Buccaneers bracing for big game

The Nanaimo Buccaneers play the Campbell River Storm on Thursday (Jan. 8) at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.

The Nanaimo Buccaneers will make decisions this week that will determine their direction.

The city’s junior B hockey club, winless in five, has a home game Thursday (Jan. 8) against the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League’s best team, the Campbell River Storm.

The Bucs haven’t beaten the Storm this season, and with the game tonight falling just two days before the trade deadline, it’s another chance for the Buccaneers to figure out if they can contend.

“We have the team that can make a push,” said Derek Bachynski, coach of the Bucs. “We know we need all 20 guys going and working together. It’s not going to be two or three guys that can beat Campbell River, it’s got to be the whole team.”

He said earlier this week that he and his assistant coaches weren’t worrying about the deadline.

“We’ve already made a lot of changes and I hate making too many changes, but changes needed to be made,” Bachynski said. “Hopefully it doesn’t lead into more changes. We’ll see where it goes.”

GAME ON … The Bucs and Storm play Thursday (Jan. 8) at 7:15 p.m. at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.

sports@nanaimobulletin.com

Nanaimo News Bulletin