After the best regular season in recent memory, the Comox Valley Glacier Kings lost in 7 games to the Oceanside Generals in a thrilling series. Oceanside won the seventh game 3-1 to officially end the GKings potential playoff run. It was a series that certainly could have gone either way but Ashton Sadauskas ended up being the difference as the Glacier Kings had trouble solving him in the last 2 games of the series.
There were quite a few Glacier King fans that made the trek to Parksville in Game 7 as this squad made the whole Valley proud this season.
Well all good things must come to an end. Exit interviews were conducted and on Thursday night, the Glacier Kings held their annual End of the Year Awards Banquet. The ownership held it in the Mezzanine area between Arenas 1 and 2. There was pizza, pop, veggies, dessert and of course awards and speeches.
It came to no one’s surprise that Caileb Berge won the Top Scorer Award as he tied a Glacier Kings modern-day record with 46 goals. That also led the VIJHL in goals. He led the team in points with 89 which was also good for 4th overall in VIJHL scoring. Here is a list of the other Award Winners.
MVP – Caileb Berge
Top Defenceman – Jeremy Dewar
Top Goaltender – Ryder Lally
Rookie of the Year – Logan Furlong
The rest of the winners included:
Leadership Award – Jeremy Dewar
Warrior – Jean-Michael Gilbert
Unsung Hero – Matthew Teasdale
Iron Man Award – Jory Swanson
Hard Hat Award – Logan Kurki
Academic Award – Aodhan Hildebrandt
Most Improved Player – Joe Weber
Most Sportsmanlike Player – Eric Van Loon
After it was all over, the team got together for another celebration. I ended up at the casino with some volunteers, coaching staff and owners.
Public Address Announcer Dave Dueck and I shared a few bevereges. The 3 owners stopped by for drinks, Randy Webb who joined the team behind the bench mid-season met up with us as did anthem singer Shannon Skender. My gosh there were a lot of laughs and Shannon even ended up winning money during the celebration after plugging in just $20.
So what do the Glacier Kings look like for next season. Head coach/GM Mike Nesbitt believes they will be good again despite the loss of stars Caileb Berge and Logan Kurki. He believes that between the recruiting he is doing and the core group of players coming back, this team will compete for a title next season. Assuming they are coming back, forwards like Logan Furlong, Joe Weber, Matthew Teasdale, Austin Montgomery-Parsons and Ty Moore will be leading the way. On the back end, Jeremy Dewar, Jean-Michael Gilbert and Conor Vanden Heuvel, Parker Jorginson, Tynan Klein-Beekman and expect Henry Toomer to make the team from the North Island Silvertips. In net, Ryder Lally will be back. Of course all thos players I listed won’t all be back, there will some that catch on with a Junior ‘A’ team and there is a limit to how any 20 year olds a team can have. With that being said, expect Comox to battle, not just for a playoff spot next season, but to make a run in the playoffs.
I just wanted to leave you with one picture from Parksville that summed up the heart & soul of this whole team, the disappointment of the Game 7 loss, how much these guys cared, how much these guys didn’t want to go home. About 25 minutes after the game was over and everyone had gone back to their dressing rooms and the arena was empty, Joe Weber, just below my broadcast location, summed up how much these guys really gave a damn this year and left it all out on the ice for each other. He stood there for what seemed like 30 minutes. Even coach Mike Nesbitt came out after a while to console him. I already can’t wait for next year.
Have a great summer everyone, don’t forget to spring your clocks forwards before bed tonight (if applicable) and remember, “It’s always a great day for hockey.”
Written by Darryl Skender – Play by Play Broadcaster for the Comox Valley Glacier Kings
Originally posted here: https://abovethepond.wordpress.com/blog/