The Comox Valley Glacier Kings were on the wrong end of a couple of blowouts in their last three Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League contests.
The Yetis kicked off a busy three-games-in-three-nights schedule Sept. 19 in Nanaimo with an 8-3 loss to the Buccaneers. They bounced back to beat the Braves 5-2 Sept. 20 in Saanich, only to suffer a 9-2 pounding at the paws of the Peninsula Panthers in a Sept. 21 home tilt.
The results left the Yetis with the worst goals-for, goals-against differential in the league and in third place in the North Division with five points through their first seven games.
Things did not start off well for the Icemen as they had to face the North Division leading, undefeated Bucs in Nanaimo. Despite that, the G-Kings trailed only 4-3 after two before the Bucs decided to dominate the third period.
Will McNamara earned first star for his five-point performance (2g, 3a) while second star Lee Orpen added four points (1g, 3a) and third star Garrett Dunlop notched three points (1g, 2a).
Liam Shaw and Grant Iles replied for the visitors while Taylor Bowman tallied two assists. Comox Valley went 1-for-5 on the power play while Nanaimo was 4-for-5. The Bucs out-shot the Yetis 36-21, with Alex Mastrodonato the winner and Bryce Di Rocco the loser.
The G-Kings got their Friday night encounter with the Braves off to an inauspicious start when Saanich netted a power-play goal just 1:36 in.
But the Yetis came on strong, scoring three goals in just over six minutes to take a 3-1 lead into the second period, then went on to win 5-2.
Jonas Harvath (2g) and Ali Gotmy (2g, 1a) paced the Glacier Kings while Bowman added three assists. The Yetis out-shot the Braves 32-30 with Scott Legault picking up the win between the pipes.
The G-Kings were looking to build on the momentum from that win when they returned home Saturday to host the Panthers, but the game was close only in shots on goal.
Peninsula out-shot Comox Valley 32-30 but made their shots count in a lopsided 9-2 win. First star Jackson Skerratt (2g, 2a), second star Connor Logan (2g, 1a) and third star Cole Glover (2g) did most of the damage for the visitors.
Sheldon Brett's second goal of the year and Duncan Pernal's fourth were the only shots to elude goalie Stephen Heslop. Legault took the loss. The Panthers were 2-for-3 with the man advantage while the Glacier Kings' were skunked on all five of their power plays.
The Icemen will be looking for a little revenge when they visit Peninsula on Sept. 27. They close out the September portion of their schedule Sept. 28 in Parksville with a game against the struggling Oceanside Generals.
ICE CHIPS The Buccaneers (7-0) and defending league champion Victoria Cougars (5-0) sport the only undefeated records in the nine-team league … solid goaltending has helped, as they have allowed just 11 goals against …