The Comox Valley Glacier Kings earned one win in three games during a busy week of Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League play.
The Icemen snapped a seven-game losing streak by defeating the Kerry Park Islanders 8-5 on Dec. 5. On Dec. 4 they fell 9-2 to the Campbell River Storm after losing 3-2 to the Westshore Wolves on Dec. 2.
Saturday night in Courtenay, the Yetis tallied eight goals on 19 shots in their win over the Islanders. Kerry Park fired 39 shots at winning goalie Braddock Otton. The visitors led 2-1 after one period and were up 4-2 midway through the second before the Icemen reeled off five unanswered goals to lead 7-4 by the 15:06 mark of the third.
First star Grayden McInnes (2g, 1a), second star Brandon McReynolds (1g, 3a), third star Jake McKenzie (1g, 1a) and Liam Nijhoff (1g, 1a) led the Glacier Kings. Tyson Slater, Ben Raffler and Kyle Wade had the other Comox Valley goals. The Isles went 2-for-4 on the power play while the G-Kings were 0-for-5.
Friday night in Campbell River, there were three good reasons why the North Division leading Storm knocked off the Yetis – three goals in each of the three periods. The hosts also swept three star honours, with VIJHL goal scoring leader Gage Colpron (3g, 2a) an easy pick for number one. Colin Blake (2g, 2a) was second star and Finn Withey (1a) was number three.
The Storm out-shot the G-Kings 38-22 with Paul Broadbent getting the start in net for the visitors and giving up four goals on 23 shots before giving way to Otton halfway through the second stanza. McInnes and Wade scored for the Yetis.
Wednesday night at The Q Centre in Victoria, the Icemen out-shot the Wolves 33-29 but could not pick up the win, despite the best efforts of third star Broadbent who lost the goaltending dual to first star Leighton Williams.
Westshore potted a pair of power-play goals in the second period that proved to be the difference.
McInnes and Grant Iles lit the lamp for Comox Valley.
The Glacier Kings visit the Peninsula Panthers on Friday, Dec. 11 then host the Nanaimo Buccaneers on Saturday, Dec. 12 (7:30 p.m. Sports Centre #1). They close out the 2015 portion of their season Dec. 19 at home against the Storm and open 2016 on Jan. 2 at home against the Saanich Braves.
ICE CHIPS McInnes (16g, 21a) leads the Icemen scoring and is tied for seventh in the league with 37 points while McReynolds (15g, 17a) is second on the team and ninth in the league with 32 points…the Yetis (12-15-0-3) are third in the North Division, four points back of second-place Nanaimo (14-11-1-2) …
