CAMPBELL RIVER 5
WESTSHORE 3
It was a matchup of two Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League teams heading in opposite directions on Wednesday night at Juan de Fuca Arena.
The Westshore Wolves, in midst of a youth movement, suffered their third straight loss to start the 2015-16 season, dropping a 5-3 result to the defending league, provincial and Western Canadian champion Campbell River Storm.
It doesn鈥檛 get any easier for the Westshore club, which heads to Archie Browning Sports Centre tonight to face the perennial South Division powerhouse Victoria Cougars in a 7 p.m. start in Esquimalt.
The Wolves have a new man behind the bench as former Victoria Cougar and 15-year pro Jackson Penney took over from Brian Passmore, who is running the Shawnigan Lake Academy bantam prep team.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a very young team, with a lot of kids coming out of minor hockey programs,鈥� said Penney, who ended last year behind the bench of the midget triple-A South Island Royals. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a big difference between playing junior hockey, be it Junior A or B, and playing midget hockey. The pace and taking the mask off and going to a half-shield 鈥� kids are a little intimidated right now and just not too sure.
鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be a learning curve, probably of about 10 or 12 games before they feel comfortable, especially with the kids from out of town. It's a big adjustment.鈥�
With the Wolves, Penney 鈥� who previously led the Peninsula Panthers to back-to-back VIJHL championships and was also GM and head coach with the Victoria Grizzlies 鈥� hopes to ultimately turn them into a consistently competitive organization.
鈥淥ne of the hardest parts is with the kids released late from their Junior A teams, there鈥檚 a big letdown in the mental part of the game. I鈥檓 just trying to get them focused and getting back to working on what their goals are for the year, and getting them back into the team game,鈥� he said.
Veteran goalie Chris Smith, Tomba Huddleston, Nathan Gelsinger and Matteo Giomo are all in that picture as recent releases from the Grizzlies.
鈥淎ny time that you have guys who are that calibre of a hockey player, they have to step it up. They have to play hard every night and they have to understand that鈥檚 what they have to do to get to the next level,鈥� said Penney. 鈥淔or me saying that, I think all my players have to play to that certain level and play to those expectations for us to be successful.
鈥淯ntil now we haven鈥檛 had that. We鈥檝e had more of a 10-and-10 club, 10 who show up and 10 who don鈥檛, and you鈥檙e not going to win hockey games that way.鈥�
Westshore opened with a 5-2 loss to the Saanich Braves before suffering a 5-1 setback to the Comox Valley Glacier Kings. A third game, also against the Braves, had to be postponed after ice problems surfaced at Pearkes Arena last week.
On Wednesday, Gage Colpron scored three times, including an empty-netter, and Josh Coblenz and Christian Brandt added singles for the now 5-0 Storm.
Cameron Kinsmen, Giomo and young Tanner Sidaway, who just got back from the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League, replied for the Wolves.
鈥淥bviously, that鈥檚 a big addition for us, but he鈥檚 a 16-year-old, too. Do I have high expectations of him? I do, but I don鈥檛 expect it to happen overnight and that鈥檚 the same with all my young kids,鈥� Penney said of Sidaway.
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