The Campbell River Storm got a bit of revenge Sunday afternoon at the Rod Brind’Amour Arena, defeating the visiting Delta Ice Hawks.
The two-game exhibition series was, itself, a bit of a rematch from the 2018 Cyclone Taylor Cup, as each of the teams won their respective leagues.
Storm head coach Lee Stone was pleased to get a couple of tuneup games against some strong competition.
“It’s obviously great to have Delta come play us, obviously a real challenge,” he said. “I think they’re going to be a real strong team in their league.”
The team also held its annual tailgate barbecue and season ticket drive prior to the first game. On Saturday, the Storm came up short dropping the first game to Delta 4-3, but on Sunday they were able to hold on for a 1-0 win. Campbell River’s lone goal came in the first, when Zach Trempner found a chance to sneak one past Delta. That was all the offence the Storm could get, but it was enough for the win, courtesy of a shutout from Lethbridge, Alta. product Aaron de Kok, who stopped all 34 shots he faced.
“I thought our goaltending was really great,” Stone said.
He was also pleased with the players’ special teams play, though he suggested the power play will need some work. He was also happy with the team’s physical play and forechecking.
“There’s a lot of really great pieces moving forward,” he said. “We’ve just got to fine-tune and be ready Thursday against the Bucs.”
As it was exhibition play, Stone viewed the games as a chance to work on these fundamentals.
“For us, we just wanted to get some of the system stuff down, see the compete level and get some of our veterans some games,” he said. “We’re certainly very excited about what we see.”
Some of the things the coach expects the team will work on this week will be defensive zone coverage, as the Storm gave up more than 30 shots in each of this weekend’s games.
“That’s something we want to prevent moving forward,” he said.
Following the game, Stone said he was expecting to have to make some tough decision about settling on the roster in anticipation of the start of the regular season on Thursday. The team will open in Nanaimo against the Buccaneers and will return to Campbell River for the home opener against the Generals Oceanside on Friday night. Game time on Friday is 7:30 p.m.
“Home opener’s always a big one,” Stone said. “We want to have a real big performance and show the fans exactly what we’re all about.”
