January 22nd vs. Saanich Braves - Hockey Ops.

Good Evening Hockey Fans,

Welcome back to the Panorama Recreation Centre where tonight we will play the visiting Saanich Braves for the final time this season.  The Braves hold serve in the season series but I have seen a lot of battle from our squad which has resulted in some great games, a win and a shootout loss in the last couple.  The Braves feature a much older lineup than our squad but once the puck drops everyone is equal and so to compete with them we have to play our best.  I believe that we have as much or more skill than they do however, they do have experience and this has been the difference in several of the games earlier this season. 

Tonight we welcome back Cole Golka who was moved to the Braves on the trading deadline on January 10th.  Cole is small in size but big in talent and huge in heart.  So far the Braves have stumbled since his arrival in Saanich however, I believe that this is most likely a chemistry problem and one that will see that team start to click soon.  Hopefully it won’t be this evening and we can manage to squeeze a couple points out of this game.

We currently sit six points behind the 3rd place Westshore Wolves but have played three less games and so we still have time to catch them before the season draws to a close next month.  I wanted to look at where we are this week.  We play the Braves tonight, then welcome in the North Division leading Nanaimo Buccaneers on Friday and finally close out the weekend in Mill Bay for a Sunday afternoon game against the Islanders.  The Wolves on the other hand play the Victoria Cougars tomorrow night at Bear Mountain and then travel to Saanich to play the Braves.  We are obviously hoping to receive help from other Clubs in the VIJHL so let’s look a bit ahead to Sunday night after the weeks games are completed.  Let’s say that both the Cougars and the Braves knock off the Wolves and let’s also say that we manage to get a possible 4 of 6 points in our three games. (I know, we want all 6!)  This scenario would leave us two points behind with the Wolves having 4 games left, we would have 6 left.  As you can see, this is most likely our most important week of the season to date.  We are not out of the running for 3rd place but we will need some help and we will need to play our most inspired hockey of the season starting here tonight.

Tonight Cody Breitenstein will be out of the lineup due to an injury to his hand however, I believe he should be back in sooner rather than later.  Cody anchors our power-play and gives us some offensive punch and we will miss his presence this evening.  Grayson Vickers will likely log big minutes tonight and we all believe he is ready for this challenge.  When Grayson decides that he wants to be a force, I honestly do not believe there is a tougher player in the League and that reputation and style of play should garner great results when the hockey is the toughest - and that is in the playoffs for most teams.  But for us these are the playoffs, we need to win hockey games.  Kyle Richardson has been getting better and better and can give us different looks from the back end.  He is talented enough to skate the puck out of harms way and into the offensive zone, but is physical enough to really make a difference in this aspect of the game.  Thomas Strocel has been a great grab for our club.  I believe that he is much better than we all thought he would be and with Spencer Loverock and Patrick Croome leaving town and Breitenstein on the shelf, Strocel’s addition has been huge to say the least.  Feisty Brett Sjerven just keeps getting better and better and he still has two years left of Junior Hockey.  I would not want to be playing against Sjerven when he fills out more and is a 20-year-old leading our Club in two years.  But for tonight Sjerven is in moth balls as he is suspended for tonight as a result of a situation which occurred in Mill Bay on Saturday against the Islanders.  He will be back in the lineup on Friday, but for tonight he will be missed.  I know that our coach Brian Passmore was going to try and see if 16-year-old Garnett Roberts was available for this evening.  Roberts hails from the Peninsula where he played his minor hockey and right now he is attached to the Major Midget team.  Garnet has played a couple games for the Panthers - the tall and lanky defenceman - and has not looked one bit out of place.  Hopefully Passy had some luck in picking him up tonight - I will find out when I arrive at the arena tonight.

Austin Sinhera will log a ton of minutes tonight and most likely will see action in all situations.  He is crafty without the puck and does not hurt us on the penalty kill and can move the puck and make intelligent plays on the power play.  He is still so young and developing but I would like to see him take the next step in the next two weeks and become more involved in the offence.  I know that he has the skills to do this and so with Breitenstein out of action this evening, tonight would be a great time for him to take that first giant step.  So often in the development of a hockey players they seem to stay the same for a bit and all of a sudden their game is elevated to the next level.  Confidence is the main ingredient in my mind to facilitate this change and I believe that Singhera has everything in place right now.  Watch him tonight.

Finally, the photo above shows two of our hardest working players, Cody Allison and Josh Adkins.  This all-out effort every single shift is what we will need from every player for this team to achieve some of the goals that we all want to achieve.  Players are playing for this year but they are also playing for next season.  We will have the lion’s share of players returning, we have players returning here from deadline deals, we have players in the wings like Roberts and several others who we have our eye on and this will not be an easy squad to crack next season.  What players do down the stretch and in the playoffs will let us know what we have and yes, evaluation season starts tonight!

Enjoy the game tonight, I hope it is a great one.  Cheers!

Pete Zubersky