The Comox Valley Glacier Kings split another pair of games on the weekend, picking up a win on Saturday night at home over the Nanaimo Buccaneers.
On Friday, they lost on the road to Campbell River.
This makes three wins over the last three weeks for a team that went a long time without one.
The Glacier Kings opened the scoring Saturday when Jack Fairfield found the back of the net for an unassisted goal just over four minutes in, though the Bucs fought back and scored twice before the period was out.
That was a pivotal point, says Glacier King coach Jeff Dubois, as the team managed to work its way back into the game.
“Saturday night we gave up two goals at the end of the first period,” he said. “We’ve been in that situation now, and come back, and figured it out. We had every reason to believe on Saturday that we could do that again.”
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They did just that, as Tanner Roberts tied things up at 2:32 into the second. Spencer Kandt drew an assist on the goal. Almost four minutes later Clayton Bono and Damian Rennie set up Jacob Murray for the third goal, while Roberts added his second of the night, unassisted, in the third period for the 4-2 win. Jacob Bennett turned aside as 51 of 53 shots for Comox Valley.
“Jake Bennett in goal, I can’t say enough about him. He’s been great for us whenever we’ve needed a big save. He’s just a very calming presence,” the coach said.
In general, Dubois has been working to transfer the lessons from practice into game situations, and he’s seeing it pay off with the recent wins, along with seeing some more players work their way onto the score-sheet.
“We’ve been working to add some more structure in our game,” Dubois said. “With the structure comes consistency…. With each time we have success and get a win, the guys get a little more confident, and then maybe it’s easier to get the next one….. We have the tools to keep grinding out wins.”
On Friday, the team lost 6-2 on the road to the Campbell River Storm. Roberts and Bono picked up goals for Comox Valley.
The Glacier Kings face the Kerry Park Islanders over the last two games before the Christmas break. They play at home on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m., then hit the road on Tuesday, Dec. 17 for a game at 7:30 p.m.
mike.chouinard@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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