The Comox Valley Glacier Kings and the Nanaimo Buccaneers hook up for the first time this season at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. The Bucs come into the contest in second place in the North Division with a 3-1 record. Some key pieces of the puzzle for Nanaimo are gone but they have plenty left to contend with the top teams in the North Division. Forward sensation and 2000 born player Dawson Heathcote was the leading scorer last season. He is a Medicine Hat Tigers prospect and isn’t listed on the Bucs roster anymore. Both Bell’s are also gone to the delight of the Glacier Kings. Chad Bell graduated from his 5 year VIJHL career and now plays NCAA Division III hockey with Chatham University. Trent is in his final year of junior eligibility and is playing and doing well for the Powell River Kings. He has a goal and 2 assists in 4 games. One key returning player for the team is defenceman Clayton Peace. The 20 year old is in his 4th season (3rd full season) with Nanaimo. The defence core looks great with 20 year old Coleman Doney back on the blue line for a 4th year. Doney is the team’s captain. They are led in scoring by Mathieu Jallabert who has 2 goals and 3 assists in just 4 games. Jallabert starred for the Melville Millionaires of the SJHL last season after coming over from the Oceanside Generals the few previous years. He had his rights acquired by Campbell River in the off-season, before being dealt to the Bucs who gave up goaltender John Hawthorne and defenceman Julius Zhang in the deal. As if Nanaimo wasn’t strong enough, they just acquired forward Brandon Roberge from the Oceanside Generals. Roberge was a point per game player last season for the Generals. Derek Krall and Blake Wood have each split the first 4 games in net so far. One bad note for Nanaimo is they are still without Cam Nickerson who is out with a suspension. He is serving 5 games for a major penalty for a hit to the head and a gross misconduct for abuse of officials. By season’s end, Nickerson will be well over a point per game player. He can’t come back until the October 5th game against Oceanside.
The Comox Valley Glacier Kings come into the game with a 1-3-0-1 record after losing in overtime on Saturday in Oceanside. They are one point behind the Generals in the battle for 3rd place in the North. Despite having a couple players come back off the injury list last week (Dayton Keith and Damian Rennie), they are still waiting for 2 more. Ty Madden and Jordan Neufeld are still about a week and a half away from playing their first games of the season. Goaltender Matt Henwood has turned into the goalie that Joey Ewing has been expecting out of his starter. There have been some line juggling in practice. Ewing is trying to get 2 scoring lines and thinks he might have found it. Cody Shepheard, Jake Mckenzie and Damian Rennie are on one line with Finn Withey, Willie Daigneault and Matteo Giomo teamed up on the other. The Glacier Kings will be looking for their first road victory of the season tonight while Nanaimo is a perfect 2-0 at home. Nanaimo took 7 of the 10 games the 2 teams played last season and 4 of the 5 games in the playoffs. Game time is 7:15 and if you’re not going the Nanaimo Ice Centre, you can catch all the action on HockeyTV with Kyle Ireland and Lorenzo Jensen. Game time is 7:15 PM.
Above The Pond 