Tag Archives: Tegan Clayton

Glacier Kings Win In Overtime

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings got a much needed win on Saturday night as they downed the Oceanside Generals 3-2 in overtime. It was a fun game to watch with a lot of chances and great goaltending. The loss snaps the Glacier Kings two game losing streak and as well, the Gens winning streak ends at two. Oceanside actually came back from a 2-0 deficit midway through the second period but was never able to take the lead.

The Glacier Kings got the scoring started when Leon Mikhalchuk carried the puck over the offensive blue line on an oddman rush. He centered it into the slot where Tegan Clayton had his shot blocked but Winston Churchill got to the loose puck first and fired it past Andreas Bylerius to make it 1-0.

Silas Dromarsky made a nice save on Rykan Lay who was sent in on a breakaway late in the opening period and then another exciting play took place as time was winding down. Jacob Bate came in on a breakaway, went forehand-backhand and beat Dromarsky as the buzzer sounded. It was originally called a good goal by the referee but then after all 4 officials huddled they waived it off which was a good call. You can see the green light come on just before Bate backhands it.

 

The period ended 1-0 for the home side. Shots were 7-2 for the home team.

In the second period, Comox extended their lead to 2-0. Shortly after after Dromarsky robbed Levi Green, Leon Mikhalchuk got the puck in the Oceanside corner and passed puck to the circle to Tegan Clayton and his shot dribbled past Bylerius.

The Generals didn’t fold the tent however. Their captain Levi Green blocked a shot and Oceanside came the other way on a 2 on 1 which was executed perfectly. Ryken Lay slid the puck over to Kaiden Day who made no mistake putting it into the open net.

The middle stanza concluded with a 2-1 lead for the Yeti. The shots were 9-8 in favor of the Glacier Kings.

Early in the third, Lincoln Bueckert got possession of the puck along the goal line in the GKings end and slid it across the ice to a wide open Jacob Bate to tie the game at two.

Comox Valley took a penalty halfway through the period and Maxim Lefebvre saved a goal by hitting the stick of Jacob Leamy who had a sure goal after a puck deflected straight to him. The Generals dominated the last part of the period but couldn’t beat Dromarsky who was outstanding. The contest needed overtime. Shots were 12-6 for the Gens.

The winning goal came early in the extra period. Haden Parker left the puck at the top of his own circle for Cameron Collins and he did the rest. The 18 year old Comox native went end to end splitting between two defenders inside the offensive blue line and beat Bylerius up high with a backhand shot to make the final 3-2.

The win improves Comox Valley’s record to 8-9-2-1 for 19 points as they remain tied for 4th place with Port Alberni who also won. Their next game is Wednesday in Saanich. The point that Oceanside gained in the loss moves their line to 11-8-1-0 which actually puts them into a tie for first place with Nanaimo in the North. The Generals are off until next Saturday when they host the Bucs.

Other Observations:

  • The win was the Glacier Kings first in extra time this season. In their previous 3 games that went past the 3rd period they were 0-0-2-1.
  • Cameron Collins OT winner extended his points streak to 4 games (2G, 2A).
  • Kaiden Day now has points in 5 of his last 6 games (2G, 5A).
  • The Yeti haven’t scored a PP goal in 4 straight games.
  • Silas Dromarsky was really good and most likely earned himself another start in the very near future.
  • GKings are now a perfect 7-0-0-0 when leading after the 1st and 7-1-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes.
  • There was a penalty in the 2nd period you don’t see often as Zaya Morro tried playing the puck with a broken stick (no blade) and went off for 2 minutes for “Ineligible Player.”
  • Comox is back to .500 at home (3-3-1-1)
  • Leon Mikhalchuk has points in 8 of his last 9 games (5G, 5A).
  • The 2 shots the Glacier Kings gave up in the 1st period is fewest they’ve allowed in a period all season.
  • Comox Valley did their annual Remembrance Day ceremony. Well done by the organization and thank you to all our Veterans and active duty members. You are the real heroes. God bless you!

Darryl Skender

Glacier Kings Announce Leadership Group

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For the first few weeks of the season, the Comox Valley Glacier Kings did not have a captain and played with only one assistant captain. Before the season started head coach/GM Curtis Toneff said he was going to take his time and make sure his decision was the right decision. He wanted to see how things played out. The leaders will rise to the top in the dressing room and on the ice. It was also a chance to gauge the maturity levels of the possible candidates. The decision was made after the Campbell River game last weekend and now the club has a full compliment of “C’s” and “A’s”.

Curtis told me a month ago that in past years he would get excited in the offseason to name the players receiving letters right away. He also said that he has matured as a coach and patience to make the correct decision was paramount. I asked him yesterday about the process in making the decisions, “There was a lot of observing. Just over a week ago, Monday I think, we took a vote (the players). The votes didn’t necessarily fix the letters, I just wanted to see for myself. There wasn’t really one guy running away with one C or A. So it’s kind of interesting to take a look at it. Brad (Smith), myself and Jackson (Garrett) discussed it, even got Marsha’s (Webb) opinion as well. She’s been around and has owned the team a long time. The Webb’s have owned this team a long time for a reason. I took their opinions into consideration but at the end of the day it was my call.” First of all I want to say sorry Marsha. I know from past years that she hates when I mention her name in my blogs lol. I only do it because I love you. So who did the coach end up deciding on? Here’s what he had to say…

Kyle Mayenburg (C)
“We think he has a great presence, his effort, his attitude and to be honest, even his posture kind of speaks for itself. The kind of guy that has a firm handshake, looks at you straight in the eye, doesn’t say too much but also doesn’t say too little. He works hard everyday.”
Zaya Morro (A)
“Zaya Morrow is the kind of guy that calms us all down., maybe including myself. In sudden moments, he is a very good communicator with the refs. He plays hard every night.”
Isaac Dunsire (A)
“I challenged the team the other night to play for the logo and not themselves. Dunsire, to me, is a guy that cares more about the team than himself through and through. He very badly wants to win every night, works hard everyday and is a good person.”
Haden Parker (A)
“Haden Parker got some ‘C’ votes. It’s been really cool to watch him progress over the last year since I’ve been here. Seems like he’s really been enjoying playing the game. He’s been a bit of a rock back there (on defence) in my opinion for us. He’s got a great stick , hard to get around, he’s upped his ‘compete level’ from the end of last year.”

Just because certain players were not chosen for a letter doesn’t mean they aren’t leaders in their own right. Every player and goaltender has to hold themself accountable for their play on the ice as well as how they carry themselves off the ice including in the dressing room and in public. Toneff did say other players deserved some recognition as well, “Some other guys round out the leadership group, they might not wear an ‘A’ but Landen May, Cohen Kallin and Tegan Clayton will all be part of it as well.” The selections seem solid but that certainly doesn’t diminish anyone’s role on the team that weren’t chosen.

That’s it for this post. Stay tuned as my next post is going to include a lot of team stats as well as the coaches opinion on newly named assistant captain Zaya Morro who is off to a terrific start on a team that struggles to score goals. Have a good Wednesday.

Darryl Skender

Thursday Thread

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I don’t know about anyone else but I am excited about this weekend’s games for the Comox Valley Glacier Kings. So far, they’ve played strong teams like Nanaimo, weaker teams like Kerry Park and middle of the road teams like Campbell River, Oceanside and Saanich. All those games have one theme… the Yeti have been in every one of them until the very end. So what’s difference about this weekend? Well… so far they have played a total of 5 games combined over 3 weekends. Starting Friday, it will be 3 games in 3 days. Two games will be against undefeated teams (Peninsula 5-0, Nanaimo 4-0) and their other opponent will be their arch rival (Campbell River). This is as tough as it gets. As I said, the Glacier Kings have been very competitive so far but this will be a definite test.

Going into the weekend, Comox Valley is in pretty good shape healthwise. They already have 13 players that have played in all 5 games and they added some players a couple weeks ago who didn’t start the season but will be in there everyday. Head coach/GM Curtis Toneff talked about the situation heading into this weekend, “Tegan Clayton has a broken clavicle, he’s out for probably another couple months. Other than that, we’re pretty healthy here… knock on wood.” Of course it’s still early and the wear and tear of playing such a physical sport at this level will take its toll at some point with some of the guys. It’s a long season. For now, fingers are crossed.

As long as the coach is carrying three goaltenders, questions will continue to mount on what his position is with carrying three. So I decided to look and see what the other 10 teams in the league are doing. 9 of the other 10 teams in the VIJHL are also carrying 3 goalies. The only squad with just 2 are the Nanaimo Buccaneers. For the Bucs, former Glacier King Aaron Pichette has played two games (2-0, 1.50, .938)  and Adam Ranger has also played in two (2-0, 2.38, .919) so that tandem has done well. I asked Toneff about who was leading the way for his team, “I still think it’s early, they’re all coming from Midget to Junior. They’re all pushing each which is nice, they’re all wanting the net which is what you want to see. There’s just one or two goals a practice that they have had that you just can’t let in. If they all clean that up, it will really get interesting in there. If you look at our goals against and other stuff, goaltending hasn’t been an issue. Hopefully it’s like the rest of the team and they get better and continue to grow.” Here are the stats so far:
Silas Dromarsky, 1-0-0, 1.00, .947
Anthony Ganoung, 0-2-0, 3.04, .902
Timothee Fengos, 0-1-1, 3.46, .901
You have to wonder if all 3 goalies will get starts this weekend considering the 3 games in 3 days. All have played well for the most part.

We’re through 5 games now and the GKings still don’t have a captain and only one assistant captain. Obviously Haden Parker has an ‘A’ which he earned from being an assistant captain last season with the club. So, we are expecting one “C” and two more “A’s” to be named before too long. Curtis did say that he has been proactively collecting information to make sure he makes the right decision, “I did put it to a vote earlier this week. I did that just to give myself a better gauge and to give the players a say in their thoughts. There were about 4 guys that they voted for Captain and they had 2 ‘A’ votes because Haden Parker is lettered nonetheless. That why I made the vote one C’ and two A’s. It was interesting because it didn’t really get me anywhere because the vote was so even and perhaps all over the place. It gives you a good indication that there are 5 or 6 guys that are the leadership group. But who gets what remains to be seen to be honest with you. I don’t want to jump the gun on these decisions like we talked about a few weeks ago.” It will definitely be interesting to see if the players that are given letters will be the veterans or a mixture of new blood and experienced vets.

On gamedays, remember to check out the “Gameday Lineups” Tab on this blog to see the the roster that will be dressed for that days game. Gameday Lineup do not get emailed out to my subscribers like the new posts do. Curtis sends it to me the day of the game and I try to post it right away if possible. That’s it for today, have a great Thursday!

Darryl Skender