Hockey Ops. - October 28, 2016

Good Evening Hockey fans on the Peninsula!

Welcome back tonight as we get ready to welcome in the Kerry Park Islanders for their 2nd of four visits to the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre this 2016/17 regular season.  In the Islanders only other visit, we were bounced 2-1 in double overtime when the boys from Mill Bay scored with 54 seconds left.  We have also been knocked off twice up in Mill Bay and so we are looking for a bit of a bounce back game this evening.  The Islanders made a move on Wednesday when they shipped out speedy forward Parker Ellis to the Westshore Wolves.  They also brought who I believe is one of the best Defencemen in the VIJHL in - Tanner Browne.  Browne had suffered a significant facial injury in the playoffs after a hit in a round 1 series against the Victoria Cougars so it is great to see that he is back in good health and I expect that he will be in the Islanders lineup tonight.  The Islanders sit six points ahead of us in the South Division Standings and only a point behind the Westshore Wolves who were dumped last night by the Cougars.  These are pretty important points up for grabs this evening and I expect that both Clubs will play hard and the game should be a real dandy.

Look for Shawn Parkinson to start between the pipes after having a stellar weekend for us last Friday and Saturday.  Of course on Friday we lost in double overtime when the Nanaimo Buccaneers scored with only 2.6 seconds remaining.  We were able to garner a point on the evening and it set us up nicely for the Sunday afternoon game up in Oceanside vs the Generals.  In that game we played hard and deserved to win and when the final buzzer sounded and the scoreboard favoured us by a 4-2 margin, there was a sigh of relief from everyone involved with the Club including the players. We have been playing much better as of late and getting 3 of a possible 4 points was not only huge for us in terms of standings, but also in terms of confidence with the boys.  Our power play clicked up in Parksville and after trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes, the PP finally clicked and we scored three markers with the man-advantage in the final frame to capture the win.

It was interesting to see the practices this week.  We arrived home from the game in Oceanside around 7:30 pm on Sunday and on Monday night I think we probably had our best practice of the season.  The boys were flying and it was fun to be a part of.  As I took off my skates I was by myself and said to myself out loud what a great practice we had just gone through.  About 30 seconds later, Coach Tippett came into the office and right after he sat down he said the exact same words.  Tuesday was no different, the kids were flying and I am hoping tonight when there are some chips out on the table that they are able to come out with the same relaxed attitude and effort.

I wanted to touch base on one of our returning players who has quietly been doing a great job for the Club.  Braeden Hansen was a defenceman but when we needed a left winger, Coach Tippett decided to move him up to the wing.  I was really not too sure how this was going to play out but the young fellow has simply done a great job in giving us quality minutes every single time he has gone out.  I actually think that the transition has taken a lot of pressure off of Braeden and I have seen his confidence at its highest point in the last two seasons.  In Campbell River two weeks ago Koby Hale was elbowed high in the head area by a 20-year-old tough guy on the Storm and went down hard.  Braeden answered the bell, his first tilt in the VIJHL.  It really showed a lot to his mates and it showed a lot to the coaching staff.  Koby came back to the bench and was excited for Braeden and excited about the great team play.  Braeden is also insurance for our back end if someone should be injured or suspended and so is turning out to be a very valuable piece this season.

It was nice to have Marshall Brown back into the lineup for his first two games of the season last weekend.  Of course he lit the lamp in the first several minutes last Friday night and then on Sunday, tied the game on the power play just a minute into the 3rd period.  He had a great week of practice and I expect he will look good tonight.  Trevor Owens skated lightly this week in practice and will be in full gear come Monday at practice.  I expect that he will not play next weekend but I also believe he will be back in the lineup in two weeks time.  Trevor is a difference-maker for our Club and we all cannot wait until he is back in the lineup and is contributing.

In news off the ice, we were close to adding a defenceman the past 7-10 days but have held off for the time being.  It would be nice to add a solid body however, we want our current defence corps to continue to develop at the fastest rate possible and they will need to play in order to do that.  Defence is a tough position to play but I have seen all six of our current guys play better in the past week than they have all season long.  We are trying to get them to move the puck a bit quicker and when they do that, they become a very solid group. 

This is a great group of people and we believe we are getting close to racking up some wins. Hopefully last weekend was the taste of what we’re looking for, but know that we are close. The puck is about ready to drop and so sit back and cheer the Club on tonight. A win in regulation would put us 4 points behind the Islanders. Enjoy!  And...a very special Happy Birthday to Coreen!
Pete Zubersky