Ben Alexander Taking Advantage of Second Chance

Last year at this time Ben Alexander was trying out for the Comox Valley Glacier Kings but unfortunately for him, it didn’t work out. He was cut and thought his hockey career might be done. He had a successful midget career with the Comox Valley Chiefs and was hoping he would continue with the junior club. During training camp last season, he showed a lot of hustle both ways but always seemed to be chasing the puck. Fast forward 2 months and he got called back asking if he was still interested in playing as the GKings needed players as they were cleaning house. Alexander gladly accepted and played his first game of the season on November 3rd. He would stay with team for the rest of the season.

Ben of course is carded for this season but that didn’t stop his work ethic during Main Camp. He looked like a new guy on the ice. Alexander has a lot more confidence this year and it has really shown. He was one of the top players on the ice at Main Camp. No longer is he known as just a guy with 110 percent effort and crazy hair. He was taking the puck to the net with conviction and scoring goals. I asked him about his camp. “It went pretty well I thought. I was skating hard, trying my best and making some simple plays. I think it went well. There were a lot of good guys out there.”

With his new confidence, he looks like a different player. He wasn’t reliant on the dump and chase game which was nice to see. Coming back as a vet, Alexander knows his role will change on such a young team. “I’m going to have to take the lead a little bit, show the rookies how it’s done out there, give them a few pointers and hopefully take the team to a couple wins.”

Last year, Alexander scored his first VIJHL goal in just his second game of the season in a Comox Valley uniform. Then he scored in his next game as well. He would finish the season potting one more. The Glacier Kings will be looking for him to score some more goals this year to be successful. Ben talked about what this year’s team is going to need to do. “I think we’re going to have to play it simple, take our bounces, take it to the net and try our best.”

Ben will be one of just 3 veterans that head coach Jordan Kamprath will have in the line up for the exhibition game against Nanaimo Thursday night.

Darryl Skender

Jordan Kamprath Holds First Real Practice With His Team

Head coach Jordan Kamprath was involved in all the practices last year as an assistant coach and as a temporary head coach when Jordan Butcher was away. He also held volunteer on-ice sessions before Main Camp for any player that wanted to attend. But Monday marked his first real practice with his own team. So obviously I was interested in seeing how Jordan was going to run the hour and 15 minutes he was going to spend with the kids. Off the ice, Kamprath is one of the nicest guys you’ll meet. He loves to talk hockey and gets quite excited and passionate when doing so. But when on the ice, it is all business. He makes no doubt who is in charge and he tries to get everything he can out of everybody. Just ask all the players that ended up getting sick during the practice. It was made apparent early that you better be able to skate if you want to be on this team. And they skated and skated and skated.

There were short breaks for instruction when the gasping players could get water. They did end up doing different puck drills, battle drills as well as more skating. There was a lot of yelling, a lot encouragement and a lot of high intensity at practice #1. It was very well-prepared, very structured with no lag times in between except for water breaks. Kamprath even did some of the skating drills with the players to push them to their limits. All in all, there 25 players and 3 goaltenders that will be having a good sleep later in the evening.

Jordan talked about what he saw at practice, “Today’s practice was awesome. We had a lot of players on the ice. It was a very hard working battle practice and it’s exactly what I want to see. Every single player here is battling for a spot, returning veterans as well new players coming in. We had a lot of young kids out here and a lot of them are trying to prove that they’re worthy to play in junior hockey. I enjoyed having my first practice here with this big group and I’m really looking forward to the season with the exhibition opener on Thursday.”

There were 3 other personnel out there helping with the practice. Brady Townsend, Mack Reid and Brad Smith were all lending a hand and helping evaluate. There are still too many players to make the line up so I asked Jordan what needs to be done to get the right personnel into the fold. “We have a lot of opportunities to bring players in. Teams are doing their finalized cuts as well. We’re a really young team where a team like Campbell River who is hosting might be a very old team releasing those 2000 and 2001’s. I know I have a defenceman coming in from Golden, built a good relationship with the coach over there. I’m going to be bringing in some players as opportunities arise and we are going to be making cuts as well. The team that’s out here right now, we have way too many players out there to start the season. I want to cut down to 25 for the beginning of the season and of course as the deadlines go by less and less. I really like the effort that the players are making. They are making it hard for any decisions to be made and that’s exactly what I want to see. I don’t want to go out there and have them make it easy for me to release them.  I want them to make it as difficult as possible for me to release them. We have a practice tomorrow (Tuesday) in the afternoon and we’ll see what happens then and we have the exhibition game on Thursday.”

It appears that the team will be held accountable for their actions. I could hear Kamprath talking to his players saying that he won’t tolerate excuses for being late for practices. He is expecting everyone to make their own personal schedule around the ice times so that they show up on time. And at practice, he wants to see the same effort that he wants in the games. One thing can be certain. Even though I don’t believe this will be the most talented team this year, I do believe they may be the best conditioned and will rarely get out-worked.

Darryl Skender

Jacob Murray Set For A Full Season

Jacob Murray thought his hockey career had ended after his Midget season was over last year. That is until he got a call from the Junior team asking him to finish the season with them. Murray gladly accepted and played the last 5 games of the Glacier Kings regular season. He scored his first VIJHL goal in the last contest on February 17th and now suddenly finds himself being a leader on this year’s squad. He was offered a card from head coach Jordan Kamprath before Main Camp which he was only too happy to accept.

Murray had worked hard for this opportunity over the summer. “I started off in the gym running a lot and did that quite a bit, once July came around I did a lot of swimming too but I stayed in the gym most of the time working on my running, strength and fitness… that kind of stuff.”

He had a terrific couple of ice session before Main Camp and Kamprath gave Murray the news he had been waiting for. “The coach texted me and said he wanted to chat after next ice. So we met and he said he wanted to card me and that he was committed to me so let’s get it done. We actually had some talks about it after Spring Camp too.”

It’s easy to see what Jordan sees in Murray. He’s a big body that isn’t afraid to go in the corners and can score goals as well. I asked him about his style. “Usually I play the grindy, power forward game but I have some skill.” That was on display as he scored in almost every game during Main Camp and won a lot of puck battles as well.

It’s been a fun ride for Jake so far in a GKings uniform and he expects that to continue. You could hear him on the players bench during the games at Main Camp motivating his own team while ribbing the other side. He said, “I’ve been having a lot of fun with the boys and have been getting some good skates in. The pace has gone up a lot for Main Camp. It’s real now.”

Jake is a local kid that has a lot of heart and desire for this team to be successful. He has a team first attitude and is the perfect fit for Jordan Kamprath’s team rebuild. Yes there will be a lot of new faces for the rebuild but more importantly, a new attitude on the bench.

Darryl Skender

 

 

Day 3 Main Camp

Aug. 26-2018

The Comox Valley Glacier finished Main Camp on Sunday with a lot of tough decisions ahead of them. The session started a little differently from the first couple days. The players didn’t get a chance to ease into the practice. Their speed and endurance were tested immediately on the first drill as they had to race from the end boards to the first blue line and back, then to the far blue line and back, and then to the far boards and back, all in the same heat. They also got some heavy skating in with a 3 on 3 scrimmage. Mack Reid and Brad Smith continued the first phase of Day 3 with various high intensity drills.

After the ice clean, players got back to a 5 on 5 game for 40 minutes which was followed by a second 5 on 5 game. Returning forward Ben Alexander notched 2 goals in the first game while Jake Murray and Adam Corless had a goal in each game. Alexander and Murray are already carded. Jordan Neufeld missed the session for a second consecutive day as he was generously covering a work shift for another player trying to make the squad.

Reid and Smith conducted exit interviews after camp was over. I asked Mack how Main Camp went.

“Ya, camp was good. You could really see the competition. Players know it’s a rebuilding year and there are spots available. The overall talent pool was at a very competitive level and the upcoming week of team practice is going to help with further evaluations.”

Mack Reid

So I asked what was on the upcoming agenda for Comox Valley.

“Team practice week kicks off tomorrow night (Monday) with another ice time Tuesday and then an exhibition game in Nanaimo on Thursday. Players will have another great opportunity to get their first VIJHL action under their belt as well as giving coaches and evaluators a good look at full game speed against a really good team. Competition to make the team is wide open, they should be excited. This week is all about showing the coaches who wants it more.”

The game on Thursday should be a good test for the inexperienced GKings. It is expected that the veterans will sit it out so that the rookies will have more time to showcase what they have to offer. Game time is 7:15 at the Pirate Ship. The Buccaneers beat Oceanside 4-1 in an exhibition match on Saturday.

Darryl Skender

Day 2 Main Camp

The Comox Valley Glacier Kings had a very productive Day 2 at their Main Camp. It once again was filled with instruction and drills, which had the players exhausted heading into their two 40-minute straight time scrimmages (Team Gold vs. Team Green). Once again Mack Reid and Brad Smith ran the camp with GM Dave Webb helping out. I won’t say which non-carded players I thought stood out as I am one of the evaluators but I can tell you stats. Lochlan Willis had 2 goals in the first game while Adam Corless scored once in each game. All goaltenders rotated every 10 minutes throughout both games. Spirits and intensity ran high once again as a fight almost started up before being broken up and some big body checks were thrown from guys like Logan Wilson and Dylan McDonald. I like when the boys play hard nosed and gritty and we saw a lot of that.

GM Dave Webb who operated the time clock for the first game and refereed the second was quite please with what he saw. He said the effort was really there.

” They’ve all worked very hard, the boys really want to be here and that’s a big plus. Being in a rebuild year, we’re really looking for guys that want to be here and work hard. We’re like the Las Vegas Golden Knights of the VIJHL.”

It’s true that the GKings will not be the most talented team this year but they should be able to grind out victories and play exciting hockey. The returning players that are already carded have looked terrific for the most part with a couple players that AP’d last season also looking good. Webb talked about what he expects out of the veterans.

“I want them to be aggressive, there’s no time to lay back, I want them to create and to entertain. They also need to be leaders on and off the ice. I’ve liked guys like Damian Rennie, Jordan Neufeld and Ben Alexander who have stepped up their games.”

Neufeld was not present for Saturday’s camp but has certainly impressed everyone during the 3 practices and Day 1 of Main Camp. The final day of camp is on Sunday with everything kicking off at 11:00 AM once again. For a second day in a row, the players will be playing at Arena #1.

Darryl Skender