Aye matey: Buccaneers taking VIJHL by storm
GAME DAY: NANAIMO AT PENINSULA, 7:30 P.M.
New Nanaimo Buccaneers head coach Curtis Toneff was expecting a strong season out of his Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League club, but even he admits winning 10 of his first 11 games wasn’t something he imagined.
“It’s been good,” he said of his team’s start. “We definitely didn’t expect to be this far ahead at this point, but the pieces are falling into place.
“I definitely expected a strong season. I thought there might be some more growing pains off the bat, but the guys have got together very early. With Thursday night games, we use the weekend to bond and come together as a team,” he said prior to Thursday night’s 6-1 win over Comox Valley that improved the Bucs’ record to a league-leading 11-1, including 10 straight victories.
The Buccaneers venture into Panorama Recreation Centre tonight to face the Peninsula Panthers at 7:30.
Nanaimo lost its second game of the year, 6-1 in Campbell River, but since then has defeated the Storm twice, 2-1 at home and 4-0 on the road.
Toneff, who joined the team from his position as an assistant coach and assistant GM in Trail of the B.C. Hockey League, is getting yeoman’s service from his goaltending tandem of 18-year-old Derek Krall, who was 7-0 heading into Thursday’s game with a 1.39 goals-against average and .960 save percentage, and 16-year-old Blake Wood.
Both are Nanaimo products, as most of the Bucs are local players. Krall is a relative of jazz singer Diana Krall.
Mathieu Jallabert, who played in the Saskatchewn Junior Hockey League last season, leads the team and league in scoring with 14 goals and 27 points in 11 games, but is currently suspended. His linemates Jayden Schubert (10G, 8A) and Booker Chacalias (4G, 10A) are third and tied for seventh in league points, respectively.
Chacalias, who dressed as an affiliated player for the BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Wednesday, joined the team from Calgary.
“That’s been a real positive combination of them pushing each other day in and day out,” Toneff said of his netminding. “Woody has been great, too. The numbers might not be the same, but I think we let him down on a couple of nights.
“Krall is real hot right now and that’s been a great combination. That was one of the biggest question marks going into the year,” Toneff said of his goaltending. “That was the first thing I did when I took the job . . . to go after the two best goalies I could find.”
The team had John Hawthorne last year and he’s making a name for himself in the BCHL for Alberni. Toneff traded Hawthorne’s playing rights to Campbell River and got the rights to Jallabert in return — move that’s paid off well.
As for giving the defending league champion Storm a run for their money, Toneff said he likes his team’s chances, especially now that the playoff format has changed in the VIJHL.
“Now it’s one through eight makes the playoffs and crosses over, so there’s no real North and South in the playoffs, so the two best teams should be facing off against each other in the finals this year,” he said. “But we’re just focusing on the next few games, we don’t look too far ahead because it’s too easy to get caught up in all that.”