Campbell River 3 Comox Valley 2 (OT)
First star Emmanuel Grenier scored at 8:28 of overtime to give the visiting Campbell River Storm a 3-2 decision over the Comox Valley Glacier Kings at the Comox Valley Sports Centre in Saturday night VIJHL action.
Campbell River led 2-1 after the first and second periods, and also had goals from Dylan Tothand Armaan Punn, with goalie Luc Gravel stopping 29 shots to earn the win in the Storm net.
Thomas Scobie-Gyug with the game’s opening goal and second star Westin Churchill with the tying market later in the third period were the Glacier Kings marksmen. Netminder Timothee Fengos was outstanding in making 34 saves, including on three clear-cut breakaways in the first two periods of the game. Leon Mikhalchuk was a force for Comox Valley and was named third star.
Westshore 5 Oceanside 3
Westshore Wolves scored the final four goals of the contest to overcome a two-goal deficit and defeat the Oceanside Generals 5-3 in front of 321 fans at Oceanside Place in Parksville.
Oceanside raced out to a 3-1 first period lead, with Westshore scoring twice in the sandwich frame to tie up and pulling away with two goals in the third period. Third star Parker Atkinson on a first period power play and an empty net goal late in the third along with three assists, and Kansys Seney each had two tallies for the Wolves, who also had a goal from Linkin Niedoba. James Hall blocked 25 shots between the Westshore wickets.
First star Braeyen Newans, second star Jacob Bate and Jasper Fellbaum scored for the Generals, as Ethan Suhr finished with 26 saves in the Oceanside net.
Nanaimo 4 Port Alberni 1
Port Alberni Bombers opened the scoring but the Nanaimo Buccaneers roared back with four straight goals to beat their hosts 4-1 in front of 850 spectators at the Alberni Valley Multiplex.
First star Kai Verbrugge, Ethan Nordli, Jaxin Karst and Ryan Christensen into an empty net were the Bucs goal scorers, with Aaron Pichette stopping 25 shots for the win as Nanaimo moved to 3-0 on the season, atop the North Division along with the same record as the Lake Cowichan Kraken.
Second star Joel Dorn had the goal for Port Alberni, with McCall Nault earning third star honours and goaltender Ryan Burroughs stopping 26 pucks on the night.
Lake Cowichan 2 Kerry Park 1
A pair of second period goals by Kadin Bilajbegovic and Iaroslav Morozov enabled the visiting Lake Cowichan Kraken to upend the Kerry Park Islanders 2-1 in front of 135 fans at Kerry Park Arena in Mill Bay.
Alfie Blakeley earned the win in the Kraken goal with a 23 save effort, and the first star of the contest was Kerry Park goaltender Carter Puska, who stopped a whopping 59 shots and was named first star. Third star Benjamin Stocks had the Islanders goal, and Christian Jamieson of Kerry Park was second star.
