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Healthy Isles show off firepower against Kings

Kerry Park hopes to play best hockey going forward
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Forward Parker Ellis breaks into the offensive zone during the Isles’ 9-2 win over the Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Saturday. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

The Kerry Park Islanders bounced back from a lopsided loss to the league-leading Nanaimo Buccaneers last Thursday to trounce the basement-dwelling Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Saturday.

The Isles lost 7-3 to the Bucs in Nanaimo, then defeated the Glacier Kings 9-2 in Mill Bay.

Thursday’s game was off the rails for the Isles even before it started. The team was already missing some key players from the lineup when Chase Anderson, who was supposed to start in goal, passed out prior to taking the ice. He went to the hospital and checked out OK, but seemed to be struggling with exhaustion and dehydration. Parker Swanson made the spot start, but wasn’t prepared to play, and the Bucs scored on their first two shots.

“It was a bit of a distraction and we got to a bit of a slow start,” Kerry Park head coach Aaron Spotts said. “At the end of the day, I don’t think we played our best game, either.”

The Isles scored once in each period, while the Bucs had three in the first and two in both the second and third periods. Parker Ellis, Keenan Eddy and Joe Leakey did the damage for Kerry Park. Both teams went 0-for-6 on the powerplay.

The Bucs, in Spotts’s assessment, are the class of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League this season.

“I’ve been here three years, and they are probably the strongest team I’ve actually seen,” he said. “They’ve got lots of scoring, they’re big and fast, and they play a physical style, too.”

Back home on Saturday, the Isles iced the strongest team they’ve had all year, missing only defenceman Connor Bissett, and the Glacier Kings felt the full impact.

“It was the first time we’ve had our whole lineup since September. We had one healthy scratch, and we haven’t had that since September.”

The Isles scored three goals in the first period, four in the second and two in the third. Comox actually opened the scoring just 63 seconds into the opening period, then added another in the second, but that was all they could muster.

Kerry Park had nine different goal-scorers: Tanner Tiel, Cordell Boyko, Evan Easton, Tory McClintick, Joe Lamoureux, Isaac Leik, Jarret Malloch, Parker Ellis (shorthanded) and Tanner Browne. Ellis, Malloch, Kayden Peck and Brandon Nelson each had two assists, and Browne, Tiel and Boyko all finished with two points on the night. A recovered Anderson stopped 17 of 19 shots in net, and both teams were 0-for-6 on the powerplay again.

Finally boasting a mostly healthy lineup, the Isles are poised to do some damage in the South Division.

“We’re getting healthy and we want to make a push,” Spotts said. “We’ve got 10 games left. We’ve been inconsistent, but guys are starting to get it figured out.”

The Isles will visit the Westshore Wolves on Wednesday, then host the Wolves on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, they host the Oceanside Generals at 3 p.m.

“They’re two crucial games,” Spotts said of the Westshore matches. “Every point this time of year is tough to get. The last couple of years, we’ve missed moving up a spot in the standings at the end of the year by a point or two. Those come back to haunt you. We want to finish strong, and we want to make sure we’re playing our best hockey going into playoff time.”



Kevin Rothbauer

About the Author: Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer is the sports reporter for the Cowichan Valley Citizen
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