Shaken by four straight losses, the Comox Valley Glacier Kings have stirred things up with their roster in an effort to right the floundering ship.
After dropping three games in four days this past weekend, the Yetis announced on Tuesday, Nov. 13 they had shipped d-man Desmond Bast to the Kerry Park Islanders. "We did not get a player back for Bast," said head coach Bill Rotheisler. "It is basically part of a series of deals we are currently working on. We just wanted to get the Bast part of it to KPI out of the way." Joining the Glacier Kings is Braden MacDonald, a local product acquired from the Campbell River Storm. He has two goals in three games with the Icemen.
Last week, the Yetis made what the coach termed "a big move" by sending goalie Matt Mitchell to North Okanagan Knights of the KIJHL and obtaining goalie Michael Hails from Creston Valley Thunder Cats of the KIJHL.
"We moved our starting goaltender, one of the best in the league, and acquired a veteran goaltender with excellent numbers, work ethic and reputation from the KIJHL," Rotheisler told the Record.
Hails won his debut with the Icemen but was injured in practice and is out two to four weeks with a lower body injury.
"Hails, a key part of the series of deals, unfortunately tweaked his knee last week. The Hails' move was a big one for us as we brought in a much-needed, proven goaltender, so the timing is very unfortunate. He is going to physio and doing all the necessary steps in order get back quickly, but more importantly, properly so he is ready to go for the long term," Rotheisler said.
He said goalie Denon Maximchuk (2-0-0, 2.29 GAA and .900 S% with the Yetis this year) will be called up from his Nanaimo Midget AAA team and will start one game this weekend.
Hails joins forward Garret Mazur (day to day-quad), defenceman Garrett Halls (one to two weeks-shoulder) and forward Michael Scobie (day to day-groin) on the injured list.
"We are happy with our lineup and feel that a couple of weeks are still needed to get us where we want to be at," Rothiesler said.
Storm Surprise
The two most recent losses for the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League North Division leaders included a surprising 6-4 setback to the North Division cellar dwelling Storm, who won for only the fourth time in 20 games on Nov. 11 at Rod Brind'Amour Arena.
Steven Garcia led the Yetis with one goal and two assists, Mitch Ball had a goal and one helper while Jordan Kamprath and newcomer MacDonald netted one goal each. Sasha Hahn chipped in with two assists.
On Nov. 9 at the Comox Valley Sports Centre, the Icemen fell 7-5 to the Westshore Wolves. Max Mois did most of the damage for the Wolves, earning first-star honours for his four-point (3g, 1a) performance. Garcia (second star) tallied twice for the Glacier Kings with Wade Bartlett (third star), Mitch Ball and MacDonald netting the other Yeti goals.
The Glacier Kings (11-8-2) have another busy weekend on tap as they visit Peninsula Panthers (12-9-1) tonight, host Kerry Park (2-16-2) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. Sports Centre #1) and are on the road Nov. 18 for a Sunday matinee with the best Jr. B team in B.C. – the Victoria Cougars (20-0-1).
ICE CHIPS The latest B.C. Jr. B rankings released Nov. 11 have Victoria in top spot and the Glacier Kings tied for 16th out of 39 teams ... Mitch Ball is tied for fifth in VIJHL scoring with 32 points (15g, 17a) ...