Hockey Ops. - January 13, 2017

Good Evening Hockey fans on the Peninsula!

Welcome back tonight as we welcome in the North Division leading Campbell River Storm for the last time in this, the 2016/17 Regular Season.  The Storm were in town on November 25th and although they dumped us by a couple games, the contest was a heated one.  You may recall that there was not a lot of love in that one - in fact the mild-mannered Trevor Owens even shed the mitts and went nose-to-nose, toes-to-toes with a Storm Defenceman.  Our kids played hard that night and I expect we will see much of the same tonight.

Speaking of Owens, when Josh Poland was moved last Thursday night, Trevor was selected as our new Captain.  He is quietly one of the best players in the entire VIJHL and from early indications, I believe he will be a great leader both on and off the ice.  Trevor recently played a game for the Victoria Grizzlies and scored in his very first shift in Junior “A”.  He followed that up the next shift by tipping a shot that came in from the point and it just went wide.  He did not play big minutes as was to be expected however, did not look one bit out of place and I enjoyed watching him throughout the contest.  This week the Grizzlies let Trevor and the Panthers know that once our season comes to an end, he will join their squad for the remainder of the season as an affiliate player.  I would expect that the same might hold true for our Goaltender Justin Anderson.  Both kids are only focused here right now and we have a lot of season left in us.

It looked as though the trade deadline on Tuesday would come and go without a lot of fanfare.  We had made two moves last week, trading Michael Sproule to the Saanich Braves for Trevor Yee and then sending Josh Poland to Kerry Park in a complicated three-way deal with the Campbell River Storm being involved.  This deal will see players moving here at the end of the season coming out of Campbell River.  Of course, we had acquired Drew Coughlin from the Braves earlier in the season sending Mitch Moloney that way.  The phone had been ringing most of the day on Tuesday however, the packages that were offered did not work for what we were trying to accomplish.  At 11:00 pm we received a final text from the Victoria Cougars but we quickly resolved that there was no synergies in play between the two Clubs and I started to wind down, getting ready to head to bed.  At 11:35 pm the Kerry Park Islanders sent a text wanting to get the playing rights of 20-year-old Garnett Roberts.  Garnett had been approached earlier in the season along with the other 20’s but he indicated that he wanted to stay put. Things had not gone swimmingly over the last few weeks for Garnett and when I offered him the move, he accepted. I think it was a great solution for the big defenceman, giving him a fresh start in his final few weeks in Junior Hockey.  Garnett has really been an outstanding person while out here on the Peninsula and a great teammate both on and off the ice. We all take this opportunity to thank Garnett for his time with the Club and we will all get a chance to see him on the ice one more time when we visit the Islanders on February 11th.

Wednesday night in Westshore against the Wolves was an opportunity to take a glimpse into the future. Kai Turner will age out at the end of this season and he was out of the linup due to sickness.  Duncan Cochrane was the only 20-year-old playing in that game and we had brought up 15-year-old Riley Braun and 16-year-old Josh Lingard, both from the Peninsula Midgets.  These two kids are really good!  They have been practicing with us since September and have a great chance at cracking into our lineup next season.  The lineup was much of what we will see next season and it was a great game.  We lost 4-3 but really missed at least eight scoring chances where we should have scored.  I said to Brad Tippett at the end of the game that next season those pucks will go in.  It was hard to be upset with such a great effort and I am excited about what is happening.  We have a special group here right now and although the standings do not reflect that fact, it is a feeling shared by the players as well.

“Juggling” will be the word of the night!  We expect that Kai Turner, Joe Stafford-Veale and Jack McMillan will all be back in the lineup this evening after missing Wednesday’s game due to the flu that has been going around the past two weeks.  Out tonight will be Duncan Cochrane who is away in Edmonton for the weekend and Braeden Hansen who lost several chiclets on Wednesday night when early in the game he hit the glass.  With that being said, we are also looking at several players who will be game- time decisions.  The recently acquired Gavin Yee who has quickly stepped up to be our #1 defenceman, and Carson Cox are questionable with illness. A couple others are on the fence as to whether they can play or not.  That being said, we have called up 15-year-old Nathan Hauser and possibly 15-year-old Riley Braun and 16-year-olds Josh Lingard and Tanner Wort from the Peninsula Midget squad. The latter three will be on hand at the game and ready to go if needed.

An honest look at the standings shows that we will be in the “Wild Card Game” at the end of the season to determine the last team to get in the playoffs.  It looks like we will be playing the Oceanside Generals and so now it would be nice to put up some wins and gain home-ice advantage for that contest.  Brad told our kids on Wednesday that our only focus for the remaining five weeks was to prepare for that game.  If it was the Oceanside Generals and if we came out on top, we would be playing the Campbell River Storm in the first round of the playoffs.  Every single practice and every single game will be with a focus on that sudden-death game and when that 60 minutes are in the books, we want to be able to refer to it as being a sudden-life game!

OK, the curtain looks like it is just about ready to rise and the lights are being turned on.  Thank you all for coming out this evening and for your support of the Hockey Club.  Enjoy the game, enjoy your evening!

Pete Zubersky