The Victoria Cougars came out of the gates fast and jumped on Comox early and skated to a 4-1 victory over the Glacier Kings. From the opening faceoff, Victoria showed a lot of speed and tenacity. The Cougars have played very well in October after a so-so September for their standards. They won just 3 of their first 7 games but now have reeled off 4 straight wins. Comox Valley ended September winning 3 of 4 but are 0-3 this month.

The Cougars got on the board early when a point shot from Quintin Bortolotto was deflected perfectly by Joseph Melichar for his 12th goal of the year.

Comox Valley would tie the game late in the opening stanza when Kingston Gowans shot the puck high off the glass in his own corner out to center where Zaya Morro tipped it ahead to put Cohen Kallin on a partial breakaway and beat goaltender Lane Maarhuis short-side. The period would end tied at 1.

Shots were 13-9 in favor of Victoria.

Then in the second frame, the highlight goal of the night came from Joseph Melichar while shorthanded. He stole the puck at the offensive blue line from a GKings forward and undressed another player to go in all alone to make it 2-1. They would never relinquish the lead after that. Shortly after, Carter Zeeben picked up a loose puck at center, circled down the left side over the blue line, went around Zaya Morro and roofed it past Anthony Ganoung. Just like that it was 3-1.

I watched an interesting play about 15 times in that period when the referee called an unsportsmanlike diving penalty on Ethan Gobel. It appeared to me every time that he was high sticked in the face. Victoria’s Haydyn Brooks was even headed for the penalty box when the referee told him that the infraction wasn’t against him. I’m still scratching my head that Gobel received the penalty. Shots were 12-8 for Comox Valley.

The Yeti played a pretty good third period but the only scoring would be an empty net goal by James Clarke late in the game to salt it away. Final shots were 35-35.

The loss drops the Glacier Kings record to 3-6-2 as they remain tied for last place with Oceanside but the Generals have 2 games in hand. Comox hosts Port Alberni Saturday. Victoria improves to 7-3-1 and are just 1 point behind Peninsula for second place in the South. They are off until Tuesday when they travel to Kerry Park.

Other Observations

• The difference in the game ended up being the Cougars scoring 2 goals in a span of 1:10 in the 2nd period.
• Comox did not score a PP goal for a 3rd straight game after having scored at least 1 in 5 straight.
• Cohen Kallin scored a goal in his 3rd consecutive game for the Yeti.
• There were remarks made in the game that were totally unjustified and over the top.  Let’s give this league a little dignity. I will leave it at that.
• Glacier Kings have scored a total of 4 goals in their last 3 games.
• Joseph Melichar is a stud. There’s no denying that. I had said I was looking forward to watching him play and I wasn’t disappointed.
• Speaking of Melichar, he has at least a point in all 11 games and has multiple points in his last 9 contests.
• This was the 2nd shorthanded goal Comox has allowed this season.
• Simon Semancik was held pointless for the first time this year. He had 9 points in his last 3 games and at least 1 in his previous 9.

Darryl Skender