Jan. 1st vs. Saanich Braves - Hockey Ops.

Good Evening Hockey Fans,
Thank you for coming out this afternoon for our first every New Year’s Day affair.  It’s hard to squeeze in 24 home games and we have to pick alternate dates and I thought that we would give January 1st a try.  I guess we’ll see what kind of crowd we get this afternoon and if it looks good, we will try and make this an annual contest.  I thought that people would have been up late last night and probably slept away a bit of today but the 4:00 pm start allowed everyone to shake out the cobwebs and yet be away from the rink early enough that it leaves the evening free.  I also considered the fact that the World Junior Tournament is not in North America this year and so we would not be going head-to-head with a World Junior Canadian game.  Let me know what your thoughts are on this scheduling issue.

The Saanich Braves are back into the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre once again this afternoon, coming in for back-to-back games after being knocked out last Friday by a 6-2 count.  They have one scheduled visit left and that will be on Friday, January 17th here at the Panorama.  We have one more trip into George Pearkes Arena and that will be on January 22nd, this game will conclude our eight-game regular season schedule with the Braves.  To date, most of the games have been very tight.  We had a double-overtime tie early in the season and have held serve since then winning the other four meetings between the two Clubs.  We currently sit solidly in 2nd place in the South Division of the VIJHL, six points up on the Westshore Wolves, albeit, we have played two less games.  This afternoon and then on Friday when we host the Oceanside Generals will leave us with an identical 35 games played like the Wolves and two wins would really give us a foothold on 2nd.  It looks like the Victoria Cougars have pretty well wrapped up 1st place in the Division and for that matter, it will probably be pretty difficult for anyone to catch them for 1st overall.  At this point it is all about getting into position for the playoffs and we would like nothing more than to have home-ice advantage for at least the 1st round of the playoffs.

Last Friday night we bounced the Braves 6-2 and I thought that our kids looked full value for the win.  The Braves have been playing good hockey as of late having recently downed the Cougars 2-0 and then ten days ago taking a 2-0 lead on our Club before we stormed back in the 3rd frame to eventually win the game 3-2.  Last Friday we still had four key players out of the lineup including Reece Costain who was still in Edmonton on the Christmas Break, Kyle Richardson who had a bout of food poisoning, Tate Coughlin who was up with the Kelowna Rockets getting a taste of Western Hockey League action and Spencer Loverock who is still banged up after getting slashed in a game against the Kerry Park Islanders five weeks ago.  I expect that Costain and Richardson will be back in today.  Coughlin is still in Kelowna with the Rockets and I will speak about Tate a bit more a bit later.  And Spencer Loverock began skating with the Club and I expect that he will be back by next weekend, we’ll see.  Joey Karrer got the start between the pipes and was better than solid all night long.  Joey has taken a back seat to Stephen Heslop this season but his play has become stronger and stronger as the games and weeks and months have ticked by and the level of his play is demanding that he see more action.  This is a healthy situation for both of our goaltenders as the kid that is holding the hot hand will see more action as we wind towards the end of the season and into the playoffs.  The back end was once again outstanding.  Matt Sheeran was back into the lineup and I thought he looked a bit rusty early on but that was to be expected.  In the 3rd period he jumped towards the net a couple times and each time the play ended up with the puck going behind the Saanich goalie and the red light being turned on.  Matt had two assists on the night but more importantly, he played some key minutes and I am sure this helped with his confidence.  Cody Breitenstein was spectacularly solid all night long and nailed down one assist on a Connor Logan tally as well as picking up the game’s 1st star.  Sean Buchanan gets stronger every game and really has a look of a confident defenceman.  Des Bast is getting his feet wet with the Club and I liked how he stuck up for his mates when Josh Poland was causing a bit of a disruption late in the 3rd period.

I am looking for Des to begin using his wheels more as he becomes comfortable with the Club - he is a great skater and has a really big upside to him.  Iver Oedegaard is getting bigger and bigger and better and better every single time on the ice - he is really starting to figure it out.  Odie slammed several Braves into the wall on Friday night and then to cap it all off, decided to go end to end in the 3rd period to score one of the prettiest goals of this season.  He still has an incredible upside even though he is a 19-year-old.  He has played his entire life in Norway and at this point is just now getting used to playing the North American style.  Brett Sjerven was back in the lineup on Friday after sitting on the sidelines for a month and he was his usual gritty self.  In the 3rd period he rocked a Braves forward, a hit that most of you probably remember.  Brett adds so much leadership to our Club and we are happy to have him back in the fold.

Up front we were missing Costain and Coughlin, two top-six kids and yet we managed to score six times.  Connor Logan jumped into 2nd place in VIJHL scoring getting his 19th and 20th goals of the season to go along with 30 helpers.  Logan will be playing Junior A next season but I believe that the time he is spending in Junior B right now will make his Junior A career that much better.  I see his confidence growing each and every time out, it’s fun to watch.  Jackson Skerratt is a leader with some great touch but he surprised me on Friday with a burst of speed that I didn’t know he had in him.  In the 3rd period Jackson picked up the puck near our blueline and as he sped into the neutral zone, Braves’ Sam McMullen was chasing him hard.  Skerratt did not miss a beat, did not bob and weave but just simply skated faster than McMullen to pull away from him.  I thought that Grayson Vickers and Adam Page both played great games up front adding grit on every shift.  For the most part, I expect that these two will be playing forward the rest of the way and they will be counted on to bang and crash and chip in with the odd goal and assist.  It was nice to see Cody Allison break a scoring slump and get an early goal in the game with helpers from Pearce and Page.  Allison and Jordan Law play much in the same mould.  Both add energy when they hit the ice and both are responsible on the defensive side of the puck and for our Club to be successful, they both have to bring exactly this role to each and every game.  Friday Law chipped in with an assist and so it was a nice game for both of them.  Braeden Pearce is a horse!  He is young however and there are times in games when he takes a shift or two off.  Braeden is going to be an awesome player and one that can provide a physical aspect to every hockey game.  I see Reece Costain playing Junior A next season as he fits a role where he bangs and crashes on every shift.  Pearcy needs to take a page from this book and be a physical force every single shift, every single game.  He did that often last Friday night.  Smith and Glover both played solid games last night, Glover with a goal and then a perfect feed to Skerratt for a one-timer and a goal.  We really need both of these guys to be offensive players, we need more scoring and it has to come from these two.

Glover is a 19-year-old and can be a leader on the team and Smitty can score like no other player in the VIJHL.  When both are committed to both ends of the ice, we are a very hard Club to beat.  Nick Kean is a huge kid that has some really amazing upside.  I don’t think we have seen the real “Keaner” quite yet, the one that I am expecting to see down the stretch and into the playoffs.  He is big, he can crash and he has a ton of skill for a big man.  When Kean is playing a physical brand of hockey he is a great power forward and that is the kind of player Passy is expecting to see each time out.

You can tell that it is getting late into the season and the focus is changing just a bit.  Our coaches will be speaking to our players about roles and will expect 100% buy-in from here on in.  It is now January and only six weeks until the playoffs.  It’s that time of year!
Thank you all once again for joining us here for our first every New Year’s game, it should be a good one.  OK, here we go!!
Pete Zubersky