The Comox Valley Glacier Kings still do have a few holes in their line up but one of them is not the backstop. The Glacier Kings have the third best goals against average in the North Division at 3.26 including empty net goals or 3.10 not including empty netters. Not bad considering they gave up an 11-goal game and a 9-goal game, both to Peninsula. The GAA would drop to 2.89 if you erase those 2 games off the schedule and 2.79 not including any empty netters. More recently the club has surrendered 7 goals in their last 3 games including one empty net goal. The goaltending is a huge reason for that but of course the team’s defensive system has to be given a lot of credit for how the guys execute it.

Comox Valley recently brought in Lane Maarhuis from the Victoria Cougars. Since coming over, he played against the second highest scoring team in the league and allowed just 1 goal (other one was an an empty net goal). Then he played against the first place team in the North (at the time) and only allowed a pair of markers. His stat line in his 2 games is 1-1-0-0, 1.51, .950 and overall with both teams he’s 11-4-1-0, 2.17, .928.

He will most like get at least one of the starts this weekend with Anthony Ganoung on the shelf with an injury. I asked head coach/GM Curtis Toneff of what he has thought about the 6’6″ goaltender, “He did what he needed to do. The expectation for a goalie, you stop the ones that you should stop and you make the odd save on shots that you maybe shouldn’t stop. You’re not going to stop every one. I think to me that’s a sign of a good goalie. They save the ones that they should and then they make the odd good save and that’s what Lane did for us the past two games. With play like that, we’ll have a chance to win every night. Say what you want about size. You look down and see a guy that big filling the net, you think twice. As the opposition you’re saying, ‘what do I do here’ because he’s taking up so much net. Also, sometimes when you’re that big, the puck sometimes just hits you. It’s nice to have the different looks in net that we have. We have (Anthony) Ganoung, he’s kind of that acrobatic that has his own style. Lane is kind of the big type and he’s a veteran with it being his second year in the league, has experience. And there’s Silas (Dromarski), 6’2″, a good size guy to challenge for position in the net. It’s kind of a nice problem to have in there. To answer your question, we’re really happy with Lane’s starts so far. We hope that he continues on the path that he’s on.” The 19 year old Chilliwack native also played with the Cougars last season and the Dawson City Kodiaks of the NWJHL the season before.

Anthony Ganoung has been the starter for most of the season. He has been a pleasant surprise in between the pipes in his first year of junior hockey. The 18 year old is out of the line up right now with a lower body injury and isn’t expected to be suiting back for another two or three weeks. Decision-making is easy when you’re carrying two tenders but the rotation gets trickier with three. I asked Toneff about what happens to that rotation when Ganoung is back, “Depending on the week, whether we play back to back, you just kind of go back and forth and whoever has shown the best will get that first start in the playoffs. They’ll both get their looks. As for all players and goalies, they’ll have to try and peak at the right time and challenge each other. I think they’ll do exactly that. While Anthony is out, we’ll get a good opportunity to pump two guys, that way they know it’s their net and they have to stop the puck.” The 18 year old Ganoung hails from Battle Ground, Washington which is a small city about 11 miles north of Vancouver, Washington but played his ‘AAA’ hockey in Wenatchee which is close to a 5-hour drive up the Interstate 5 highway before going through Snoqualmie Pass (I-90).

We’ve talked about the rotation of the goalies so far but what about the forwards and defence down the stretch? There’s only 9 games left and Comox is already at their capacity of 26 players on their roster and the trade deadline has come and gone (January 23rd). Teams can still pick players up and put them on to their roster until February 10th. But the Glacier Kings don’t have room so it’s most likely a set roster now unless someone gets hurt. Curtis talked about the situation with the forwards and defence, “Well it’s still a good time to juggle because we have Tegan Clayton coming back still. I don’t know if our lines will ever be set in stone though because we have 3 extra guys. These players pay to play. There will always be a bit of a shuffle going on. Like the Scotty Bowman way of thinking, pairs and then plugging in that third guy. I’m starting to see some chemistry between some guys for sure. Our d-partners have been pretty darn similar the whole year.” Having Tegan Clayton back will be a huge boost to the offence. The local Comox product has missed the last 5 games. Clayton’s last game was January 3rd against Port Alberni.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow, I’ll be speaking about the physicality of this team as well as one of the newcomers to the squad, Rolan Amin. Until then, have yourself a great Wednesday.

Darryl Skender