Much to the surprise of on one, neither goalie was included in the game’s three stars on Saturday night when the Comox Valley Glacier Kings eclipsed the Nanaimo Buccaneers 9-8 in a Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League shootout at the Comox Valley Sports Centre.
The teams combined for 16 goals through 60 minute of regulation, play, but the Icemen needed overtime to dispatch the Bucs, and it was Grant Iles’ third goal of the game at 4:08 of the extra session that finally decided the wide-open affair. Iles earned the game’s first star for his troika of tallies while teammate and second star Sheldon Brett had a sterling five-point (2g, 3a) night.
Dylan Sampson (1g, 3a) and Derian Hamilon (3a) also had big nights for the Icemen. Zachary Straza picked up the win in net while Greg Maggio took the loss. Nanaimo out-shot Comox Valley 43-38 and went 2-for-9 on the power play. The Yetis were 3-for-8 with the man advantage.
The teams were tied 2-2 after one period and 5-5 after two. The Bucs grabbed a 7-5 lead by the 6:28 mark of third, only to have the G-Kings crank a pair of power-play goals by Iles and Sampson knot things up by the 13:44 mark.
After Nanaimo regained the lead at 14:20, Brett brought the hometown crowd to its feet with the equalizer with just 12 ticks left on the clock. Brett finished off an impressive performance by helping to set up Iles with the game-winner in OT.
It was a big win for the Yetis in that it keeps them tied for second place with Nanaimo in the North Division. The Bucs are 14-8-0-2 while the G-Kings are 13-7-1-3.
The Yetis close out the November portion of their regular season with a flurry of games. This weekend, they are away to Peninsula Panthers on Nov. 28, host North Division leaders Campbell River Storm on Nov. 29 (game time 7:30 p.m. at Sports Centre #1) then repay the visit to Campbell River on Nov. 30.
