Tag Archives: Parker Atkinson

The Yeti Are Playing Up To Their Potential

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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

Comox-Peninsula Preview

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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

Wolves Win 6th Straight

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The Westshore Wolves jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead and held on for a 6-4 victory over the Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Friday. It was a valiant effort by the Yeti as they came back after being down early to take a 2 goal lead but Westshore, who have now won 6 in a row, proved why they are the highest scoring team in the league. It was disappointing to give up the lead but the boys played hard and looked gassed by the end. Full marks to the Wolves who are a very good skating team which is just one of the reasons their offence is so good.

Westshore came out of the gates skating hard and earned an early 1-0 lead when Linden Hoskins took a wrist shot from the top of the circle that Timothee Fengos stopped but Owen Hentschel tapped in the rebound from inside the crease. The Wolves then went up 2-0 late in that opening stanza when defenceman Kyle Mayenburg got caught up ice on a bad bounce and Westshore had a 2 on1, Ashton Vine-Sullivan slid a perfect pass over to Jackson Buie who went forehand-backhand on Fengos before putting it up high glove-side.

But, with just over a minute left, Comox would cut the lead in half when Leon Mikhalchuk centered the puck from behind the the net and Zaya Morro got to it in a crowd of sticks and skates and somehow put it past goaltender Ander Reyes. The period would end at 2-1. Shots on goal were 13-11 in favor of the Yeti.

In the second period, the GKings would tie it up on the power play. Cameron Collins fed the puck to the side of the net to Ethan Gobel who slid it in front to Leon Mikhalchuk and he backhanded it past Reyes. Just 2:21 later Comox would take their first lead of the game with another power play goal. Cameron Collins passed to the left side boards to Suhaan Nagra who immediately fed it cross-ice to Ethan Gobel. The 18 year old blasted a one-timer past the goalie and it was 3-2.

The Glacier Kings weren’t done there. Shortly after a successful penalty kill, they would have a 2 on 1 of their own. Kaden Ryan turned the puck over at his own blue line and Ethan Gobel went in and took a shot that Reyes made the save on but Cohen Kallin got the rebound and just got it by the sprawling goaltender. Suddenly it was 4-2 for the road side.

However, you knew you weren’t going to keep Parker Atkinson off the score sheet forever. He gave a perfect tape to tape pass to Noah Gebicki in the slot who one-timed it into a wide open net to make it 4-3.

That’s how the middle frame ended. Shots were 17-6 for the Glacier Kings.

Things got even more tense in the 3rd when Noah Gebicki went over the blue line and both d-men cheated over towards him. That left Kansys Seney all by himself and he made no mistake. That tied the game at 4.

Jasper Fellbaum would put the Wolves ahead for good after a lucky bounce and he found himself wide open in front, then beat Fengos on the blocker side. Alejandro Snead would add an insurance marker after that to make it 6-4. Shots were 11-7 for the home team in final period.

The loss drops the Glacier Kings record to 5-7-2-1 as they remain in 5th place in the North. They will be at home to Saanich on Saturday. Meanwhile the Wolves win improves their line to 13-2-1-0 and are now 4 points ahead of 2nd place Peninsula. Their next action is next Wednesday when they host Campbell River.

Other Observations:

  • Westshore had 12 different players with at least a point.
  • Comox Valley had 3 players with multiple points.
  • During the Wolves 6 game winning streak, they have outscored their opponents 31-16.
  • GKings scored 4 consecutive goals from the near the end of the 1st to midway through the 2nd, the Wolves then scored 4 consecutive to finish the game.
  • Kansys Seney extended his point streak to 6 games (5G, 4A)
  • After going 1 for 27 on the PP in October, Comox Valley scored on their first 2 PP opportunities of the game. For some reason, the online scoring shows they were 2 for 2 but were actually 2 for 4.
  • Love the broadcast from Marlon Martens. He’s one of the best in the league. I actually sent him a friend request on Facebook a long time ago but he didn’t accept lol.
  • Leon Mikhalchuk now has a goal in 4 consecutive games.
  • This is the first time this season that Comox has lost a game when leading after 2 periods (4-1-0-0).
  • Attendance was just 93 people at the game. The capacity for the Q Centre is 2780 including standing room.
  • Ethan Gobel is the only Glacier King averaging more than a point per game (13 points in 10 games).
  • The 6 goals allowed are the most the Yeti have given up this season. Their previous high was 5 which was also against Westshore. They had only allowed 3 goals total in their previous 3 games.
  • The GKings continue to lead the VIJHL in Penalty killing. In October, they have only allowed 2 goals on 25 shorthanded situations.

Darryl Skender