, Easton Sangris took a hooking call 200 feet from his own net and Victoria would make them pay. Joseph Melichar won a race for the puck in his own end, carried the it back the other way, split the defencemen and passed it to the side of the net at the very last moment where Ben Wetterberg potted it past the netminder.

Comox came close to tying it a short time later as Easton Sangris cut in towards the middle of the ice before sliding it to Cameron Collins who hit the post. Another close call happened late in the period as Victoria thought they scored but it looked like the puck may have gone off the crossbar and behind Maarhuis who quickly turned around and fell on the the loose disc. The Cougars were celebrating but it was waved off by the referee.

Comox took another penalty late in the opening period. After a couple of nice saves from Maarhuis, Glacier Kings forward Quinten Harvie was sent in on a breakaway shorthanded but was stopped by Finn Wilson. He took a slash and a penalty shot was called but Harvie was denied by the goal post this time.

The first period ended just 1-0 despite Victoria really carrying a lot of the play. Shots were 15-8 in favor of the Cougars.

In the 2nd period it was more Cougars. Jordan Ramsay carried the puck over the blue line on the left side and slid it to the top of the slot to Slugget. His shot deflected off off a Comox defenceman past Maarhuis to make it 2-0.

Comox Valley finally got their first power play of the game midway through the period and they would take advantage. Rolan Amin fed the puck down low to Quinten Harvie at the side of the net. Harvie slid it through the goalmouth where Leon Mikhalchuk had an open net to shoot into.

The period ended 2-1. The shots were 14-10 for the Cougars.

The 3rd period had tons of scoring opportunities but both goalies were outstanding, especially Finn Wilson. Comox had their best period by far but kept getting thwarted. With about three minutes left in regulation, Glacier Kings coach Curt Toneff called a timeout.

And whatever the coach had to say worked. The home team pulled their goalie with 2:06 left and would tie with a 6th attacker just seconds later. From the point, Kyle Mayenburg passed to the side hash mark to Mikhalchuk. His shot was blocked by Aiden Beavan but ricocheted right to Sheldon Alexander who buried it to knot the game at 2.

Shots were 17-3 for the Yeti. They were going to overtime for a second consecutive night.

In the OT session, the Glacier Kings had possession for the first 2 minutes without Victoria getting the puck. A weird play happened when Finn Wilson lost his blocker but neither referee blew the play dead. Wilson was frustrated and just took his mask off to get the play stopped. I’ll be honest, one of two things should of happened, either you blow the whistle when the blocker comes off. If that’s not a viable stoppage, it should have been a delay of game against Wilson for taking his mask off during the play.

After they dropped the puck, Victoria got its first possession and wouldn’t you know it, they scored. Jacob Bernardo took a shot that missed the net but it bounced off the backboards right to Melichar and he got the shot away before Maarhuis could get over.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Glacier Kings as they dominated possession in the 4th period. I would like to know if the rules state that the play must be called down when a goalie loses his blocker. I guess it doesn’t matter now.

Comox Valley’s loss drops their record to 20-15-5-1, they are 5 ahead of 4th place Campbell River but the Storm have 2 games in hand. Victoria did not gain any ground on Peninsula in the South as the Panthers beat Kerry Park. The Cougars remain 5 points back of first place. Next up for the GKings will be a game next Friday when they host Lake Cowichan. The Cougars also play Friday when they are at home to Oceanside.

Other Observations:

  • Cougars goaltender Finn Wilson’s shutout streak ended at 149:25.
  • Speaking of Wilson, he is a perfect 3-0 since coming over from the GOJHL and has 2 shutouts in those 3 contests.
  • A scary moment with about 5 minutes left in the 1st period. After a clean faceoff win by Melichar, Ethan Davey took a shot that hit Evan Marko in the face. Luckily for him, it glanced off his face shield first. He didn’t even go down, just skated to the bench in a lot of discomfort.
  • You gotta love the way Easton Sangris plays the game… skill and grit.
  • On the Glacier Kings tying goal in the 3rd, Suhaan Nagra came off the bench as the 6th man and immediately took a pass to help set up the goal.
  • Cougars forward Grady Slugget extended his point streak to 5 games (2G, 4A)
  • Midway through the 2nd, Comox had a really good scoring opportunity right after the linesman didn’t call offside.
  • Comox leads the league in OT losses with 5 and are just 1 of 2 teams to lose in a shootout as well.
  • Quinten Harvie tried the exact same move on the penalty shot as he did on his breakaway which caused the penalty shot. It never worked either time.
  • Joseph Melichar now has 38 goals in 38 games (also has 42 assists).
  • Kyle Mayenburg should have had an assist on the tying goal.
  • Glacier Kings are 8-2-3-0 in their last 13 games.
  • One lucky fan was a winner during the 2nd intermission.
  • Victoria’s Ben Wetterberg has points in 7 of his last 8 games (7G, 5A). The only flaw where he didn’t register a point was against Comox just over a week ago.
  • Comox Valley’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot remains at 3.
  • Leon Mikhalchuk has goals in 2 consecutive games and points in 3 straight.

Darryl Skender

Comox-Peninsula Preview

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The old adage says that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best and that’s what the Comox Valley Glacier Kings are trying to do tonight. The Peninsula Panthers are coming into tonight with a 31-5-1-0 record, which is 20 points ahead of the GKings who are 19-15-4-1. The Panthers have won 2 out of the 3 head to head meetings including a combined score of 20-3 in the last two. The defending league champions took down Westshore, Kerry Park and Campbell River in the playoffs last year to win the VIJHL title after a 33-11-3-1 regular season record in that 2024-25 season. Yes they are even better this year.

The Panthers are far and away the best offensive team in the league this season averaging 5.9 goals per game. No other team even averages 5 goals per contest. They boast 4 of the top 9 scorers and 6 of the top 13 in the VIJHL. They already have 7 players with over 40 points, the Glacier Kings don’t have any. The team from the south also has 4 players with at least 20 goals, once again the Yeti don’t have one. With that being said we have also talked a lot about the defensive system that Comox employs and it will need to be in full force this evening. Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff says it seems to be working right now, “I think for the most part. I don’t know how people are going to read into this on your blog Darryl but I’m not going to go into too much detail. To be honest with you, it’s new to me, I’ve never ran it before. I decided to go with it. I’ve been involved with it with a couple teams at a higher level, mixing a couple coaches styles. It’s been really fun for me actually to teach a different way. The one thing I like about it is it gives the players a bit more freedom to make decisions. They don’t have to be in spot A, B or C. It’s been good to see that it’s working except for those two or three shellackings that we’ve taken. It’s happened twice, maybe one other night. Our goals against per game is actually pretty good if you take those three games out, two games anyway. So for the most part it has been good and it starts with ‘compete’ and goaltending.” The Glacier Kings have only allowed 3 goals or less in regulation time in 6 of their last 7 games and that defence will be put to the test right from puck drop.

Peninsula is lead by Alex Sajan who has accumulated 16G, 36A for 52Pts in 37 games. Then there’s 6’2″ 215 pound forward Oskar Aitken-Salmons and much smaller Carson Harris leading the club with 28 goals. That’s good for a tie for 2nd place in the VIJHL with Parker Atkinson of Westshore. In net, the goaltenders split their time. Both Caden Lentz and Matus Volovar have appeared in 17 games each and both netminders have 14 wins with 2.20 and 2.34 GAA respectively.

The face of this Comox team looks very different than it did two or three months ago with a lot of moves being made. Will they pull the trigger on signing another player or two? Coach Toneff says probably not, “Unless something happens like we bring in a guy that we just can’t say no to or there’s an injury that happens we’re pretty much set here I think. That should be something that the players are aware of. This is it… there’s no more wondering or rumors or whatever is going to happen next because this is it. So now it’s up to you guys, it’s up to us.” Just since the start of this month, Comox has signed and released Luca Vanzo, released Isaac Dunsire, signed Easton Sangris, Rolan Amin and Gavin Mowat. They also traded to get Lane Maarhuis and Tee Hagel and January isn’t even over yet.

As good as Peninsula has been all season they have now lost 2 of their last 3 games and 3 of their last 6. This proves that they can be beat. Their 5 regulation losses are to Comox Valley, Westshore, Victoria and Oceanside twice. The Wolves also beat them in overtime. The Glacier Kings have looked good against them and horrible against them this year. Curtis says he’s looking for his squad to be better prepared this time around, “We’re playing against a very good team and we owe it to ourselves to have a better effort. We went and beat them and let’s face it, stunned them earlier in the year on a Sunday which was a third game in 3 days for us. Since that they came up to Comox and were more than ready and we were more than not ready. The game got away from us in a hurry. I think I was asking our assistant coach if we were playing the Panthers or the Penticton Vees because I wasn’t really sure. We made them look pretty good. At the end of the day we can still finish 2-2 against the ex-champions of the league with a simple kind of greasy road mentality. I think if we stick to 60 minutes of hockey we can give ourselves a chance to do that.” Comox Valley has been putting in 60 minute efforts as of late and having been getting points because of it. They have points in 9 of their last 11 games going 7-2-2-0.

Power Play

Peninsula: 34.8% (1st)
Comox Valley: 18.4% (6th)

Penalty Kill

Peninsula: 87.4% (1st)
Comox Valley: 81.0% (6th)
* Panthers also lead the league with 9 shorthanded goals.

The Panthers came out of the gates hard on November 1st racking up 6 goals in the first 12 minutes of the game, then scored another 6 in the first 18 minutes of the opening frame in their November 22nd battle with the Yeti. Between their impressive record and their ability to put up crooked numbers in a hurry, it can be a little intimidating. I asked the bench boss if his players might feel a little bit of that and he was quick to say no, “That’s where coaching comes in. It’s up to me to have them not read into that. We have a totally different hockey club than we did in November. We have guys that have played BCHL, we have guys that have made teams in the SJHL, we have five veteran guys that have been inserted so no I’m not going to let them read into the standings.” Comox can be confident knowing that they have beaten every team in the league at least once except for Victoria but they’ve only played the Cougars twice with the last match a 1-0 score until the empty-netter late.

So which Glacier King team will we see tonight? Hopefully the one that has been playing consistently well the past couple months. It will be a tough task to score. As much talking as I did regarding their offensive prowess, I should also mention they are by far the best defensive team in the league as well. Game time is 7:30 PM at the Panorama Recreation Centre. I’ll insert Comox Valley’s lineup on the “Gameday Lineups” page of this blog once the coach gives it to me. Go Glacier Kings!

Darryl Skender

Toneff Likes The Physicality His Team Is Showing

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings have been playing very good hockey in the past couple months and one of the reasons is because of their grittiness. Unfortunately the GKings aren’t the type of team that can rely just on skill alone like some other teams in the VIJHL. They rely on fundamental defensive hockey, good goaltending and the aforementioned grit. So far it has been working and as the season goes on, the players are buying in more and more and are being given more freedom to do more offensively.

It seems that head coach/GM Curtis Toneff is getting a lot out of his club right now but he sees that his guys can still do more. When it comes to being physical, he says he’s happy with some aspects but other parts can improve, “I like our d-zone physicality, I think we can go in and be heavier on the forecheck. I really liked our ‘protect the team’ mentality. Some guys, I’m not gonna lie, have kept their jobs because they’ve shown that the team and the logo on the jersey is more important than themselves by sacrificing and putting their body on the line. You know a guy has gotten a cheap shot 3 of the last 4 games and there’s a guy right there answering the bell and holding them accountable. Social media can be positive and negative, let’s face it everyone can see everything. Clearly seeing these fights, people will think twice before taking liberties with our players in vulnerable spots.” Comox is averaging 19.5 penalty minutes per game. Some of that is from being over-physical and a lot of it still stems from being undisciplined. In the North Division, the teams with the 3 least amount of penalty minutes are also the bottom 3 teams in the division. Maybe sometimes taking aggressive penalties is necessary. Nanaimo has the most PIM’s followed by Oceanside and Comox Valley and those squads are 1-2-3 in that same order.

Hockey has always been a rough sport compared to a lot of other ones. Over the past decade or two, rules have been put in place to try and stop players from getting hurt. There was a big backlash from fans and players themselves saying that certain rules make it easier for certain types of incidents to happen because there can be no recourse. Doesn’t matter what side of the fence you sit on, it has been a much talked about topic. I am onboard with the old school way of thinking. If you intentionally take a shot against a team’s star player, goalie or much smaller opponent, you may have to answer the bell when it comes to making sure it doesn’t happen again. In the past couple games, we have seen examples of where Glacier Kings teammates have had each others backs. On Thursday in Victoria, Joseph Melichar kneed Tee Hagel and Brandon Taylor immediately stuck up for his teammate. Then on Saturday in Oceanside, Brodie Wade caught Cameron Collins with a huge open ice hit and Easton Sangris answered the bell for his linemate. I asked Toneff if the game is changing since the VIJHL became independent of Hockey Canada. “With our rules, it’s obviously not something we encourage and I never thought the game would go back like it has a little bit. If you look at the big picture, there’s not a ton of head shots like there was 4 or 5 years ago when maybe these kids were wearing cages or when there was big suspensions for fights. We don’t encourage 16 and 20 year old kids to punch each other in the head but at the end of the day it’s kind of helping the honor of the game in my opinion. I’m a little bit old school and most guys would tell you that but if the head shots are going down, guys have more respect for each other and you create a bigger team environment around it as long as you don’t go back to the barbaric days like the old ‘jungle’, it’s how the game is played.” I still watch those old clips of junior hockey when it was the ‘wild west’ with tons of scoring and tons of fighting. Comparing those days with todays games… both are entertaining but today’s game is a better calibre of hockey and also a lot more safe.

Brandon Taylor has played in 22 games (16 with Comox) this season as he has been trying to earn minutes. Going into Thursday’s game in Victoria, he had never had a fighting major in his VIJHL career which started in 2023. He did not hesitate to go after Joseph Melichar once he saw that the referee wasn’t going to call a penalty. Curtis liked that he had his teammate’s back, “Brandon Taylor is a guy that, you know he was out of the line up, had limited minutes and was kind of on the fringe there for a little bit. I think he knew that. He would do ‘that’ (fight on Thursday) and then had a really good game in Oceanside on Saturday. He’s been in the league for three years and it’s nice to have that veteran depth back there and a local guy. He is very low maintenance and has been a sneaky good pick up for us.” The 5’10” defenceman from Courtenay has 2 assists and 9 penalty minutes since coming over from Nanaimo earlier this season.

As important as being physical is, the Glacier Kings obviously have some skill as well. And recently, they just upgraded in that department by signing Rolan Amin who is a familiar face in these parts. Amin has not only been able to rack up points wherever he has played but he has also played in leadership roles. The Yeti signed the 20 year old about a week and a half ago after playing in the BCHL. The Glacier Kings bench boss talked about the Burnaby native, “Rolan was committed and playing in Humboldt at the start of the year and they had a big trickle down from the Western Hockey League which ended up costing him his spot there. It’s never easy when that happens. There was about a week where he was wondering where his future was at with hockey. He decided to play at home in the ‘PIJHL’ but I think a couple weeks in or a month in he really missed the environment in Comox, being with his teammates. He still had that desire to get to the next level but after Christmas he decided to come back and it didn’t really cost us anything to get him back because his rights belonged to us in our league. It’s nice to get him back. We now have three former captains, we have our current captain Kyle Mayenburg, Rolan wore the ‘C’ for us last year and we have Gavin Munro who wore the ‘C’ with the Nanaimo Buccaneers last year. I think our leadership in our room is or should be as good or better than any team but I think we can improve in a lot of areas and luckily we have 9 more games to do so.” For the Yeti last season, Amin put up 10G, 22A, 32Pts in 28 games. He also amassed 29 points in 23 games with the Burnaby Steelers this year before becoming a Glacier king for a second time on January 19th.

It’s ‘Gameday’ tomorrow and Comox will be taking on the class of the VIJHL. The Peninsula Panthers come into their home game with a 31-5-1-0 record. Comox has handed the Panthers one of those five losses but overall have been outscored by a 23-7 margin in their 3 meetings. It’s their final head to head game in the regular season and it would be a nice accomplishment if they could tie the season series. I will have a full preview of that matchup tomorrow as well as the GKings lineup in the “Gameday Lineups” page on this blog. Have a good Thursday everybody.

Darryl Skender