Father-son combo working wonders for Nanaimo Clippers
Darren and Jordan Naylor are both father/son and coach/goaltender and they insist they’re able to keep those relationships separate.
With Darren, 50, running the bench and 19-year-old Jordan sharing netminding duties with Zachary Bennett, the Nanaimo Clippers are leading the BCHL’s Island Division and are third overall in the 17-team Junior A loop. They’ll take an impressive 22-91-2 record into a Saturday visit to the Victoria Grizzlies.
This is the second season together in Nanaimo for the Naylors. Before that, they were with the Junior B Delta Ice Hawks of the Pacific Junior Hockey League for two seasons. Darren says he had a player who joined Delta at midseason approach him just before the playoffs and tell him: “I didn’t know the goalie was your kid.”
“I think we have it down pat,” said Darren. “We’ve done it for so long that it’s almost second nature to us now. Jordan knows that when we’re at the rink he’s another player on the team, one of our goalies. There are times that you get to be the dad, but we don’t have those talks until after game day.
“Jordan billets with a family here. We wanted him to have the full junior hockey experience.”
Jordan, a White Rock athlete who played for Darren-led teams in minor hockey as well, added: “He’s been my coach for as long as I can remember. I’m over it now. He’s ‘Coach’ at the rink.”
The junior Naylor has been named an honourable mention for the BCHL player of the month in both October and November. He has a 15-3-1-0 record to go with a 1.76 goals against average and a .943 save percentage.
He’s second in the league to Coquitlam Express netminder Clay Stevenson in both goals-against average (1.45) and save percentage (.944). Bennett, 19, is third in the league in both goals-against average (1.99) and save percentage (.941). Oddly enough, Naylor is 12th in the league in minutes played (1,157). Bennett is just outside the top 20 (844).
“That’s one thing you learn over the years — if you only go with one goalie, you’re going to be in trouble because it’s such a mentally draining position,” said Darren.
The Clippers had the BCHL’s 14th-best record in league play last season, coming in at 27-30-10. They were eliminated from the best-of-seven first round of the playoffs in five games by the Powell River Kings.
Jordan finished with an 18-180-0 record, a 3.37 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage. He believes he’s improved this season, and was “just getting my toes wet in the league” one campaign ago.
He also maintains that “goalie stats are team stats.”
“I think the maturity of our team is coming through this year. We’re one of the older teams in the league and the experience and the willingness to do what it takes to win is clear,” he said.
Darren knows a bit about success in this league.
He was a centre as a player and, in his final season of junior eligibility in 1989-90, he helped the then-Vernon Lakers (now Vipers) win the Centennial Cup national Junior A tournament.
They did it as tournament hosts, beating a stacked New Westminster Royals team that had set assorted BCHL records throughout the season.
Darren maintains that this current Nanaimo team is already playing a “playoff style.”
“I like the way we’re built,” he said.