It was a winless opening weekend for the Comox Valley Glacier Kings, although they did earn one point out of a possible four.
The Yetis opened their 2015-16 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League season Sept. 5 at home with a 4-3 loss in double overtime to the Nanaimo Buccaneers, then on Sept. 6 dropped a 7-3 decision to the Campbell River Storm in Campbell River.
On Sept. 5, the G-Kings tied the game at 3-3 on Brandon McReynolds’ power-play goal with 21 seconds left in the third, only to have the Bucs decide the issue early in the second OT with a power-play goal of their own. Comox Valley led 1-0 after one and trailed 2-1 after two.
Willie Daigneault and Tristan Olsen had the other Yeti goals. Comox Valley goalie Paul Broadbent was the game’s second star and Nanaimo goalie Alex Orth the third star as the visitors outshot the G-Kings 33-29. First star Jordan Levesque netted the game winner.
Overtime was definitely not needed on Sept. 6 as the defending VIJHL, Cyclone Taylor (B.C.) and Keystone Cup (Western Canada) champion Storm opened a 3-0 first period lead and withstood a Glacier Kings’ comeback bid that saw them close the gap to 4-2 in the second period.
Campbell River outshot Comox Valley 44-29 with Broadbent busy between the pipes for a second straight game. McReynolds, Justin Mirabelli and Grayden McInnes tallied for the visitors.
The Glacier Kings will be looking for their first win of the season tonight (Sept. 10) in Nanaimo against the Buccaneers. They are home Saturday, Sept. 12 to host the Westshore Wolves in a 7:30 p.m. start at Sports Centre Arena #1.