The Comox Valley Glacier Kings and Kerry Park Islanders are seeing a lot of each other these days.
In Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League action last week, the teams split a pair of games, with the Islanders winning 4-2 Oct. 12 at home and the Glacier Kings prevailing 9-7 Oct. 11 in Courtenay.
On Saturday, special teams were the difference as Kerry Park went 2-for-5 on the power play and added a short-handed empty netter for good measure. The Glacier Kings were 0-for-7 with the man advantage.
The Islanders led 2-0 after one period and 3-2 after two. The Glacier Kings out-shot the Isles 33-32 with Blake Pearson (game third start) taking the loss and Leighton Williams netting the win.
Nicholas Tupper tallied his second goal of the season and Sheldon Brett notched his eighth of the year for the Glacier Kings. Eric Mansueti (second star) tallied one goal and one assist for Kerry Park.
Friday night in Courtenay the Islanders’ special teams (5-for13 PP) outperformed the Glacier Kings (2-for-8 PP), but the Icemen won a wild one 9-7. The Yetis never trailed, leading 4-2 after one and 7-5 after two. They out-shot the visitors 36-28 with Scott Legault the winner and Jackson Jane the loser.
A big six-point (3g, 3a) game by Brett earned him first-star honours while Duncan Pernal also put up a six-pack (2g, 4a) to lead the Yetis. Taylor Derynck, Bret Higham, Liam Shaw and Ali Gotmy had the other Comox Valley goals, with Gotmy also adding four assists. Tupper picked up a pair of helpers as the Glacier Kings’ offence was firing on all cylinders. Kerry Park’s Alex Milligan (2g, 1a) was the game’s third star.
The Glacier Kings have a busy weekend ahead of them, with three games in three nights. They play the Islanders for a third straight time on Friday in Kerry Park and then again on Oct. 19 at home (7:30 p.m. start Comox Valley Sports Centre Arena #1). On Sunday the Yetis have a 2:30 p.m. matinee in Parksville with the Oceanside Generals.
ICE CHIPS Pernal (11g, 5a) and Brett (8g, 8a) are now tied for the lead in Glacier Kings scoring with 16 points each … VIJHL stats and league updates are at vijhl.com …
