The Comox Valley Glacier Kings and the Saanich Predators were on the Lake Cowichan Kraken’s VIJHL schedule last weekend.
The Glacier Kings may be the top team in the league but the Kraken had something a little different on their side for their home game on Friday, Oct. 21: the game time.
The puck dropped on their latest game time of the year — a 9 p.m. start at the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena, meaning a long day for the visiting team.
The late start time didn’t seem to phase the Glacier Kings who scored twice in the first period to take the lead into the middle frame. The Kraken got on the board 2:07 into the second when Jacob Campbell fed Walker Smith on the powerplay making it a 2-1 game. Comox replied with their third to wrap up the second period with a 3-1 lead.
The trouble for the Glacier Kings was they couldn’t quite seem to stay out of the penalty box.
Rowan Zapisocki started an epic comeback at 1:41 of the third period by potting Lake Cowichan’s 3-2 goal with an assist from Anthony Wilson.
The comeback attempt was thwarted when Comox scored the 4-2 goal, seemingly putting the game out of reach.
Cue the Kraken.
Wilson got one back with less than four minutes to go with help from Aiden Eddy and Rees Aebischer on the powerplay.
Less than a minute later the Kraken tied it up off the hot stick of Sukhraj Narwal from Wilson and Mitchell Billings.
The 4-4 score meant overtime and Billings and Narwal were able to get past the Comox netminder while their own goalie, Aaron Kaner, was able to stop all but one, giving the Kraken a comeback 5-4 win.
After a day off on Saturday, the Kraken were at it again on Sunday afternoon when they faced Saanich at George Pearkes Arena.
The Kraken fell 6-3 to the Predators with Lake Cowichan’s goals coming from Dallas Brown (from Narwal and Wilson), Zapisocki (from Jacob Campbell and Brayden Ganter), and Dayton Vandepeear (from Zapisocki).
Zapisocki was the game’s first star. Kraken goalie Brendan Wilson took the loss in net, making 30 saves on 36 shots on goal.
The Kraken play the Buccaneers Oct. 27, in Nanaimo. The puck drops at 7:15 p.m. Lake Cowichan wraps up their October schedule with a home contest against the Campbell River Storm on Oct. 30. That game begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena.