Coming into the season, there were those who were of the mind that the Peninsula Panthers were the team to beat in the VIJHL, while others held the Victoria Cougars in high regard. After seeing both teams first hand this past week, I give a slight edge to the boys from Esquimalt.
The Storm fell 4-1 tonight to a Cougars team loaded on the blueline. Despite not scoring in 9 chances on the man advantage, the Cougars quite ofter kept the Storm hemmed in their zone for extended periods of time, thanks to great work by point men such as Jusin Sotkowy and Adam Seenbergen.
The Cougars jumped in front 2-0 in the first off of goals by Clark Anderson and Trevor McNeill. Shots were pretty even, 11-8 in favour of the Cougars. Jesse Bachmeier created a breakaway with some great speed in the first, but young Corey Koop in net made a brilliant save on the deek to preserve the goose-egg after 20 minutes.
In the second, the Cougars would widen the gap to 4 goals after Josh Wyatt and Adam Steenbergen on a wonderful shorthanded effort, before Rob Iszak scored on the power play, putting one in short side on the back hand past Koop. 4-1 after 40 minutes, with Fairgary making 14 saves, Koop with 5.
In the third no goals, but the Cougars put the clamp down defensively, along with the Storm taking some undisciplined penalties to snuff out any comeback thoughts. Credit the Cougars for sticking with their game plan and chalk this up as a learning experience for this young Storm team.
I thought Jordie Eliason had his best game on the blueline, logging a lot of ice time and deserving every minute of it with a simple hardnosed game.
Up front, Danny Hall and Andrew Gaiga had solid efforts and maybe generated the most opportunities for the Bolts.
Not much time to rest, as the boys host the North division leading Comox Valley Glacier Kings tomorrow (friday) at 7:30. Pregame show at 7:15 on 99.7 the River.
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