Tag Archives: Luca Vanzo

GKings Confident/Goaltender Signed

Leave a comment

The Comox Valley Glacier Kings are in a groove and it is showing in their swagger right now. They are working hard in practice, putting in 60 minute efforts in games and are doing better in the standings. Everything seems to be on the positive with their line up except for one thing (which in another way is a very big positive thing). We have been raving about Lane Maarhuis since coming over from Victoria and for good reason. He has been outstanding. He’s posted a 2-1-1-0 record with a 1.95 GAA and a .939 save percentage since coming here. Well he’s on the move again . He has been picked up by the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL for at least 7-10 days if not longer. Because of this, Comox Valley has acquired 18 year old netminder Ander Reyes from the Westshore Wolves. He became expendable and was released after Westshore signed former Glacier King backstop Luca Vanzo. Reyes sported a 9-3-0-1 record, 2.86 GAA, .911 save percentage with the Wolves and we could possibly seem him start tomorrow with Anthony Ganoung still on the injury list. He is a Winnipeg product that played with Pacific Coast Prep teams the past few years and put up fantastic numbers. Vanzo has also been good since going to Westshore (2-1, .360, .914) and is a welcome addition down south.

Despite the goalie shuffling going on, the Yeti look like they’re feeling good and they should. They have beaten every team in the VIJHL at least once with the exception of the Victoria Cougars. They have given the Cougars a run for their money the past 2 games but only have one point to show for it. Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff talked about his players confidence building, “I think it has to. Like you said, playing Victoria that tight, two games that close, there is a belief there that we can beat any team. The nice part is I still feel like we can play a little better. We’ve only been together as a team for so long, we still have some building to do within our game. I think that the roles and pieces are in place to hopefully have some success here.” They have beaten top teams like Peninsula (twice), Westshore (twice) and Oceanside (3 times plus a 4th went into OT).

As the season gets longer, the bumps and bruises and injuries can start to mount. So can being tired from all the practices, games, late night bus trips throughout the first five months etc. Work-load management for the players could be a thing but it still isn’t as hectic as upper-tier junior leagues and professionals. I asked Curtis about his practices this week and he said things are getting done quite quickly, “We’re maybe not going quite as long as you might in November or maybe January. We went for maybe an hour yesterday, Tuesday it was ‘skills’. An hour was more than enough yesterday with the pace and compete, the amount of skating that was done. To be honest, after an hour I said ‘That’s it for today’. We can stay on the ice, have a conversation or two, hit some pucks, have some faceoffs. Today we’ll have a bit more structure and some special teams but it’s been nice. I planned to go an hour-ten or an hour-15 but an hour is all that we have needed. Sometimes it’s like that this time of the year when you get in a rhythm.” By now the players know what to do so it is more-less honing their skills and efficiency at executing their responsibilities.

The Lake Cowichan Kraken will be in Courtenay for a visit tomorrow so there won’t be a practice. It is the Glacier Kings only game this week. Comox has picked up 7 of a possible 8 points against the Kraken so far this year. I’ll have a full preview of that game on tomorrow’s post. Until then, have a great day!

Darryl Skender

Comox-Peninsula Preview

Leave a comment

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

Bombers – Glacier Kings Preview

Leave a comment

The Comox Valley Glacier Kings are looking to break their 3 game losing streak tonight when they play host to the Port Alberni Bombers. Comox had yesterday off after losing in Victoria the night before. Meanwhile Port Alberni lost 6-0 last night to Peninsula in a game where the Panthers outshot them 22-2 in the third period. The standings are crazy in the North Division this year. The Glacier Kings are in 6th place but a win can put them into a tie for 3rd place and only 1 point behind the 2nd place team.

Getting back to tonight’s game, Comox will try to take advantage of home ice, something they haven’t really done much of this year. They have won just 1 of 4 games at the Sports Centre this year. The Bombers haven’t been much better on the road with a 2-4-1 record. After tonight, Port Alberni will have played 8 of their 13 games away from the Multiplex.

One thing that the GKings have struggled on lately is scoring, especially on the power play.  After having a streak of 5 straight game with at least 1 PP goal, they haven’t scored one in their past 3. I asked head coach/GM Curtis Toneff about the struggles, “Ya, a couple guys efforts, execution isn’t what it needs to be. Sometimes I wear a lot of hats so I’m focusing on it a little more this week. I told the guys about 3 weeks ago that their 5 on 5 play will play a factor in their power play situations. And if they’re on the power play already, their work ethic on the power play would decide if they stay on the power play or not. A couple guys have found themselves on the power play and a couple guys found themselves in the stands. That’s the reality of it in junior hockey.” They are currently 0/13 with the man advantage in October.

As much as the power play is struggling, it’s just the opposite with their penalty kill. In the last 4 games, they’ve held the opponents off the score sheet in 11 of their last 12 shorthanded situations. Toneff talked about his club’s PK, “I think that guys that have been around the team and around my style of effort. A lot of our veterans kill. We don’t beat it up a ton to be honest. We have our values and the guys stick to them and have done a great job in executing that so far.” The Glacier Kings are killing penalties at an 85% clip. The Yeti have actually done a pretty good job staying out of the box as there are only 3 teams with less total penalties minutes this season.

The goaltending duo of Timothee Fengos and Anthony Ganoung has been pretty good so far. One knock on Fengos so far is that he has made some terrific saves and has played well but it seems he lets one goal a game in that he should have maybe stopped. I asked Curtis about that,” Fengos is 17 which reminds me of Luca Vanzo last year, he stole the net down the stretch. I bet you in September and October that there were a few goals that he would like back. He ended up taking the net in the playoffs. I think as long as you work through the problems, as long as you’re making big saves, I’d rather give up those goals unfortunately now than down the stretch. I think Timmy is a very good goalie, he’s very sound east to west, moves well and I think has a lot of potential. I’d rather him just work through whatever that issue is, maybe a confidence thing, don’t get all up tight about it. I think the rest of it is there. He knows that he has to clean that 1 goal up every night. He’ll get another crack at it soon enough. In practice with some of the things he’s done, we have a good thing going there as a whole.” Fengos has put up a 0-3-1 record with a 3.77 GAA and a .909 save percentage so far this year.

As for Anthony Ganoung, he has played a couple more games than Fengos. Ganoung has also been very good and is the only goaltender with back to back starts for Comox this season. I asked the coach if Ganoung is considered the go-to guy yet, “Well, they’re so different (Ganoung and Fengos). I would say at this present moment, absolutely, you gotta go with the guy that’s won the games. He’s got the hot hand. With Anthony, it’s a different look in there. Timothee is more of a focused type guy, a little bit quieter in his gameday like a lot of goalies. Then Anthony brings that kind of swagger to our team it seems. It’s not like you get the same thing in there which is nice. As a coach, you have to read who the best fit is. And on top of that, Silas (Dromarsky) has gotten better every day too so he’ll get opportunities shortly to build his stat sheet. It’s positive that I got three guys I like right now. Hopefully our guys play hard in front of them.” After Thursday’s loss, Ganoung now sports a 2-3-1 record and a 2.83 GAA with a .922 save percentage.

The Glacier Kings enter tonight at 3-6-2 while Port Alberni sports a 5-6-1 record. A win by the home team would pull them within one point of the second place Bombers and still have a game in hand on them. The two squads are challenged offensively averaging less than 3 goals per game each. Both sides only have one player among the top 20 scorers in the VIJHL. Bomber forward Kash Nicklin is tied for 16th with 12 points in 10 games. Zaya Morrow for the GKings is tied for 18th with 11 points in 11 games.

Curtis Toneff has announced that Timothee Fengos will be the starter in net for Comox. Puck drop is 6:30 pm at the CVSC. Enjoy the game everyone.

Darryl Skender