Tag Archives: Toby Johnson

Comox Clinches Playoff Spot

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The Comox Valley Glacier Kings started strong and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Lake Cowichan Kraken on Friday. The win clinched a playoff spot for the Yeti who still have hopes of home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It was a full 60 minute effort in what looked like a grudge match at certain times and was certainly very entertaining.

The scoring got started early in the first period as a result of a Westin Churchill faceoff win. Landen May’s shot from the point went to the side of the net where Cameron Collins centered in front to Churchill who redirected it into the open net to make it 1-0.

The Glacier Kings would score again late in the opening frame because of a faceoff win. This time it was Gavin Munro getting it back to Haden Parker who slid it over to Gavin Mowat. His shot from the blue line was defected beautifully by Zaya Morro to make it 2-0.

That’s how the period ended. Shots were 16-5 in favor of Comox Valley.

Early in the second period, Haden Parker got a lucky bounce as he shot the puck off the glass from center ice but it hit a stanchion in the glass while goaltender Evgeni Tkachenko was going behind his goal to stop it and the puck redirected straight into the net. Unfortunately the cameraman still had the camera pointed at the Kraken bench showing an injured player while the goal happened. This is the best photo available afterwards.

The Glacier Kings kept the pressure on and eventually score again. Morro led a 3 on 2 break over the blue line and made a smart move passing it back to the trailer Evan Marko. His shot was stopped by Tkachenko but the rebound went right to Cohen Kallin who backhanded it through two sets of legs into the open cage.

Comox would make it 5-0 just 2:37 later on a scramble in front of the Lake Cowichan net. The puck eventually went off a skate right to Collins. He made a terrific turnaround pass through the slot, through skates and right to Easton Sangris who buried it past the netminder.

Late in the middle frame, GKings goalie Ander Reyes lost his bid for a shutout in his first game with his new club. Comox couldn’t get the puck out of their own zone. Toby Johnson made them pay as he passed cross-ice to Blaine Wilson who one-timed it into the net with just 52 seconds left on the clock. The 2nd period ended 5-1. The shots were 15-8 for the home side.

There wasn’t any scoring in the very physical 3rd period. Most of the hits were clean. A very close call for a goal took place early in the final stanza on a wrap-around attempt. Tkachenko lost his stick in his net and was caught on the wrong side when Rolan Amin cut around to the other side of the goal and it somehow didn’t go in. You can see the puck go along the goal line if you look closely.

With about 5 minutes left, Gavin Mowat and Toby Johnson decided to drop the gloves. It was a good bout and I’ll give the edge to Johnson.

The final score was 5-1. Comox Valley once again had a decisive edge in shots in that period 19-6.

The win improves the Yeti’s record to 21-15-5-1 for 48 points, still 3 ahead of Campbell River who also won on Friday. The Kraken drop to 12-26-1-1 for 26 points. They have been eliminated from playoff contention. Next up for Comox is a road game in Port Alberni on Wednesday while Lake Cowichan plays tonight in Kerry Park.

Other Observations:

  • By the time the game was 93 seconds old, the Glacier Kings already had a goal and hit a cross bar. They ended the period with 2 hit goal posts and 2 crossbars.
  • It was nice to see Westin Churchill’s goal in the 1st period. He has been snake-bitten. That was his first point in 9 games and first goal in 11.
  • GKings are 9-2-3-0 (21 points) in their last 14 games.
  • Comox Valley’s PP with 1:18 left in the 1st looked good. The puck never left the offensive zone but they couldn’t score before the intermission whistle.
  • Lake Cowichan’s Toby Johnson now has points in 7 of his last 10 games. He leads his club in assists and points.
  • If you’re a fan of fighting, you would have loved the bout between Nicolas Kalinocka and Landen May. They started chucking hard punches with a lot landing on both sides. The part I loved about it was that they shook hands after and then tapped each other on the helmet after it was over. I’ll be honest, I have never seen a handshake after a fight.

  • Landen May’s fight upped his his penalty minute total to 142. That’s the 4th most in the VIJHL.
  • Comox Valley is now a perfect 14-0-0-0 when they lead after the 1st period.
  • Cameron Collins now has 1G, 3A in his last 3 games.
  • Haden Parker had 1 goal in his first 37 games. Since then he has scored 3 times in his last 4 contests.
  • A fan came very close to winning the prize during the 1st intermission. He shot the puck from center ice and missed the net but Gavin Mowat redirected it with his stick and it came so close to going in.
  • The online scoring shows Lake Cowichan’s goal at 0:02 into the second period. No the Kraken didn’t set a VIJHL record with fastest goal to start a period. The time should read 19:02.
  • This is the 5th time Comox has had at least 50 shots. They are 4-0-0-1 in those games.
  • The GKings are just 3 points behind 2nd place Nanaimo in the North. Those 2 squads square off against each other in a week from Monday. Don’t count the Yeti out of a 2nd place finish quite yet.

Darryl Skender

Kraken-GKings Preview

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It’s Gameday! The Comox Valley Glacier Kings are playing at home for just the second time in 28 days. The Lake Cowichan Kraken will be visiting the Recreation Centre for a North Division tilt. Comox comes into the matchup with a 20-15-5-1 record for 46 points and third place in the North. The Kraken are 12-25-1-1 for 26 points and last place in the division.

Lake Cowichan is coming off a 9-0 drubbing by the Campbell River Storm last Sunday after having an impressive 8-4 win over Port Alberni two days before. They have lost 5 of their last 6 games and could be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss tonight or a Campbell River win. They have allowed 38 goals in their past 6 games (6.33 per game). The team is led in scoring by Iaroslav Morozov with 13G, 16A, 29Pts and Toby Johnson who has 12G, 17A, 29Pts. Morozov is still just 17 years old and has a bright future. In net, Alfie Blakeley has gotten the most starts compiling a 9-12-0-0, 4.02, .890 line. 17 year old Ethan Lorentz saw his first VIJHL action Sunday in a mop up roll playing in the last 7 minutes when Campbell River was already up 7-0. He allowed two goals on four shots in those 7 minutes.

Meanwhile Comox Valley is 8-2-3-0 in their last 13 contests which includes a 3-2 overtime loss in their last game against Victoria on Saturday. Leon Mikhalchuk continues to lead the way with 39 points in 39 games. He leads the squad in goals, assists, points and power play goals. The starting goalkeeper tonight will be interesting as I haven’t received the line up yet. With Lane Maarhuis up with the Vernon Vipers now, will Ander Reyes get his first start for Comox or will it be backup tender Silas Dromarsky? Remember it’s the club’s only game of the week so the decision is quite compelling.

With the Glacier Kings creeping closer to the second place Oceanside Generals, one has to wonder if they are in a battle for third place or is second place still a possibility. I asked head coach/GM Curt Toneff if he thinks second place is still within his team’s grasp, “We just have to focus on our own game. If we take care of our own game we stay where we are. If we exceed our expectations to finish the year perhaps we can get home ice. The home ice part is out of our control so as long as our game is getting better nightly, I think that is the most important thing.” It doesn’t seem too long ago that the Glacier Kings were in 4th and hoping to hang on to that last playoff spot.

Special Teams

Power Play
Comox Valley: 18.7% (6th)
Lake Cowichan: 17.2% (8th)

Penalty Kill
Comox Valley: 80.8% (6th)
Lake Cowichan: 74.3% (10th)

Other GKings Stats:

Score 1st Goal: 14-5-2-0
Allow 1st Goal: 6-10-3-1

Lead After 1st Period: 13-0-0-0
Trail After 1st Period: 2-8-3-1
Tied After 1st Period: 5-7-2-0

Lead After 2nd Period: 13-1-1-0
Trail After 2nd Period: 3-12-3-1
Tied After 2nd Period: 4-2-1-0

You can’t underestimate Lake Cowichan despite where they are in the standings. They are on the verge of getting eliminated from playoff contention and that makes them a dangerous team. Toneff said that his club can’t take them lightly. “They have some high-end players. They’re probably at that part of the year where they’re playing free. They’re probably vying for positions next year and playing loose. That can be hard to play against because the guys don’t have a heck of a lot lose. They’ve has some really great games lately and some poor ones. I think we go back to the last time we played them, they took two points in our home. I think they get up to play us for some reason so we got to be ready to go.” A fast start would be a terrific plan. You can see from the stats above that Comox is a perfect 13-0-0-0 when they lead after the first period.

The Yeti need just one point tonight to clinch a playoff spot in the North Division. If they can garner a single point, it will be mathematically impossible for the Port Alberni Bombers to catch the Yeti. Comox is currently 3 points ahead of 4th place Campbell River and 5 points behind 2nd place Oceanside. The Storm and Generals are both in action this evening as well. Tonight’s puck drop in Courtenay is at 6:30 PM. I will post the Glacier Kings line up to the “Gameday Lineups” page of this blog when I get it.

Darryl Skender

Comox Wins Again

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The red-hot Comox Valley Glacier Kings were down early but came back and handed the Lake Cowichan Kraken a 6-2 loss on Friday. The win is the 4th in the Glacier Kings last 5 contests and they also have points in 5 of their last 6. It was a good 60 minute effort for the road side who moved up into sole possession of 4th place in the North Division.

The scoring started early but it would be the Kraken who would get on the board first. Iaroslav Morozov stole the puck on a sloppy clearing attempt by the Glacier Kings at their blue line. Morozov skated down the right side, cut towards the net and beat Anthony Ganoung from a bad angle in close.

The game stayed 1-0 until the later stages of the opening period. Logan Walz shot the puck around his own net but a great job by defenceman Landen May to pinch and get to it first. Despite being double-teamed, he managed to get the puck to the the top of the circle to Leon Mikhalchuk who walked right to the faceoff dot and fired a shot past goaltender Evgeni Tkachenko.

Then just 1:11 later Comox would take their first lead of the game. Maxim Lefebvre banked a pass back to the point to Kyle Mayenburg, his shot was stopped by Tkachenko but Zaya Morro was on the doorstep to tap it in. Ethan Gobel got credit for the assist instead of Mayenburg however. And they weren’t done there. With just 16 seconds left in the period, the Glacier Kings would get a 2 on 1 with Cameron Collins sliding it over to Landon Morris who made no mistake to make it 3-1.

That’s how the period would end. Shots were 11-10 for the Kraken.

Just like in the first period, the Kraken would score first in the second stanza. Toby Johnson carried the puck over the blue line and took a shot from the slot that was stopped by Ganoung’s pad but was poked in by Kieran Prichett and it was suddenly 3-2. Unfortunately for Lake Cowichan, that would be the last time that they score. Late in the second frame, Lefebvre gave a beautiful pass in front of the net to Morris to make it 4-2.

The road team made it 5-2 with 1:26 left and it was on another 2 on 1. Cameron Collins fed it to Ethan Gobel who buried it. Somehow Collins never got an assist on the play. The middle frame ended with shots 12-11 for the Kraken.

There was just one goal in the third period. That happened early when Cohen Kallin stole a bad pass inside his own line while shorthanded and had a breakaway the whole way down the ice and beat Tkachenko to make the final 6-2.

Shots were 12 apiece. The Glacier Kings were outshot for the game but had the better chances throughout with multiple odd man rushes.

The win improves the Yeti’s record to 7-7-2-1 and play at home to Peninsula on Saturday. Both of those teams are just 2 points out of first place in their respective divisions. The Kraken drop to 5-10-0-0 as they went winless in October. They host Campbell River on Sunday.

  • The 6 goals were the most Comox Valley has scored this season.
  • The loss extended Lake Cowichan’s losing streak to 9 games.
  • Oddly enough, the Glacier Kings did not have a PP in the game. That breaks their streak of at least 1 PP goal in 3 straight matches.
  • Talk about scoring in bunches. Comox scored 3 goals in a 2:41 span late in the 1st period, then scored 2 goals in 51 seconds late in the second.
  • Leon Mikhalchuk has now scored a goal in 5 of his last 6 games.
  • The Kraken’s PP goal came on a 5 minute penalty during the second period.
  • Despite not scoring a PP goal, Comox did convert on a short-handed goal and a 4 on 4 marker.
  • Kieran Prichett’s goal was his first point in 8 games. He put up 4 points (2G, 2A) in his season opener.
  • The Yeti are now a perfect 6-0-0-0 when leading after the first period.
  • The second period mandatory timeout never took place until there was 3:19 left on the clock.
  • Ethan Gobel has 2G, 5A in his last 4 games.
  • The GKings are at .500 for the first time this season.
  • And finally, don’t forget to turn your clocks back tonight before you go to bed.

Darryl Skender