Tag Archives: Mike Nesbitt

Glacier Kings – Wolves Preview

Leave a comment

It’s Game Day today as the Comox Valley Glacier Kings will be put to the test when they travel to Westshore for a game against the first place Wolves. Both teams are playing well right now. The Wolves have won 5 in a row, outscoring their opponents 25-12. The Glacier Kings are winners of their last 2 contests and have points in three consecutive games (2-0-0-1). The two teams squared off back on October 4th in Courtenay where Westshore took the game 5-1.

One interesting part of tonight’s game should be special teams. Starting with the power play, Comox has the second lowest proficiency rate, capitalizing on just 14.3% of their opportunities. On the other hand, the Wolves have the 2nd best at 24.4% so obviously staying out of the penalty box will be key. I spoke with head coach/GM Curtis Toneff and he talked about his club’s power play woes, “It’s been a frustrating part of our game. We started out okay (at the start of the season). I think our first reps look really good and then we get away from it. We have had a fair amount of conversations, we practice it often, I have made some personnel changes here and there. It’s also maybe a culmination of things like puck luck and switching around their spots like we have which might help them. I think just too much stagnant stickhandling is the one thing that frustrates me the most as a coach. When we move the puck and have a little more movement as a unit, we create good looks. Sometimes those looks go in and sometimes they don’t. That’s something that we’re going to continue to chip away at.” The Glacier Kings have just one power play goal in October. Their goal with the man advantage in their last game in Oceanside means they have are 1 for 27 this month.

The penalty kill on the other hand has been terrific. The Yeti have the best PK in the VIJHL with a 87.0% success rate. Westshore is pretty good as well at 83.6% which is 4th best. Toneff talked about why his own team has been so successful, “I think it’s honestly the veteran presence we have on it like guys that are used to knowing how we do kill. It’s the little reads in the game, when to be aggressive and when to not. Our penalty kill is fairly passive to be honest with you but it kind of emulates our d-zone. There’s not a lot of thinking. It’s just our d-zone minus one guy. It seems to be working and you never have great penalty killing without great goaltending. Maybe we’re not giving up grade ‘A’ looks but the goalies are still stopping the puck when they need to and that’s important as well.” Comox has the second best defensive rating in the league allowing just 2.79 goals per game. Meanwhile the Wolves have scored more goals than any team in the VIJHL will be an issue for the offensively challenged Glacier Kings.

Another strong start will be key for the GKings tonight. They don’t have the offensive power to come back from a significant deficit. That will be tough against the high-octane offense featuring 2 out of the top 4 players in league scoring. Parker Atkinson is putting up superior numbers averaging over 2 points per game so far while Kansys Seney is at close to 1.7 ppg. To put it in prospective, Comox doesn’t have anyone in the top 20 in scoring and also doesn’t boast any player that averages a point per game that has played a minimum of 10 games (the Wolves have 4). Westshore also has eight players with at least 10 points already, the Glacier Kings have two. Obviously this game will be a major test. The Yeti’s bench boss talked about the challenges they’re facing, “Just playing against a team with three or four lines that can bite you. A lot of teams have one or two but these guys don’t have many weak links. It’s up to every shift, be ready to go and protecting the guts of the ice. We gotta play that simple, greasy little game.” I agree the simpler that they can make the game the better and it wouldn’t hurt to have another great goaltending performance like they got from Silas Dromarsky who has been announced as “Goaltender of the Week” in the VIJHL for last week.

Westshore comes into tonight’s match with a 12-2-1-0 record, good for first place overall in the VIJHL. Comox Valley is in fifth place in the North Division sporting a 5-6-2-1 line. Head coach/GM Mike Nesbitt has assembled a very competitive team this season as one would expect. Remember that he took over a Glacier Kings squad that was majorly struggling and turned them around and had some very good seasons. Ander Reyes gets the start in between the pipes for the Wolves while Timothee Fengos will backstop the GKings. Game time is 7:00 pm at the Q Centre.

Darryl Skender

Exciting Times For GKings

Leave a comment

The Comox Valley Glacier Kings are trending up after winning both games on the weekend and now have points in 3 consecutive games. With the standings so tight in the North Division, every game is seeming to be important already. Don’t get me wrong, it’s abundantly clear that the top three teams in the South appear to be the class of the league right now. The Glacier Kings have beaten one of those teams (Peninsula) but have losses to the other two (Westshore and Victoria by a combined score of 9-1). But being in the North Division has its advantages as the Yeti are just 3 points out of first place. Yes, the weekend showed us glimpses of how well this team can play.

It all started on Friday with Comox Valley topping Lake Cowichan 3-1. It was just the second time this year that the GKings scored 3 goals in a period including their initial marker just 20 seconds into the game. Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff said he loved the start his club had, “It seemed like for the first time this year we came out, results-wise came out and scored three in the first and that’s what won us the game in the end. We scored on our first shift and then again on a double screen and then another one which was nice especially on a road game against a team that was ready for a home battle. I don’t know how much success they’ve had at home recently. They seem to be on a bit of a home stand. It seems to be a different game in that rink. I think there’s more shots, a smaller neutral zone might be the reason for it. Goals can happen quickly there and fortunately they did for us that night.” The Kraken just finished their unsuccessful homestand where they went 0-4 after their loss to Nanaimo on Sunday.

Just 24 hours later, the team travelled to Parksville for their matchup against Oceanside. This time, it would mark the first shutout of the season for Comox in their 2-0 win. That made up for a 4-3 loss back on September 19th to the Generals. Toneff did acknowledge that his squad’s result probably should have been better the first time around but was pleased with their second head to head game a month later, “I thought that we maybe deserved a better fate that first game we played them a few weeks ago. Looking back on that game, we out-chanced them 19-7, also had a 9 minute penalty kill in the midst of that. I think it was an overall 4 lines and 6 defenseman doing their jobs and Silas (Dromarsky) in net who had a great game. I wouldn’t say it was a perfect weekend but for this time of year, it is as good as we could hope for.” The defensive zone coverage and goaltending has been good the past few games. In fact, the Glacier Kings have only given up a total of 3 combined goals in their last 3 games. It’s helped out by boasting the best penalty kill in the entire VIJHL. Now if they could just score more goals.

Even though things have been looking brighter lately, tonight is a definite test. Comox travels to Westshore to take on the top team (points wise) in the VIJHL. The Wolves are the only team not to have recorded a regulation loss on home ice this year. It’s the second time this season where former coach/GM Mike Nesbitt will faceoff against his former team.

Darryl Skender

Yeti Win 2nd Straight To Finish Month

Leave a comment

For the first time this season, the Comox Valley Glacier Kings have a winning streak. This is thanks to a 4-3 win over the Peninsula Panthers on Sunday. I have done a lot of writing about how big this past weekend was going to be and how we would find out a lot about this squad. After losing in Campbell River on Friday, they played at home to Nanaimo, who at the time was in first place in the North, and beat the Bucs, then played the only undefeated team in the VIJHL in the Panthers and came out victorious. Three games in three days is never easy but I think we can all say that this was a very successful weekend.

The scoring got started early when Leon Mikhalchuk got a loose puck behind the net and centered a pass in front to Declan Johannesen who wristed it past a sprawling Matus Volovar. Just one minute later things could have turned when 5th year forward Ethan Lingard went in on a breakaway but was denied by Ganoung. The period ended 1-0. Shots were 12 apiece.

The lead however would be short-lived in the second period. The Panthers had sustained pressure in the offensive zone and that pressure paid off when Jacob Eddy took a slap shot from the point that was deflected perfectly by Alex Sajan past the goaltender. Then exactly one minute later Peninsula took a 2-1 lead from a faceoff win. Lingard walked right between 2 defenders but was denied by Ganoung. However the rebound at the top of the crease was put home by Oskar Aitken-Salmons. That was it for the scoring in the second. Shots were 9-8 in favor of the home side.

An incident late in that second period happend when Leon Mikhalchuk stole the puck in the slot and was robbed by Volovar but then was subsequently sticked in between his legs by the goaltender. Neither referee saw it while Mikalchuk stayed down on the ice in pain. Play continued down to the other end of the arena as the Glacier Kings bench erupted. The whistle was finally blown with Peninsula in control of the puck inside the Comox blue line. All 4 officials got together and ruled a 4-minute spearing penalty.

The third period was a bit crazy but a lot of fun to watch. With a little over a minute left in the double-minor, Ethan Gobel gave Cameron Collins a perfect pass in front to tie the game at two. The officials had to gather again to make sure the puck had crossed the goal line. Then the Glacier Kings took the lead just a couple shifts later. Ethan Gobel won the offensive zone faceoff back to Mikhalchuk who one-timed a wrist shot from the top of the circle past Volovar. The GKings would eventually make it 4-2 later in that final frame. The play started with a 2-man breakaway where Cohen Kallin slid it over to Zaya Morro who was absolutely robbed by Volovar. The rebound came out in front and Landon Morris put it into the empty net while being hooked down to the ice. The Panthers wouldn’t go away quietly however. With their goalie pulled, Joe Marranzino took a shot from the blue line and Ganoung left a big rebound that Carson Harris put into an open net to make it a one goal game again. That’s how this contest would finish.

The win gives the Glacier Kings a 3-4-1 record as they moved 1 point ahead of the Oceanside Generals. Their next game is Friday night in Campbell River. The loss for Peninsula was their first of the season (6-1-0). They also play on Friday when it’s the battle of the top 2 teams in the VIJHL. The first place Westshore Wolves, who are led by former Glacier Kings coach Mike Nesbitt, will be at the Panorama Recreation.

Other Observations

  • This marks the first time this year that Comox is not in the basement in the North Division.
  • The Glacier Kings have been off to slow starts this year so scoring just 1:29 into the game was very refreshing. They also scored 1:17 into the 3rd period.
  • Declan Johannesen now has goals in 3 of his last 4 games.
  • This was the first time this season that the GKings have won a game when trailing after 2 periods.
  • Anthony Ganoung’s start made him the first Comox goalie to play in back to back games this season.
  • Panthers forward Oskar Aitken-Salmons’ goal gives him 9 already which is tied for the league lead. He has 3 multiple goal games already through 7 games.
  • Aitken-Salmons teammate Carson Harris also has 9 goals. Interesting stat is he has 9 goals and 0 assists. Cy Young candidate? (For you baseball fans.) In all seriousness, he has scored at least 1 goal in 6 of his 7 games.
  • I liked the camera work in Peninsula. They would zoom in quite often on the play when it required it. Most teams just leave the play zoomed out when things are exciting or important events are happening.
  • Ethan Gobel has 5 assists in his last 2 games.
  • The Yeti scored 2 goals in 1:02 to go from being behind to going ahead in the 3rd period.
  • Comox now has at least 1 power play goal in 5 consecutive games.
  • Cameron Collins has at least a point in 4 of the 5 games he’s played in this season.
  • The GKings took just 1 penalty in the entire game (a tripping call in the 3rd period).
  • Zaya Morro has a 4-game point streak (3G, 4A)
  • Next Friday will already mark the 3rd time in 9 overall games that Comox Valley and Campbell River will play each other.

Darryl Skender