All that glitters is not gold.
That will be the rallying cry of the Comox Valley Glacier
Kings today as they take on the Castlegar Rebels in the bronze medal game of
the 2013 Cyclone Taylor Cup. The puck drops at 10:30 a.m. at the Comox Valley Sports
Centre.
That game will be followed by the gold medal contest at 2:30
p.m. between the Richmond Sockeyes and the Victoria Cougars. In the final day
of round robin play Saturday, the host Glacier Kings lost 6-1 to VIJHL champion
Victoria while PJHL champs Richmond
edged KIJHL rep Castlegar 3-2.
Richmond
improved to 3-0, but Castlegar (1-2) did not go lightly into the night. The Sockeyes
were up 3-0 after two periods of Saturday’s matinee, but the Rebels rallied
with goals at 12:29 and 19:39 of the third. They pulled goalie Jordan Gluck
with 56 seconds left but could not net the equalizer with the extra skater on
the ice. Castlegar outshot Richmond
30-23 with William Latimer picking up the win.
The Saturday soiree was an all-VIJHL affair, with the
Glacier Kings needing to win, and by a large goal differential, to have any
hope of advancing to the gold medal game. The Yetis had been swept by the
Capital City Cats in the VIJHL playoff championship, so the task was a tall
one.
The Icemen did not have to read scouting reports to know the
Cougars’ potent power play (firing at an astounding 35 per cent) was to be
avoided at all costs. But somehow the message didn’t seem to get through, as Victoria went 4-for-11
with the man advantage while the Glacier Kings went 0-for-5 (which included a
couple of 5-on-3s).
For a team whose game plan was to score a lot of goals,
things got off to an ominous start for the Glacier Kings when the Cougars
scored on their first shot on goal just 68 seconds in. Shortly after, Steven
Garcia tried to engage Rhys Williams in some fisticuffs. Both players received
slashing minors but Garcia was also assessed two minutes for instigating, five
minutes for fighting, and an automatic game misconduct.
If Garcia meant to inject some life into his teammates, the
move backfired, as it turned out to be the first of several nails in the Icemen’s
coffin.
During the ensuing seven-minute power play, Victoria popped a pair
of goals past Michael Hails to lead 3-0 after one. The G-Kings, who needed to
light the red lamp till the bulb burned out, did not muster their first shot on
goal until the 14-minute mark of the first frame. They were outshot 41-14 on
the game.
The Yetis’ second of three game misconducts saw Jack
Kennelly sent to the showers for a hit from behind on Matthew Ho. In the second
stanza, the Cougars tallied at 2:47 and 4:44 to make it 6-0. The hometown crowd
finally had something to cheer for when Tyson Rennie’s sharp-angle shot broke
Evan Roch’s goose egg at the 7:29 mark.
But the Cougars got that one back less than five minutes
later when Brody Coulter ripped an unassisted marker past Hails with the
Glacier Kings on a delayed penalty. Hails was replaced by Bryce DiRocco to
start the third period, and he stopped all five shots he faced.
ICE CHIPS The
G-Kings finished the round robin 0-3
while Victoria went 2-1 … Rennie also received
a game misconduct … Yeti d-man Brandon Halls was helped off the ice late in the
game with what appeared to be a left knee injury … Coulter finished with four
points (2g, 2a), while Wade Johnson and Sam Rice added two points (1g, 1a) each
… the Cougars will be going for their second Cyclone Taylor Cup, having
previously won it in 2007 … Richmond has won the B.C. Junior B championship
three times (2003, 2004, 2009) … today’s gold medal winner advances to the
Keystone Cup (Western Canadian championship) April 17-21 in St. Malo, Manitoba … Saturday Players
of the Game were Johnson and Kelyn Open for Victoria and Patrick Croome and
Sasha Hahn for Comox Valley …
