The Nanaimo Buccaneers’ skates won’t stop moving as they begin a new junior B hockey season.
The city’s Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League club gets the 2018-19 campaign underway with a home game Thursday, Sept. 6, against the Campbell River Storm at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.
The Bucs won all three games in their pre-season and through camp, exhibition play and practices, they’ve looked good, said Curtis Toneff, coach and general manager.
“There’s a lot of fresh faces around here; the main thing is they’re picking up what we’re putting down as a coaching staff and they’re working hard every day and probably the most important thing out of everything is they’re coming together as a group,” Toneff said.
Although it’s a younger team this season, players, including rookies, possess a high hockey IQ, the coach said.
“Some of these kids have potential to step into this league and do some damage right away,” he said. “We’re not going to limit their creativity, but we’re going to teach them to play hard hockey with good habits and important concepts for them to move up in the game.”
Toneff said it’s a fast skating group this year that will be able to play the sort of “run and gun” hockey he’s encouraging.
The group of forwards this year will be led by newly announced captain Billy Walters, with Trey Watson an alternate captain. Owen Dalman, Darian Harris and Jacob Gosling are some of the other returnees. Rookies Joshua Zary and Riley Gannon are expected to have an immediate impact, with Tanner Roberts and another newcomer, Tyler Nypower also showing promise.
The mobile, versatile defence is anchored by alternate captain Dylan Hartl. Erik Hanus is poised for big minutes after a strong pre-season, Michael Sande and Dawson Wollf are other key guys on D and Robbie Davis and Harrison Tucker will make contributions.
In goal, Austin Dendl is likely to get the start in the home opener. Former Buc Cedric LeSieur returns to the team, though the team also holds rights to two other goalies and will have some decisions to make.
The other change in the organization is at the top, as Clayton Robinson is now team president after founders Phil and Brenda Levesque sold the club last spring.
Toneff said he likes the idea of starting off the season against a Storm team that’s a championship favourite in 2018-19 and a rival every season. There’s more than just two points on the line, too, as the Buccaneers have a streak to uphold.
“We’ve won every opening night game in Bucs history and I’ve certainly heard about that from my good friends Phil and Brenda, so we’ll look to continue that trend,” the coach said.
GAME ON … The Buccaneers and Storm play Thursday, Sept. 6, at 7:15 p.m. at the NIC. Tickets will be available at the door. For ticket information, including season ticket info, visit http://buccaneers.vijhl.com.
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