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Islanders shut out Cougars as part of weekend sweep

Two home games for Kerry Park this Saturday and Sunday
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Teammates celebrate Kerry Park Islanders defenceman Arsh Dillon’s first career VIJHL goal against the Comox Valley Glacier Kings last Saturday night. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

The Kerry Park Islanders shut out the South Division-leading Victoria Cougars 3-0 in Esquimalt last Friday night, and it wasn’t even their best game of the weekend.

According to head coach Aaron Spotts, the Isles were even better the next night when the defeated the Comox Valley Glacier Kings 6-1 at Kerry Park Arena.

“The game in Victoria was a bit scrambly, both ways,” Spotts said. “[Saturday] was a bit better of a 60-minute game. I was happy with the way they played.”

Charles-Olivier Lepage made 55 saves on Friday night for his second shutout of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League season, and three Kerry Park players — Cole Amado, Tory McClintick and Riley Windsor — recorded two points apiece.

McClintick and Windsor assisted on Amado’s opening goal with five and a half minutes remaining in the first period, and Amado and Windsor set up McClintick less than two minutes into the second. Tanner Tiel wrapped up the scoring with a shorthanded goal into an empty net with three seconds left to play after the Cougars pulled goalie Cam Stevenson for the extra attacker.

“I was proud of the guys, the way they worked against a team that has played pretty good all year,” Spotts commented.

Lepage saw a lot of rubber on Friday night, but Spotts gave the rest of the team credit for preventing too many dangerous scoring opportunities.

“A lot of shots came from the outside, and we didn’t give up a lot of odd-man rushes. He made the saves he needed to. Obviously, he was really good for us.”

Back between the pipes the following night, Lepage stopped 18 of 19 shots and his teammates showed more energy than they did against the Cougars as the Isles sent the Glacier Kings home disappointed.

Evan Easton, Isaac Leik and Brandon McClintick paced the Kerry Park attack with three points apiece, while Arsh Dillon posted his first two points of the season and Raemon Grewal recorded his first assist.

Leik opened the scoring midway through the first. Easton doubled the lead early in the second, then Logan Furkalo made it 3-0 before Finn Withey scored the only goal the Isles would surrender all weekend. The Isles got third-period goals from Alex Engan, Easton again — shorthanded this time — and Dillon.

Easton has quietly and consistently risen up the VIJHL scoring race, and now sits second in points with 27 in 21 games, and is tied for third in goals with 14. Leik is tied for eighth in goals with 11,while Easton and Tiel are in a tie for 10th in assists with 13 apiece.

“He’s always had the offensive skill set,” Spotts said of Easton, who had 15 points in 46 games as a rookie in 2017-18. “He’s been able to find the back of the net. He dedicated himself to off-ice conditioning. He put the hard work in. He’s a player that loves the game of hockey, He’s definitely a kind of silent leader on the team. He works hard, and it’s great to see him being rewarded for it.”

With three straight wins and seven in their last eight games, the Isles sit third place in the South Division, six points back of the Saanich Braves, who they host this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Braves won the first three games between the teams this season, but the Isles have won the last two meetings, including a 5-1 win in their most recent clash on Nov. 3.

The Isles play host to the Oceanside Generals at 3 p.m. on Sunday. The Generals have struggled this season, but have improved since Dan Lemmon, a former teammate of Spotts’s with the Cowichan Valley Capitals, took over behind the bench in late October.



Kevin Rothbauer

About the Author: Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer is the sports reporter for the Cowichan Valley Citizen
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