Good Evening Hockey Fans,
Welcome back to the Panorama Recreation Centre for our second home game of the season, this time against the visiting Comox Valley Glacier Kings. The Kings have a good squad once again this time around and our games have always been clean and hard-fought affairs.
Last Friday night we opened at home against the Westshore Wolves - a new entry in the league but a team that was long on experience. We dispatched of them by a 3-1 count and a fairly sizeable crowd and a young hockey club all went home happy. Josh Adkins opened the scoring in the first and then Zack Smith added one a minute later. The Wolves responded with one before the first period ended however Stephen Heslop slammed the door until Dane Gibson put up the insurance marker late in the 3rd. Last Sunday we travelled to Oceanside and lost a 1-0 heartbreaker and then last Wednesday evening we ventured into Saanich and were downed by a much older and experienced Braves squad.
I like our team. We are young and inexperienced but the first week of the season has gone as I thought it might, maybe even a bit better. We played OK last Friday - certainly worked hard and did enough to win. On Sunday there was quite a bit of individual play and perhaps we might have let two points slip away. In Saanich we opened the games on our heels but as the minutes wore on we got better and better and I look for us to improve in a meaningful way in the next two weeks. I think we will see some of that improvement tonight.
We have some really good young players who all work hard and should continue to entertain you each Friday night as they did last night. I have popped in pictures of four of them sprinkled throughout this insert, Loverock, Golka, Adkins and Finlay. There are many, many more who I will focus on in the weeks to come. I believe that all four of these guys have the talent and the desire to move to the next level and beyond and I am betting that they will get there.
Loverock comes from the Peninsula and might be the best skating rear guard in the entire VIJHL. He has confidence this year, I see it in his eyes and I see it in his play. I watched him play a bit more physical in Saanich on Wednesday and yet wheel the puck from end to end with a big smile on his face. Golka has skill to burn and is gritty for a smaller player. He has been frustrated with his start in the three games to date but I believe that once he gets settled in and relaxed, he will be a force on the club. Adkins will become a player the fans will love to watch. He can play in all situations and play well. He has good size and has an edge to his game, and has managed to put up a couple points on the board. And Finlay has been the surprise of the early season in my mind. I watched the kid in April at our Evaluation Camp and signed him after that weekend but I thought it would take him some time to adapt. He is from Whistler and is only 17 years old but he has taken to the Peninsula like a duck to water. He has skill and grit and works his tail off every single shift. You will love this kid as well. There are so many others, when I go down the lineup I get quite excited reading the names. In the early going we have struggled to score goals, I honestly thought this would be one of our strong points but so far it has not been the case. Hopefully tonight that changes.
We added to our Roster last Tuesday and Patrick Croome was welcomed into the Den. Croome was seen in a camp earlier in the summer by our Head Coach Rob Armstrong and when he returned from Port Alberni he just kept talking about him. Armstrong kept in touch with Patrick and went up to the Cowichan Capitals Junior A camp to watch him a bit more late in August. Patrick did not cut it with the Caps and ended up in North Battleford trying out with the Junior A club there, however was let go last Sunday. He got in contact with Rob and then drove back to his home in Calgary. We were able to get his release on Monday from a Junior B club in Alberta and Croome jumped in his wheels once again and landed here on Monday night on the 7:00 pm boat. He settled in for the night and was signed, sealed and delivered on Tuesday before our evening practice and was in the game against the Braves on Wednesday. Croome is a big kid and should fit nicely into our top four on the back end. He is 18 years old and really fits in nicely with our vision for the organization.
Tonight we will start Justin Samra in goal for the first time this season. Stephen Heslop has carried the ball to this point and has probably been our best player but it was time to see Samra and let him get his feet wet and we felt that playing in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre would help make him feel just a bit more comfortable. Samra hails out of Saanich Minor Hockey and was the starter there last season for the Saanich Midget AA club. He is a really good kid and teammate and I quite enjoy him being on the team.
Brett Sjerven will also draw into the lineup for the first time this 2012/13 season after having a rough time this summer in the health department. He has practiced hard and now we will get a chance to see if he is ready for actual game action. I would think he will be pretty amped up for the game this evening. Jonas Horvath is coming off a foot injury and has yet to be slotted into the lineup. Look for him to debut next Friday night when we play host to the Kerry Park Islanders. We thought about moving him in tonight and know that he is chomping at the bit to see time in a game but we also did not want to push him and that extra week of practice should allow for some confidence to surface with the foot. Jonas is an 18-year-old from Whistler and is a big-bodied defensive-minded Forward who is not shy in using his size. He should help.
We have been swamped with work over the past three or four weeks and I know that Coreen and Gail are both really feeling it. Coreen has been working extremely hard at getting our Program completed and off to the printer and she is working at doing that by Monday. If this happens we are ‘hoping’ to see the Program out for the game on Friday, Sept.28th which will actually be the earliest ever - check it out! She’s also responsible for our impressive new Website that we have up and running. Trust me, at times the air has been a bit blue but she is a trooper and John and I could not do what we do without her countless hours of making everything that comes out on paper have a professional edge to it. Gail is just putting the final touches on her marketing effort and this is usually completed long ago. This year has been an extremely stressful time for her as husband Wayne has been in the hospital for two months and is in rough shape. Gail and Wayne have long been with the Organization and our prayers go out to them during these difficult times.
OK then, let’s get ready for what I hope is a great and entertaining game and a win for the home boys. I want to once again thank everyone for your support. Again this year we have donated the 50/50 to PMHA who will be out in force tonight, and for the rest of the season. We will have the youngsters out in the 1st intermission playing a short game and Subway shoot the puck after the 2nd period. Thanks for coming out tonight. Enjoy!
Pete Zubersky
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