After a tough home-and-home this past weekend with North Division rival Comox, the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Save-On-Foods Oceanside Generals this Friday and Saturday.
(For results and statistics from the games against Comox, please see Thursday’s edition of The NEWS.)
The Generals travel to Campbell River on Friday night (a 6:30 p.m. start) to take on the Storm, which now includes former Generals centre Domenic Kolbiens, a 17-year-old who was dealt to his hometown team shortly after coach Dan Lemmon and general manager Lou Gravel took over the reigns of the Oceanside club.
Going into last weekend, the speedy, skilled Kolbiens had four goals and three assists in 20 games, including one assists in two games with the Storm.
Campbell River (9-7-1-1, third place in the North — all numbers in this story are from prior to this past weekend’s games) boasts one of the oldest, biggest and most productive forward lines in the league. Brandon deVries, Brayden Taekema and Jordan Kamprath are all 20 years old, over six-feet tall and have combined for 70 points in 17 games this season.
The Generals are led offensively by Parksville product and team captain Travis Flug, 19, who had seven goals and 19 points in 20 games this season heading into last weekend’s play. Sixteen-year-old Brodie Smith, also of Parksville, is next with 15 points in 20 games, sixth among all league rookies. The numbers really drop from there, with three 17 year-olds (Chase Gaudreault, Cory Burnett and Jonah Pearson) tied with six points each.
Heading into last weekend, the Generals were in last place in the league with a record of two wins, 16 losses, a tie and an overtime loss. Half of the 22 non-goalies on the Generals’ roster did not start the season in Oceanside.
After playing in Campbell River this Friday night, the Generals return home for a tilt Saturday (puck drop at 7:30 p.m. at Oceanside Place) against the top team in the nine-club VIJHL, the Victoria Cougars, who took a 17-3 win-loss record into play last weekend. Their top scorers are 20-year-old Albertan Blake Roney (10-14-24) and 20-year-old Victoria product Mark Walton (12-11-23).
— NEWS Staff