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