Tag Archives: Haden Parker

Comox Clinches Playoff Spot

February 7, 2026 Darryl Skender Leave a comment

The Comox Valley Glacier Kings started strong and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Lake Cowichan Kraken on Friday. The win clinched a playoff spot for the Yeti who still have hopes of home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It was a full 60 minute effort in what looked like a grudge match at certain times and was certainly very entertaining.

The scoring got started early in the first period as a result of a Westin Churchill faceoff win. Landen May’s shot from the point went to the side of the net where Cameron Collins centered in front to Churchill who redirected it into the open net to make it 1-0.

The Glacier Kings would score again late in the opening frame because of a faceoff win. This time it was Gavin Munro getting it back to Haden Parker who slid it over to Gavin Mowat. His shot from the blue line was defected beautifully by Zaya Morro to make it 2-0.

That’s how the period ended. Shots were 16-5 in favor of Comox Valley.

Early in the second period, Haden Parker got a lucky bounce as he shot the puck off the glass from center ice but it hit a stanchion in the glass while goaltender Evgeni Tkachenko was going behind his goal to stop it and the puck redirected straight into the net. Unfortunately the cameraman still had the camera pointed at the Kraken bench showing an injured player while the goal happened. This is the best photo available afterwards.

The Glacier Kings kept the pressure on and eventually score again. Morro led a 3 on 2 break over the blue line and made a smart move passing it back to the trailer Evan Marko. His shot was stopped by Tkachenko but the rebound went right to Cohen Kallin who backhanded it through two sets of legs into the open cage.

Comox would make it 5-0 just 2:37 later on a scramble in front of the Lake Cowichan net. The puck eventually went off a skate right to Collins. He made a terrific turnaround pass through the slot, through skates and right to Easton Sangris who buried it past the netminder.

Late in the middle frame, GKings goalie Ander Reyes lost his bid for a shutout in his first game with his new club. Comox couldn’t get the puck out of their own zone. Toby Johnson made them pay as he passed cross-ice to Blaine Wilson who one-timed it into the net with just 52 seconds left on the clock. The 2nd period ended 5-1. The shots were 15-8 for the home side.

There wasn’t any scoring in the very physical 3rd period. Most of the hits were clean. A very close call for a goal took place early in the final stanza on a wrap-around attempt. Tkachenko lost his stick in his net and was caught on the wrong side when Rolan Amin cut around to the other side of the goal and it somehow didn’t go in. You can see the puck go along the goal line if you look closely.

With about 5 minutes left, Gavin Mowat and Toby Johnson decided to drop the gloves. It was a good bout and I’ll give the edge to Johnson.

The final score was 5-1. Comox Valley once again had a decisive edge in shots in that period 19-6.

The win improves the Yeti’s record to 21-15-5-1 for 48 points, still 3 ahead of Campbell River who also won on Friday. The Kraken drop to 12-26-1-1 for 26 points. They have been eliminated from playoff contention. Next up for Comox is a road game in Port Alberni on Wednesday while Lake Cowichan plays tonight in Kerry Park.

Other Observations:

By the time the game was 93 seconds old, the Glacier Kings already had a goal and hit a cross bar. They ended the period with 2 hit goal posts and 2 crossbars.
It was nice to see Westin Churchill’s goal in the 1st period. He has been snake-bitten. That was his first point in 9 games and first goal in 11.
GKings are 9-2-3-0 (21 points) in their last 14 games.
Comox Valley’s PP with 1:18 left in the 1st looked good. The puck never left the offensive zone but they couldn’t score before the intermission whistle.
Lake Cowichan’s Toby Johnson now has points in 7 of his last 10 games. He leads his club in assists and points.
If you’re a fan of fighting, you would have loved the bout between Nicolas Kalinocka and Landen May. They started chucking hard punches with a lot landing on both sides. The part I loved about it was that they shook hands after and then tapped each other on the helmet after it was over. I’ll be honest, I have never seen a handshake after a fight.

Landen May’s fight upped his his penalty minute total to 142. That’s the 4th most in the VIJHL.
Comox Valley is now a perfect 14-0-0-0 when they lead after the 1st period.
Cameron Collins now has 1G, 3A in his last 3 games.
Haden Parker had 1 goal in his first 37 games. Since then he has scored 3 times in his last 4 contests.
A fan came very close to winning the prize during the 1st intermission. He shot the puck from center ice and missed the net but Gavin Mowat redirected it with his stick and it came so close to going in.

The online scoring shows Lake Cowichan’s goal at 0:02 into the second period. No the Kraken didn’t set a VIJHL record with fastest goal to start a period. The time should read 19:02.
This is the 5th time Comox has had at least 50 shots. They are 4-0-0-1 in those games.
The GKings are just 3 points behind 2nd place Nanaimo in the North. Those 2 squads square off against each other in a week from Monday. Don’t count the Yeti out of a 2nd place finish quite yet.

Darryl Skender

The Yeti Are Playing Up To Their Potential

February 4, 2026 Darryl Skender Leave a comment

When you think of high end talent and certain players, guys like Joseph Melichar of Victoria or Parker Atkinson of Westshore come to mind. I would pay money just to watch these guys play. Guys like that are far and few between. I can’t think of a single player on most clubs including Comox that I would pay just to see. As for the Glacier Kings as a whole, that’s a different story. They have assembled a squad that believes in each other and have vastly improved as the season has gone on. Because they don’t have the elite stars that some of the other teams have, they need to be great as a whole, not as individuals and every player has to play up to the best of his capabilities. For the most part, these guys are. It doesn’t mean they can’t get better. With more experience and playing time they will improve. But they seem to be playing at a high-level which is needed down the stretch and into the playoffs. That’s why they have picked up at least a point in 11 of their last 13 games.

The fact that they are playing better has been noticed not only by Glacier Kings fans but also by other coaches and teams as well. Comox Valley’s head coach/GM Curt Toneff has observed a significant improvement as well. He was very candid when talking about the big difference from the start of September, “I’m just going to be honest with you, we have better hockey players now than we did at the start of the season. Overall just bigger, faster and older.” It was a very simple message and it was received loudly. He wants players here that will help this organization win hockey games and that certainly has been happening of late.

Even with better personnel, that doesn’t win hockey games alone. We’ve seen in the past in all levels of hockey where a team stacks up elite players at the deadline and things don’t go well. Same things in other sports like basketball. If you have all shooters and no play-makers, only one person can shoot the puck or basketball while the other scorers just stand and watch. Every team no matter what sport needs chemistry to win. It has taken the Glacier Kings a little while to get it with all the new faces but it seems to be coming together. Toneff says they are still working on chemistry, “That’s one thing I almost try to work on as a coach. A little bit of feedback from exit meetings last year was leaving some lines together a little bit more. It’s tough, I think we talked about it last week, it’s tough when you have 14 or 15 forwards that pay money to play. It’s tough to build that chemistry. I’ve left it alone almost as much as possible. I’ve thrown the lines in the blender a little bit midway through the game but there are very consistent duos and I think we talked about it last week about plugging the third guy in or the third center in or plugging the winger in. I think we have a lot of pairs as far as chemistry. Our ‘D’ I would definitely say are very familiar with each other.” Meatloaf’s song ‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad’ might be applicable here. It will get better with more playing time but remember, every other club will be improving as well.

I look down the roster and can see a bunch of guys playing really well right now. Some are obvious because they have been good since the start of the season but there are some that are under the radar. As a whole, everyone is playing at a higher level. Curtis talked about some of his players that he has liked during this stretch of really consistent hockey, “I think Haden Parker has been really good. He’s starting to believe in himself a little bit more offensively. He scored the tying goal on Friday and scored the winner on Saturday. He comes to mind. I think (Kyle) Mayenburg has been kind of what he needs to be. A guy that you don’t notice a ton as someone with a lot of flash but he’s out there 30 minutes a night. Rolan Amin’s a guy that puts some life on our bench with his compete and leadership. I think Quinten Harvie is just settling in and starting to play hockey whereas before Christmas he was going over the line a little bit and ended up in the penalty box a little bit too much. I don’t think it was always warranted but he seems to have addressed it. You know when you go down the line up, some guys are developing a little bit more trust to play harder minutes and maybe they weren’t even in the line up the night before. Gavin Munro, Mateo Moro, guys that you aren’t going to talk about a ton, they get out there, they play their 10-12 minutes and they play hard. We trust them, the bench trusts them. I think for us that what we need to be successful. We don’t have that guy that’s going to get 80 points but if we can get it by committee at the highest level then it can be done.” If everything stays at the rate it is right now, Leon Mikhalchuk will finish as the top scorer for his squad with 46 points. He currently has 39 points with 7 games left and averages one point per contest.

I looked around to see what other teams top point leaders have accumulated and it surprised me that Oceanside, who is a top contender, is in the same boat as the Glacier Kings. They also need to play a full team game to win and they’ve been effective at doing just that. Braeyen Newans leads them with just 35 points but to be fair he has been with the Powell River Kings a little bit as well. Just a side note, I think I can see why the Generals are doing so well. According to their roster they have a 24 year old and a 22 year old playing lol. I jest because it’s just a mistake on their website with Braylon Becker who is actually a 2008 not a 2003 born player and Levi Green is a 2005 not a 2001. With Comox, Ethan Gobel could be leading the Glacier Kings if he was still with them. He had the highest average of points per game on the squad (1.17). However it’s been a struggle for him in the BCHL as he has only amassed 2G, 1A in 16 games and that’s after getting a goal and an assist in first 2 games with his junior ‘ A’ club.

That’s it for today, enjoy your Wednesday everybody.

Darryl Skender

GKings Win In OT

January 31, 2026 Darryl Skender Leave a comment

The Comox Valley Glacier Kings started strong before having to come from behind late to beat the Peninsula Panthers 3-2 in overtime on Friday. It was the type of game that the Glacier Kings have been excelling in. They were very disciplined and held the best team in the VIJHL in check all night with their defensive style which has really coming into its own.

The Glacier Kings got on the board first. On the power play, the puck was shot around the Peninsula net and Rolan Amin stopped it along the wall at the hash mark. The Burnaby product fed a perfect pass across the slot to Leon Mikhalchuk and he buried it past Matus Volovar.

Just over 4 minutes later the Panthers tied it up on a 2 on 1. Markus Nichols passed over to Luke Christensen who one-timed it over the glove of Lane Maarhuis.

That would be it for scoring in the first period. The Panthers looked much better in the last half of the period. Shots were 11-10 for Comox.

It was a fun second period with both teams having some chances but both goaltenders stopped everything thrown their way. The best chance was for 5th year player Ethan Lingard when he went in on a breakaway from outside the blue line but Maarhuis closed the pads in time.

The captain came into the game with 45 points in 36 games but was stoned. Panthers outshot Comox 17-11 in that second stanza.

In the third Peninsula took their first lead of the game. They came out strong and just 1:55 into the frame, Dome Szongoth carried the puck all the way down the ice and when he got into the offensive corner he passed back to the blue line to Carson Harris who faked a shot and went around Suhaan Nagra, then skated into the center slot and roofed a wrist shot past Maarhuis.

It looked liked that goal might stand up to be the winner as the period moved on but with just a little over 6 minutes left, the road team were finally able to tie it. Easton Sangris took a big hit to make a nice pass to Tegan Clayton. The 19 year old took off from center ice and made his way right into the slot where Volovar made a nice save but Haden Parker was standing alone in front and scored on the rebound.

Regulation time would end with a 2-2 score. Comox outshot Peninsula 11-9.

In overtime, defenceman Gavin Mowat blocked 2 big shots about 4 minutes in. The first knocked the stick out of his hands and he blocked the second shot with no stick. The puck ended going back into the Panthers zone. Panthers defenceman Clayton Collier tried to shoot the puck off the boards and out of the zone but the carom off the wall angled straight sideways and right to Cameron Collins. The Comox forward made a nice move into the middle of the slot and fired a wrist shot past the goaltender to end the game.

Shots were even at three apiece in the extra session.

The win ties the season series at 2-2 between these 2 clubs. Comox Valley improves to 20-15-4-1. Because Campbell River got shutout by Nanaimo last night, the Glacier Kings are now 4 points ahead of the Storm for the fight for 3rd place in the North. Peninsula falls to 31-5-2-0. They currently sit 5 points ahead of 2nd place Victoria in the South. The Yeti play at home to Victoria tonight while the Panthers travel to Kerry Park. For tonight’s game in Courtenay, the GKings lineup is now posted in the “Gameday Lineups” page of this blog.