Tag Archives: Ethan Gobel

Goaltending & Depth Players

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I think the one topic I’ve hit on more than any other since this blog started up is “goaltending.” It’s the easiest issue to talk about because a goaltender has no where to hide and doesn’t have a teammate that can cover up his mistakes. If a right winger has a bad game, it can sometimes be brushed under the rug because the center can adjust to make up for his error or a defenceman can cheat over to help out his d-partner when he’s in trouble. The goalie is the last line of defense. If the other team scores, people can clearly see that the goaltender didn’t make the save, whether it was his fault or not. So yes, it is a very easy topic to discuss especially when you are carrying 3 on your roster, each one looking for playing time.

It’s easy to see that the coach seems to like to play Anthony Ganoung to start a weekend and then for the most part has gone to Timothee Fengos. For most of the season, Silas Dromarsky has been a practice goalie and a back up for some games while waiting to have his chance to show what he can do. So here’s what we know. Ganoung is the only goalie to have started two games in a row. Drombarsky has the best stats. Fengos has the worst stats but it seems the coach has the confidence in him by playing him against the really tough teams. Timothee is still looking for his first regular season win but his team hasn’t scored a lot of goals for him. Case and point would be October 11th when he allowed just one goal through 60 minutes of regulation and 10 minutes of overtime but took the loss. His next game would be against the top team in the VIJHL which also happens to be the highest scoring team in the league and to take it even further, Comox was missing one of their best defenceman.

You could definitely make an argument for all three but in fairness, I think Anthony has proven himself to be the guy for now. He has been winning games, playing tough teams and has good stats. Silas has better stats and is 2-0 but one of those games were against Kerry Park and the other was against Oceanside who was struggling a bit at the time. Since that game, the Generals have reeled off 3 straight wins and are tied for first place in the North Division. I asked head coach/GM Curtis Toneff talked about the situation, “It’s pretty clear that at the present moment that Anthony has taken over the net a little bit. You know Silas Dromarsky is really knocking at the door with the opportunities he’s been given. It’s been difficult decisions as coaches because you want to give them all their touches and all that but for now we want to win every game that we can for the next little while because the standings are scarily tight right now. Anthony’s in net most likely Friday but Silas is coming off a shutout as well so that needs to be thought about too.” He hasn’t announced who the starter will be yet but I’d be shocked if it wasn’t Ganoung.

Anthony Ganoung: 4-3-1 2.50 .936
Timothee Fengos: 0-4-2 3.59 .904
Silas Dromarsky: 2-0-0 0.50 .981

Every team in the VIJHL is always looking to upgrade and the Glacier Kings are no different. Sometimes you can find a diamond in the rough that has been overlooked or just mismanaged but for the most part, top notch players aren’t usually available this time of year without paying a hefty price. The Yeti seem to have their defensive game shored up for the most part and their goaltending has been good so it’s quite obvious what the club is really in need of. It was no surprise when Toneff explained what he would like, “A goal scoring position. I don’t really care if it’s a winger or a center. I can see it is coming (goal scoring). It’s noticeably something that’s still somewhat missing. A guy that has a real gift for scoring. I think Leon (Mikhalchuk) has that, I think Weston Churchill has a little bit of it in him, (Ethan) Gobel as well. You look at some of these other teams and they 6 to 8 of these guys and you look at, like we’ve talked about, that’s why we have a bit of defensive identity. But you know what, it’s something that can be developed and we’re trying to develop it. There’s a reason we practice more than last year. It’s not like our guys don’t want to score, it’s just not a knack for a lot of our roster.” So I looked a little deeper into individual goal scoring for each team. Here are the number of players each team has with over 5 goals so far this season:

Westshore: 5
Peninsula: 5
Victoria: 4
Oceanside: 3
Nanaimo: 3
Saanich: 3
Campbell River: 3
Lake Cowichan: 2
Port Alberni: 2
Kerry Park: 1
Comox Valley: 1

Yes a goal scorer would be a wonderful early Christmas gift but they get snapped up pretty quickly. For now, the GKings will have to continue to manufacture goals, take advantage of power plays and get into the dirty areas to score greasy goals.

Darryl Skender

Faceoffs & Unsung Heroes

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings started the season losing their first 4 games, 3 in regulation for a variety of reasons. There’s a lot of little things in a hockey game that can mount and become bigger things and eventually will decide if you win or lose. Faceoffs can be that important and in some of the Glacier Kings losses did have a big impact. They were losing the majority of the draws. Sometimes it can stand out brightly if you lose a faceoff in your defensive zone and get scored on immediately. But it can also be a lot more subtle than that. Every time you lose a faceoff, you lose a chance at possession of the puck. It can also be a lost chance if you’re at the offensive zone dot. It is especially key after you take a penalty. The faceoff is in your own zone and if you can win it and clear the puck down the ice, you’ve just killed 20 seconds of being shorthanded before the opposition can get control inside your own blue line so the power play goes from being 2:00 to 1:40.

Since the very start of the season, faceoffs have gotten significantly better and so has the team’s play. It has meant more possessions in a game and they have actually scored a few times right from winning the draw in the offensive zone. A glaring example was in the club’s last game. Westin Churchill won the faceoff back to Leon Mikhalchuk, his shot was stopped but Churchill buried the rebound. That’s just one instance. I asked Head Coach/GM Curtis Toneff if his team has been practicing that art, “Ya we actually do. We’ve worked on it, we’ve talked about it. One night we were in Saanich in Game 2 or Game 3 of the season, I actually brought in my old assistant coach Sam Waterfield and he brought all the centers in because he was always good on faceoffs when we were in Merritt. It’s maybe one of my weaknesses as a coach. I am not an expert so I figured I’d bring in someone that knows more than I do to help the boys. They’ve all seemed to take a thing or two that he said and use it to their advantage. That’s kudos to the players to take it all in seriously and take pride in their faceoffs. I know (Isaac) Dunsire has come a long way, (Ethan) Gobel’s good, (Landon) Morris has been good and then (Weston) Churchill has shuffled back to center for now so same thing for him.” If that trend can continue, more wins should be on the horizon.

Something that separates good teams from not-so good teams are star players obviously. However, if you look deeper into a roster, good teams will also have players who are not talked about as much as the stars that score a lot of goals or the goalie that has a great Goals Against Average. In hockey we call them Unsung Heroes. They are guys that don’t get a lot of attention because they are good at their job. The old saying goes that an official is good in a football game if nobody notices them. They are not stealing the show, the players are. Well, in hockey you need players that aren’t in the spotlight but are very effective at what their job is. That’s how you win games, especially if you’re not an offensively gifted team like Comox. The Yeti rely on guys like this to help win games. Coach Toneff talked about it, “Two guys kind of come to mind that don’t get a lot of credit since I’ve been here. Haden Parker and Landen May are hard to play against. They’re not guys that as an opposition, are a lot of fun to go on a rush against. They have long sticks, Landen can bully guys a little in the corner and get in their heads. Just their little bit of extra length I think. It helps us defend. It (shots) sometimes goes off their toe or their butt in the corner and we live to fight another day. I think that when we were missing Landen last Wednesday in the third period, it became noticeable on the scoreboard. With Parksie, he’s been pretty consistent all year. Those are guys that don’t jump off the screen. Maybe me being an ex-defenceman, you appreciate them more. I think we do as coaches and I think our team does as well.” It is not by accident that he named a couple of defenceman. May has 2 assists in 15 games while Parker has 1 helper in 15 games. They are both big bruising defencemen that keep opposing forwards honest and are not afraid to get in the dirty areas. That doesn’t show up on the score sheet but does score points with teammates and the coaches.

That’s it for today. I’m about to turn the Blue Jays game on. I love texting back and forth with owner Marsha Webb during the games. She loves the Jays as much as I do and we are both quite opinionated lol. As for the Glacier Kings, they’re next action is next Friday night in Lake Cowichan.

Darryl Skender

Wolves Win 6th Straight

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The Westshore Wolves jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead and held on for a 6-4 victory over the Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Friday. It was a valiant effort by the Yeti as they came back after being down early to take a 2 goal lead but Westshore, who have now won 6 in a row, proved why they are the highest scoring team in the league. It was disappointing to give up the lead but the boys played hard and looked gassed by the end. Full marks to the Wolves who are a very good skating team which is just one of the reasons their offence is so good.

Westshore came out of the gates skating hard and earned an early 1-0 lead when Linden Hoskins took a wrist shot from the top of the circle that Timothee Fengos stopped but Owen Hentschel tapped in the rebound from inside the crease. The Wolves then went up 2-0 late in that opening stanza when defenceman Kyle Mayenburg got caught up ice on a bad bounce and Westshore had a 2 on1, Ashton Vine-Sullivan slid a perfect pass over to Jackson Buie who went forehand-backhand on Fengos before putting it up high glove-side.

But, with just over a minute left, Comox would cut the lead in half when Leon Mikhalchuk centered the puck from behind the the net and Zaya Morro got to it in a crowd of sticks and skates and somehow put it past goaltender Ander Reyes. The period would end at 2-1. Shots on goal were 13-11 in favor of the Yeti.

In the second period, the GKings would tie it up on the power play. Cameron Collins fed the puck to the side of the net to Ethan Gobel who slid it in front to Leon Mikhalchuk and he backhanded it past Reyes. Just 2:21 later Comox would take their first lead of the game with another power play goal. Cameron Collins passed to the left side boards to Suhaan Nagra who immediately fed it cross-ice to Ethan Gobel. The 18 year old blasted a one-timer past the goalie and it was 3-2.

The Glacier Kings weren’t done there. Shortly after a successful penalty kill, they would have a 2 on 1 of their own. Kaden Ryan turned the puck over at his own blue line and Ethan Gobel went in and took a shot that Reyes made the save on but Cohen Kallin got the rebound and just got it by the sprawling goaltender. Suddenly it was 4-2 for the road side.

However, you knew you weren’t going to keep Parker Atkinson off the score sheet forever. He gave a perfect tape to tape pass to Noah Gebicki in the slot who one-timed it into a wide open net to make it 4-3.

That’s how the middle frame ended. Shots were 17-6 for the Glacier Kings.

Things got even more tense in the 3rd when Noah Gebicki went over the blue line and both d-men cheated over towards him. That left Kansys Seney all by himself and he made no mistake. That tied the game at 4.

Jasper Fellbaum would put the Wolves ahead for good after a lucky bounce and he found himself wide open in front, then beat Fengos on the blocker side. Alejandro Snead would add an insurance marker after that to make it 6-4. Shots were 11-7 for the home team in final period.

The loss drops the Glacier Kings record to 5-7-2-1 as they remain in 5th place in the North. They will be at home to Saanich on Saturday. Meanwhile the Wolves win improves their line to 13-2-1-0 and are now 4 points ahead of 2nd place Peninsula. Their next action is next Wednesday when they host Campbell River.

Other Observations:

  • Westshore had 12 different players with at least a point.
  • Comox Valley had 3 players with multiple points.
  • During the Wolves 6 game winning streak, they have outscored their opponents 31-16.
  • GKings scored 4 consecutive goals from the near the end of the 1st to midway through the 2nd, the Wolves then scored 4 consecutive to finish the game.
  • Kansys Seney extended his point streak to 6 games (5G, 4A)
  • After going 1 for 27 on the PP in October, Comox Valley scored on their first 2 PP opportunities of the game. For some reason, the online scoring shows they were 2 for 2 but were actually 2 for 4.
  • Love the broadcast from Marlon Martens. He’s one of the best in the league. I actually sent him a friend request on Facebook a long time ago but he didn’t accept lol.
  • Leon Mikhalchuk now has a goal in 4 consecutive games.
  • This is the first time this season that Comox has lost a game when leading after 2 periods (4-1-0-0).
  • Attendance was just 93 people at the game. The capacity for the Q Centre is 2780 including standing room.
  • Ethan Gobel is the only Glacier King averaging more than a point per game (13 points in 10 games).
  • The 6 goals allowed are the most the Yeti have given up this season. Their previous high was 5 which was also against Westshore. They had only allowed 3 goals total in their previous 3 games.
  • The GKings continue to lead the VIJHL in Penalty killing. In October, they have only allowed 2 goals on 25 shorthanded situations.

Darryl Skender