Good Evening Hockey fans on the Peninsula! Welcome back tonight as we welcome in the visiting Westshore Wolves. The Wolves were knocked off by the Nanaimo Buccaneers on Wednesday night at the Q Centre and last night we were up in Nanaimo and received the same fate as the Wolves after 60 minutes of player were in the books. And so tonight, both squads will be looking to get back into the win column as the regular season winds down. The Wolves sit six points up on us at this point but a win in regulation would give us three points on the evening and that would put us only three points behind. We currently sit three points behind the Oceanside Generals and they have a tough schedule coming home. They do have two games remaining against the Comox Valley Glacier Kings however, and that should really help them rack up some points. Let’s give them those two games in regulation. With the three-point gap right now and two more wins, let’s give them a win or two in their remaining five games. We are going to have to win five or six of our last eight to pass them and that is a task we are up to. After tonight, six of our remaining seven games are right here at home so there are a lot of marbles on the table this evening. Yes, tonight is a sizeable game...yes indeed!
Bryson Hines continues to be scratched due to injury. Bryson was hit a couple of weeks ago and at first he thought he had broken his collar bone. I went down into the dressing room to see him right after the injury and he was hurting in a big way. Bryson is one of the real tough character kids on our roster and when he says he is hurting, there is no doubt that he is hurting! I know he was to get an MRI mid-week and I have not as yet heard the results of the tests. We are four weeks away from the end of the regular season as of tonight, and although I do not like to say it, I won’t be entirely surprised if Hines is out for the remainder. His loss is an important one to our team as he gives us the courage and grit that every single team is looking for. A team also needs scoring and we lost a chunk of that last weekend in the form of Tanner Wort. After our game last Friday, Tanner and some buddies went up skiing and he banged up his knee quite badly. I’m not sure how long this will take before he gets back in the lineup but I believe it will not simply be a matter of days. Sixteen-year-old David Edgar has been struggling with an injury as of late and has been able to play through the pain for the most part. It bit him a little harder than usual last Friday night and he was forced to pull the plug in the 2nd period. David sat out last night in Nanaimo and Coach is leaning towards keeping him on the sidelines once again tonight.
On Wednesday afternoon our Alternate Governor and Timekeeper Jason Fletcher and I met with folks from the Military who are key in the organization of the Hometown Hockey weekend coming to Greater Victoria on the week of February 15 - 17th. Lisa Sneek from the Panorama Recreation Centre joined us as we took a look at the rink and put together a game plan for a pre-game ceremony. Tara Slone and her producer and Camera Crew will be at the game shooting some footage over the opening ceremonies and the game, and some of this will be incorporated in the Rogers Hometown Hockey due to air on the Sunday afternoon, February 17th.
I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about our two 16-year-old kids in Hunter Jensen and David Edgar. Both kids have come a long way this season and should get even better as the games become more important. We saw Hunter as a 15-year-old in our Spring Camp last season and really liked him. I remember a couple of games in that camp and being on the bench and watching him play and interact with the others in the camp. We promised to keep an eye on him that year as he played with the Victoria Royals Major Midget Team. Hunter had a pretty serious injury and missed half a season and we lost touch with him for other reasons. But he showed up for our Spring Camp last April and once again really impressed the entire staff. Hunter was in and out of the lineup in the early going but we made a couple of roster moves which opened up some space and gave him much more opportunity to play. And play he has! He got better and better but as a play improves, he also wants to try to do more. It is all part of the development process. And this step includes making some mistakes and that is something that a Club has to accept if a player is to continue to develop. At some point soon, perhaps even tonight, Hunter and the rest of the defensive crew will be asked to dummy down their game, to get pucks out and to get pucks in deep. Games now are beginning to hold a whole lot more significance and wins are becoming extremely important. Hunter is no longer a rookie but has been pairing with Skyler Diamond-Burchuk whom I think is one of the top defencemen in the VIJHL. And he has not looked a bit out of place. Keep an eye out for #6 on the back end for the Club tonight.
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Gordon Lee Photography)
Our other 16-year-old - each Junior Club in Canada is only allowed to carry two - is Edgar and he too has had an interesting year. David was an affiliate player of ours last season and played some games and practiced a ton with the Club. He was comfortable. David came to the Spring Camp last April and although he was good, he was not outstanding. However, we had seen enough of him to know that he was a guy to whom we wanted to commit. David had a tough start to the season. He was in and out of the lineup and was banged up on a couple of occasions and was searching to find “it”. He started to play more physical and when he did, everything fell right into place for him. He started to put up some points on the board and in some games was a real force. Like almost every young kid coming out of Midget hockey, David was a bit risky in his own end and at times some of those turnovers ended up in our own net. And again, that is just the process that each really good kid has to go through to get better. It looks like David will be out of the lineup this evening but we are hoping that he will be back and at 100% in the next week. We play in Saanich next Wednesday evening and will see where he is at for that one. But suffice to say, like Hunter, David has advanced in leaps and bounds and is a very important piece of our Club and will be moving forward from here.
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Gordon Lee Photography)
Thank you all for joining us this evening. We have a lot of big games coming your way in the next four weeks and so I hope you will all join us for the stretch and for what we hope will be a protracted playoff run. Coreen and I are very appreciative of your support and for your time on Friday nights! Enjoy the game.
Pete Zubersky
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