Storm at high speed heading into Cyclone Taylor Cup event
Having survived four periods of overtime in Sunday’s marathon Game 7 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League championship victory, the Campbell River Storm now turn their attention to the provincial Cyclone Taylor Cup.
Focusing on today’s 3:30 p.m. tournament opener against the Beaver Valley Nitehawks of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League is imperative, says Storm general manager and head coach Lee Stone, who knows the importance of a quick start.
“It’ll be a big one. Your first game at this tournament sort of dictates how the rest of the tournament goes,” said Stone. “It’s about confidence more than anything.
“You start off at 1-0 and the boys are feeling good and start rolling. If you don’t pull off the first one, that opens doubts in your minds and it’s such a short tournament that it’s tough to pull that back. Momentum, in my opinion, is very big in a tournament like this.”
Stone should know, having won it two years ago as the VIJHL champions and then also competing last year as the second VIJHL representative with the Victoria Cougars as champs and also tournament hosts.
The host Creston Valley Thunder Cats and Aldergrove Kodiaks, champs of the Pacific Junior Hockey League, are also competing in the four-team event, with the victor advancing to the Keystone Cup Western Canadian Junior B championship in Arborg, Man., April 13-16.
“Going into the tournament, they probably have to be one of the favourites,” Stone said of the Nitehawks. “They were pretty darn good in the KIJHL this year, a real hard team to play physically. They’re very physical and very in your face, not much different than what we saw in terms of playing Nanaimo and Victoria with aggressive forechecks.”
The Storm face Creston Valley on Friday night and Aldergrove on Saturday afternoon to set up medal games on Sunday.
“Friday will be a big one with a 7:30 [p.m.] showdown against the home-town team. Their head coach is my best friend, actually, Jeff Dubois. Ever since they even applied for the Cyclone last year, we’ve talked about how incredible it would be for our teams to face off,” said Stone.
“We’ve kind of helped each other out with feedback and tips. We’re great resources for each other so it will be a lot of fun to have our teams play each other. It’s one I’m eager for, for sure.”
The Storm outlasted the Victoria Cougars in quadruple-overtime in Game 7 of the VIJHL final on Sunday to qualify.
“I’ve never been involved in something like that before,” said Stone. “I played in a Game 7 when I was younger, but it didn’t even go to overtime, never mind four periods of them.
“I was talking to people after and I say the same thing to everyone: I think I can coach for the rest of my life and I don’t think I’d ever be involved in a Game 7 quadruple-overtime game. And wild to think that down the street, around the corner, there was a five-overtime game, too, right,” he said, eluding to the Victoria Royals’ loss to Everett. “Pretty incredible — there was a lot of hockey on a Sunday afternoon.
“The nice thing for us is we’re completely healthy, knock on wood. We managed to get through the seven-game series with no lingering issues, which was nice for us,” said Stone. “We’re a deep team I think, we can roll four lines, but having said that, I think most of these teams are.”
Campbell River’s experience of competing in its third straight Cyclone Taylor Cup — and having won it and the Keystone Cup in 2015 — should be an advantage.