Tag Archives: Elliott Turgeon

It’s Game Day

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We’ve waited all week for this weekend. And it’s finally here. There’s 10 games this weekend in the VIJHL and the Comox Valley Glacier Kings are in 3 of them. These next few days will be the toughest test for the Yeti that they’ve had all year. Why? Because it has been tough to get a gauge on the team. They were inconsistent early in the season with bad penalties, defensive zone turnovers and not putting a full 60 minutes in. Each game they have gotten better but 4 of the 5 teams they have played are under .500. Their only win is against a club that is still winless this year. They are going to be playing upper caliber teams over the next few days. First up is the Campbell River Storm, a team that beat the Glacier Kings in overtime on September 13th. They have been rivals as long as any of us can remember. Both sides are better than their records. Comox is 1-3-1 while the Storm are 2-4-0. The two teams are very equally matched and promises to be as good of a game as the one 13 days ago. Both teams have had trouble scoring goals early on. The Glacier Kings defence seems to have the edge. As for special teams, Comox has the edge on the power play while Campbell River has been better at killing penalties. Westin Churchill leads the GKings in goals with 3. Zaya Morro leads in points with 4. The Storm are led by Dylan Toth with 4 goals. Nobody else has more than 2. Toth, Elliott Turgeon and Tom Marguet all have 5 points to lead the way for the home side. Dylan Toth just had his 4 game point streak broken in his club’s last game which was a 5-2 loss to Port Alberni. Meanwhile for Comox, Westin Churchill has a goal in 3 consecutive game going into tonight. Campbell River is 1-2-0 at home, the Glacier Kings are an identical 1-2-0 on the road.

We will find out what the GKings are made of this weekend… where do they stand, what are they made of? After tonight they play the top two teams in the VIJHL as they go up against Nanaimo and Peninsula who are both in first place in their respective divisions. It will be a grind for sure. There are a lot of technical things that will have to be done right to come out with victories but there are also simple things as well. Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff explains, “Probably just taking it one game at a time. As a whole, you can’t be looking at Saturday’s home game when you’re taking the ice to start the second period in Campbell River. It needs to be period by period, shift by shift, the old coaching cliches but they’re cliches for a reason. That’s why they’re cliches… because they work. You maintain focus and just play hockey and have fun. We did it through camp, we’ve played 2 games in a day, we’ve played 3 games in 3 days, we’ve done 5 games in 4 days so there’s no real excuse for our team. You just go and do what you trained for all summer to do.”

Is there a chance of the players being tired by the time the third game rolls around on Sunday? Absolutely. But considering that this a league of 16-20 year old kids (with a few exceptions) which means their bounce back ability should be pretty high. You take an old guy like me and I’ll be down for a couple days after a game of hockey. These young guys are in great shape and pretty resilient. Toneff says that he will make sure they stay fresh, “That’s my job to make an adjustment or two. Some outsiders or whatever say, ‘What’s up with that schedule’ but to me I love it. You see who rises to the top, you see who is in shape, you see who stays mentally sharp over the course of the weekend. You can find out a lot about your roster. At some point this weekend, there will be some adversity out there, whether you’re hemmed in the d-zone  or you’re on the PK or you’re protecting a lead or you’re scratching and clawing back into a game. At some point in the season, to have success, you’re going to have to do that so may as well start here late September.” It makes a lot of sense, have some stressful games when you have don’t have days off to rest. It can only make you better as the season goes on. So it sounds like Curtis is going to embrace  the 3 in 3 instead of being scared of it. Win, lose or draw, the Glacier Kings will live it and be stronger for it.

The games this weekend are as follows:
Friday: Comox Valley @ Campbell River -7:30pm
Saturday: Nanaimo @ Comox – 6:30pm
Sunday: Comox Valley @ Peninsula – 4:30pm

Darryl Skender

Glacier Kings Earn First Point

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It was another shaky beginning for the Comox Valley Glacier Kings but they battled back and earned a point in their 3-2 OT loss to the Campbell River Storm on Saturday. It was giveaways that killed Comox Valley in the opening frame. It started when Storm forward Armaan Punn stole the puck from Haden Parker and backhanded the puck in front of the net. The puck would glance off Kingston Gowans’ skate and into his own net just 3:12 into the home opener.

Just 1:07 later, another defensive zone turnover would prove costly. Glacier Kings defenceman Maxim Lefebvre got the puck stuck in between his skates in his own slot and Campbell River’s Dylan Toth dug it out and fired it past Timothee Fengos and it was quickly 2-0 just 4:19 into the first period.

Comox wasn’t about to fold the tent however. Westin Churchill would win an offensive zone draw. Joel Schmidt won the puck battle at the side boards and got it back to Thomas Scobie-Gyug who walked into the faceoff dot and beat goaltender Luc Gravel to the far side with a wrist shot. That made it 2-1.

The Storm had a terrific chance to go back up by 2 goals when Elliott Turgeon was sent in on a breakaway but was stoned by Fengos who squeezed his pads just in time.

The second period may not have had any scoring but it was exciting from a fan’s perspective. Both teams had scoring opportunities but Campbell River had more of the Grade ‘A’ chances but Fengos stood tall stopping everything that came his way in that middle stanza.

That set up an exciting 3rd period. The Yeti would tie the game when Westin Churchill received a pass from Landen May at centre ice and raced down the right side, took the defenceman with him and backhanded the puck in front of the net to Zaya Morro. He was slashed by Emmanuel Grenier to cause a delayed penalty. However, the loose puck slid to the side of the net and Churchill poked it home to make it 2-2.

There were so many chances in the 3rd period with Comox getting the better of the opportunities but both goalies were fantastic. And yes, it was fitting that the contest would go to OT. The Storm owned the puck for most of the extra period and won the game when Thomas Curri circled at his own blue line skated all the way down the left wing and beat Fengos from a bad angle.

On the bright side, Comox Valley picked up their first point of the season. They showed a lot of heart after being down early once again. This is the kind of effort that could turn things around. They have shown to be a good 3rd period team, now they need to learn how to get off to a better start. We’ll see if they can come out of the dressing room stronger on Friday for a home date against the Oceanside Generals. Have a great day everyone.

Other Observations

  • Unfortunately the audio didn’t work on FloHockey so I had to do play by play in my head.
  • This is the GKings 3rd straight home opener against Campbell River. The Storm are now 3-0.
  • I really believe Campbell River won 80% of the faceoffs. It was mind-numbing.
  • With just under 6 minutes left in the 3rd period, Holden Smith tripped Maxim Lefebvre as he took a pass and was behind the defenceman in front of the net. The referees got together to discuss if it was a tripping penalty or a penalty shot.  Unfortunately they chose to go with a 2 minute minor.
  • Comox forward Leon Mikhalchuk had an unreal dangle around a defenceman and then the goalie only to backhand it wide.
  • The Glacier Kings played without a captain again. It is unknown when Curtis Toneff will be naming one.
  • The 3rd period Saturday was the first time Comox has outscored an opponent in any period this season.
  • Next Friday’s home game will be the first of only 4 home games the Glacier Kings will play on a Friday this season.
  • It is nice to see Dave Dueck back for another season as the public address announcer. Not only is he great on the P.A., he is even a better person.

That’s it for today. Have a great rest of your weekend!

Darryl Skender