What a difference a week makes.
Seven days and two games ago, the Comox Valley Glacier Kings were languishing in last place in the North Division of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.
Despite that, the coaching staff was fanning a flickering flame of optimism as the Yetis had just won back-to-back games after getting their 2012-13 season off to an 0-3-1 start.
Last week, that flickering flame began burning brightly as the suddenly red-hot Icemen ran their win streak to four, defeating Oceanside Generals 8-5 on Sept. 26 at home and edging Kerry Park Islanders 6-5 in overtime Sept. 29 on the road.
As a result, the Glacier Kings have zoomed from worst to first in the North Division, although just two points separate them from fourth-place Oceanside Generals.
The Yetis have a chance to open up some breathing room in a busy week as they take on second-place Nanaimo Buccaneers tomorrow (Oct. 4) in Nanaimo, host the still-winless Islanders Oct. 5. and visit Oceanside on Oct. 6.
Comeback Kids
On Sept. 29 at Kerry Park, the Glacier Kings demonstrated great perseverance, rallying from a 2-0 first-period deficit and a 5-2 third-period deficit to pull out the 6-5 OT win.
The visitors struck for three goals in 10 minutes in the final frame, with Brook Trainor’s second of the game and fourth of the season snapping the deadlock at 3:38 of the extra session.
Jordan Kamprath, Cody Eliason, Nicholas Tupper and Mitch Ball also tallied for Comox Valley while Rylan Ball added three assists and Wade Bartlett chipped in with two helpers.
The Glacier Kings outshot the Islanders 61-40 with AP call-up Denon Maximchuk getting the win. The Icemen went 2-for-9 on the power play while the Isles were 3-for-7.
Mid-week Win
The Yetis hosted a rare mid-week game on Sept. 26 but were more than up for the challenge, dispatching Oceanside 8-5 behind two-goal efforts by Rylan Ball (first star), Michael Scobie (second star) and team-leading scorer Kamprath.
Desmond Bast and Mitch Ball (third star) had the other Glacier King goals. Bast, M. Ball and Adam Roberston each had two assists.
Comox Valley outshot Oceanside 44-28 with Josh Round getting the win. The Yetis trailed 2-1 after one and led 3-2 after two. They went 1-for-7 with the man advantage while the Generals were 2-for-9.
ICE CHIPS Maximchuck and fellow affiliate AP goalie Bryce Dirocco have been called up while Matthew Mitchell sits out with an injury … Kamprath is tied for eighth in league scoring with 12 points while Rylan Ball is ninth with 11 … Mitchell is fifth in goalie stats … the VIJHL fan poll still has the Victoria Cougars heavily favoured to win the league championship with 30 per cent of the votes; Campbell River Storm is a distant second at 17 per cent … the Glacier Kings, Generals and Peninsula Panthers are tied for seventh with six per cent …
