Tag Archives: Marsha Webb

Glacier Kings Attend Remembrance Day Ceremony

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings attended the Remembrance Day ceremony in Courtenay today. All members of the team showed up to commemorate current veterans, past veterans and fallen soldiers who died in the line of duty. It took place at the Jubilee Square Cenotaph in Courtenay. It was a beautiful winter day for the ceremony. The Legion invited the Glacier Kings organization up for lunch and drinks and from all accounts, the boys enjoyed it.

While my wife and I were out around town later, I ran into Glacier Kings owners Marsha & Dave Webb (for a second day in a row). They seemed very proud of the boys and even gave them some insight on what Remembrance Day is about. I didn’t see them at the ceremony because my family went to the Comox ceremony at the Comox Cenotaph. This memorial is dedicated to the men of the 102 Battalion North British Columbians who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. It was erected by the Town of Comox and the Royal Canadian Legion in front of the Post Office on Comox Avenue in approximately 1920. It was very moving and had a huge turnout.

After the ceremony, my wife Shannon, my mom and myself went to the Legion to support them as it is really struggling (only open on weekends now). It’s the people and the stories and the history I really enjoy at the Legion. While there, we spoke with a woman named Debra. She talked about her brother Kenny Belafonte who had just passed away in May. Kenny spent well over 20 years in the military as a MSE Op (Mobile Support Equipment Operator) on bases such as Comox and Borden, ON. She was so proud of him right to the end and was more than happy to share his story with perfect strangers. He was a hero right until the end, even though he was retired from the military for many years. He went into the hospital in Victoria telling his family he had a small issue but would be out in a few days. Kenny, who suffered from PTSD, ended up being there for a month with a large tumor on his lung but didn’t alert his family of the life threatening condition as he didn’t want them to worry. Because he knew his fate, he asked the doctor to release him so he could spend time with his friends and family. Everyday, he asked his sister Debra to text him good morning but wouldn’t say why. Every morning, she did and he would reply with a thumbs up. Then came one day in May when Debra gave him her daily text but this time there would not be no thumbs up. Kenny had passed. He knew from the beginning he didn’t have much longer but he didn’t want his family to stress for the time he had left to live. He wanted to keep his future a secret to save his family pain and worry. The Legion was closed at the time of his death because of other issues but his sister had convinced them to reopen it which was very fitting as he had dedicated so much of his time there. Debra told us that she had one brother but after his passing, she suddenly had twelve. Kenny’s military friends have welcomed her in as part of their family and she feels blessed.

These are the stories you can hear when you go to the Legion. Please support your local branch as many are dying because of money issues.

To everyone, past or present, that has ever donned a uniform to stand up for our country, I would like to say thank you. To the people I served beside in the Navy, please know that it was an honor for me to do so with you. Let’s never forget about the people that sacrificed their lives for this wonderful country.

Darryl Skender

Glacier Kings – Kraken Preview

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings hit the road tonight as they will travel to Lake Cowichan in one of three Halloween games on tap in the VIJHL. The Glacier Kings have been playing well lately winning 3 of their last 4 games and have points in 4 of their last 5. Their opponents on the other hand haven’t been having a lot of luck lately. After a promising start where they won 5 of their first 6 games, the Kraken have now lost 8 consecutive matches and have sunk to the basement in the North Division. They’ve been outscored 29-12 in those 8 games which averages out to only scoring 1.5 goals per game during that stretch. Comox currently sits tied for 4th place in the North Division with a 6-7-1-2 record. A win would move them ahead of Port Alberni into sole possession of 4th and also place them at .500 for the first time this season. Lake Cowichan sports a 5-9-0-0 line which is 5 points behind the Glacier Kings and the Bombers.

I’m not really expecting a high scoring game. Both teams play a pretty good defensive game and each also have trouble scoring. As an insight, there are a total of 20 players that have scored at least 7 goals already this season. None are from either of these teams. Another example is the Yeti are the second lowest scoring team in the league ahead of only Kerry Park. Lake Cowichan has the 3rd lowest goals per game. Another stat shows the Glacier Kings leading scorer (Zaya Morro) is tied for 22nd place in the VIJHL. The Kraken’s leading point-getter (Kadin Bilajbegovic) is tied for 43rd. In fact, the only meeting between these two foes so far ended up in a low scoring 3-1 affair in favor of Comox back on October 17th. We might expect the same tonight.

As for special teams, here’s where they stack up:

Power Play
Comox Valley: 16.7% (8th)
Lake Cowichan: 17.3% (7th)
Penalty Kill
Comox Valley: 88.7% (1st)
Lake Cowichan: 76.4% (10th)

There’s no question that the Glacier Kings have been working on their offensive game in practice lately and have scored 8 goals in their last 2 matches so they could be turning a corner. It’s only the second time this season that they’ve scored at least 4 goals in back to back games. The most they’ve scored in a game is 5 and have done that twice (Sept. 20th @ Kerry Park & Sept. 27th @ Nanaimo). The question is, who will be able to step up tonight?

Someone who has been playing well offensively is Ethan Gobel. No, he is not the leading scorer on his club but he is the only player that averages over a point a game. He was held pointless against Saanich in his last contest but racked up 1G, 3A in his previous one against Westshore. Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff says he likes a lot of things about Gobel, “Honestly, he’s a hockey nerd through and through. He loves the game, he wants to get better every day and I think he does get better every day and I think it rubs off on his teammates. I think if he wants to, he could work in hockey when he done. He was hurt for a few games and was doing more analytics than I do. He’s kind of a fun guy to have around as coaches. I know Brad Smith is a very big fan. Just kind of a coaches dream, a center with size, plays in every situation. He’s our version of Anze Kopitar. Having guys like him give you a chance to win a lot of nights down the stretch for sure.” So far this season, Gobel has tallied 3G, 11A 14Pts in 11 games.

The Kraken are a dangerous team to play right now. They are definitely overdue for a victory plus 4 of their 5 wins have come at the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena. It is a tough place to play as noted by their 4-4 record there. With that being said, it is a very winnable game for the GKings as long as they don’t make too many silly mistakes. Toneff says he know this game is key in the standings and his squad can’t take the Kraken for granted, “They’re all important, it’s going to be tight for awhile. It’s going to be a desperate team that we’re facing. You look at the shot clock when Lake Cowichan plays, they’re usually in charge of the shot clock. Watching them, they’re usually in charge 50% of the game. I know they have a hard hat and lunch box mentality by the looks of it so we have to be ready to go and not think that we’re going to be spotted a three goal lead like a week and a half ago.” After winning their first 4 games at home, the Kraken have lost their last 4 in front of their fans.

The other two games in the VIJHL also have North Division implications with Victoria @ Campbell River and Oceanside @ Peninsula. If all goes well in the 3 games, Comox Valley could see themselves just 2 points out of first place in the North. It looks like Anthony Ganoung will get the start in net. The Glacier Kings line up is now posted in the “Gameday Lineups” section of this blog. Hopefully we’ll be celebrating a Blue Jays World Series Championship by the time the puck drops. Are you ready Marsha? I’ll be texting with you again tonight (it brought us good luck on Wednesday). Go Blue Jays!

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