The Kerry Park Islanders rode a hot powerplay to a huge victory over the Nanaimo Buccaneers at Kerry Park Arena on Saturday night.
The Isles went 5-for-11 with the man advantage on their way to a 9-4 win over the Bucs, who hold the second-best record in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League’s North Division.
“Our powerplay has been really successful all year,” Kerry Park head coach Aaron Spotts said. “Nanaimo took some undisciplined penalties and we capitalized on them.”
The Isles went into Saturday’s game “a little bit down” after a tough loss to the Victoria Cougars the night before, but found some spark early when AP Rylan Campbell scored a minute and 22 seconds after the opening faceoff and defenceman Dawson Blanchette scored a minute later on a powerplay.
“It was good for them to stay the course and play another solid game and be rewarded for that,” Spotts said. “Every time Nanaimo took a penalty, we took advantage of it, and we were able to carry that momentum the rest of the way.”
The Bucs would tie the score before the period was over, but things picked back up for the Isles in the second. Recent addition Nolan Renke found the net early in the second. Although the Bucs got that one back soon after, powerplay goals by Evan Easton and Blanchette restored Kerry Park’s lead for good.
The Isles scored three more in the first five minutes of the third period, a powerplay goal by Tanner Tiel, an even-strength marker by Logan Furkalo and Renke’s second of the night on another powerplay. Nanaimo added one more, but Isaac Leik rounded the scoring out for Kerry Park.
When the dust settled, Blanchette had two goals and one assist, Renke also had two goals, Tiel had a goal and two helpers, Leik had a goal and one assist, and Brandon McClintick, Riley Windsor and Romaeo D’Intino all had two assists. Rett Rook stopped 22 of 26 shots in the Kerry Park net.
Rookie Blanchette has been a consistent contributor on the Kerry Park blueline all season.
“I can’t say enough about Dawson,” Spotts said. “He’s an 18-year-old, and he has come in and provided steady leadership. He logs a lot of minutes as a shutdown defenceman, as well as on offence. He’s a character individual who wants to get better every day. It’s important to have people in your program who want to get better, and he’s definitely one of those guys.”
The night before, the Isles lost 4-3 to the Cougars in Victoria.
“Against Victoria, I thought our play was pretty solid,” Spotts said. “We made a few mistakes that ended up in the back of the net. Our effort was really good. In the first period especially, I thought we played to our strengths.”
Leik scored just 16 seconds into the game, but the Cougars replied with three in the second and one more in the third. Easton and Cole Amado scored just 50 seconds apart in the middle of the third, but the Isles weren’t able to close the gap. Islanders goalie Charles-Olivier Lepage finished with 33 saves on 37 shots.
“At the end of the day it was a one-goal game,” Spotts commented. “We have to change the one-goal games into one-goal games in our favour.”
The Isles have a busy week ahead as they visit Westshore on Wednesday and Oceanside on Friday, then host Saanich on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
“We’ve been really good at home this year,” Spotts noted. “We need to find ways to win on the road. It would be nice to play some solid road games and get some points on the board.”
The Isles have lost three games to the first-place Saanich Braves, but the last two have been by a single goal, including an overtime defeat in their most recent meeting.
“We’ve played them three times, all on the road,” Spotts said. “It will be nice to play them at home.”
