A total of 23 sa国际传媒 Hockey League alumni were on NHL opening-night rosters this week, including Jamie and Jordie Benn and Alex Newhook out of the Victoria Grizzlies and Matt Irwin from the Nanaimo Clippers. The Penticton Vees lead the BCHL pack with five alumni on big-league rosters.
Most junior hockey players won’t get there, of course, but that doesn’t stop the striving or the dreaming. It continues across the country, including tonight at The Q Centre, with the resurgent Cowichan Valley Capitals coming down-Island to face the Grizzlies in an intriguing BCHL match-up.
The Capitals were eighth last season in the nine-team Coastal Conference and 16th in the 18-team BCHL with only 15 wins in 54 games, but are 3-3 this season, with early stirrings of a move up the table.
“We wanted to change the culture of our team,” said GM and head coach Brian Passmore.
“We were able to travel and scout more in the off-season to assess players in the Toronto and Boston areas. We are now faster on offence and better structured defensively.”
One feeds the other.
“Our defence tries to get the puck going the other way as quick as possible,” said Passmore, of his club’s approach.
“We are trying to play with a faster pace.”
Key in that regard has been forward Luke Strickland from Keswick, Ont., the NCAA Div. 1 Long Island University commit who has six goals in six games for the Caps. Former Grizzlies forward Jackson Morehouse, son of former 16-season Penguins president and CEO David Morehouse who guided Pittsburgh through three Stanley Cup wins, has provided a steadying veteran influence in his move over the Malahat.
“Jackson is a getting used to his surroundings and is a mature kid who fits in well,” said Passmore, of the NCAA Div. 1 Dartmouth College-bound Morehouse.
But it’s more the back end, especially crease play, which is drawing the early-season raves in Duncan. The Capitals 15 goals allowed are the second lowest in the conference and third lowest in the league. Returning goaltender McCoy Bidewell has a 2.29 goals-against average and .947 save percentage in four starts and newcomer Lukas Renaud from Montreal is 2.50 and .926 in two games.
“Both guys compete hard and are making the saves they need to make, several of them I would rate Grade A saves,” said Passmore.
That’s an equation the low-scoring Grizzlies (1-3-2), whose nine goals are the lowest amount in the league, must solve.
“Cowichan Valley is off to a good start and has received excellent goaltending,” said Grizzlies GM and head coach Rylan Ferster.
Ferster feels his team is coming along, and except for some bad puck luck in two shootouts, could also just as easily be 3-3.
“Hockey is results driven at this level and I get that,” said Ferster.
“Obviously, we’re not happy with our record, but it’s also process over outcome in the early going and we’re getting buy-in from the kids and I like our effort. We don’t have the Matt Woods of the world on offence, but I’m not worried about this group. I have especially liked our defensive play.”
Wood, the projected 2023 NHL top-10 draft pick out of Nanaimo, and BCHL leading scorer last season as a rookie, left the Grizzlies this season earlier than anybody expected to play NCAA Div. 1 at the University of sa国际传媒icut.
Reegan Hiscock, Olivier Picard, Noah Leibl and Jack Gorton, son of Montreal Canadiens president Jeff Gorton, have two goals each for the Grizzlies, while Hoyt Stanley, Justin Gibson and Tim Busconi have provided a steady presence on the blue line.
