The Comox Valley Glacier Kings’ woeful start to the 2017–18 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League season continued on Sept. 23 with a 10-3 loss at home to the Saanich Braves.
The loss came just two nights after the Glacier Kings fell 12-5 to the Nanaimo Buccaneers, in a high-scoring fixture in Nanaimo.
The defeat to the Braves means the Kings conceded 40 goals in the first seven games of the VIJHL season, including 22 in the last two games.
New head coach Paul Mugford — who replaced departing boss Joey Ewing on Sept. 22 — said his players need to “return to basics” if they want to turn their season around.
“There’s a lot of stuff they’ve got to work on. We’ve got to get them back to playing basic hockey — get the pucks in deep, no turnovers in the neutral zone, stuff like that,” he said.
Mugford said the only positive to take away from Saturday’s game was the third period, which saw the Glacier Kings tie the Braves 2-2 in terms of scoring.
Before that, the Kings were outscored 3-1 in the first period — despite opening the scoring in the first six seconds — and 5-0 in the second period.
“The third period was a little bit better but other than that, there was nothing positive about that game,” he said.
For the second time this season, it was forward Willie Daigneault who supplied the scoring threat for the Glacier Kings. After netting a hat trick last week against the Westshore Wolves, Daigneault picked up two more goals against the Braves on Saturday, earning the game’s third star as a result.
The loss to the Braves keeps the Glacier Kings at the bottom of the VIJHL north division with a 1-5-0-1 record. The Comox Valley side will continue its season on Sept. 27 with an away game versus the Westshore Wolves.
The Wolves are the only team the Glacier Kings have beaten this season.