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Cowichan Capitals find positives to build on after rough road trip

Caps prepare to visit Nanaimo and host Trail this weekend
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Capitals forward Brady Lynn knocks a Surrey Eagles player off the puck during a recent home game at the Island Savings Centre. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

The Cowichan Valley Capitals wrapped up a winless three-game road trip with a 3-2 loss to the B.C. Hockey League-leading Chilliwack Chiefs last Sunday, but head coach Mike Vandekamp was far from disappointed with his team.

“I thought this particular road trip had a bit of everything,” Vandekamp said. “It ended with a really good game; we played the top team in the league, and as far as I’m concerned we should have won the game.”

The Caps held a 2-1 lead for nine minutes of the third period, but the Chiefs pulled even with a powerplay goal, then went ahead 3-2 with less than two minutes left to play.

Rookie Luc Wilson scored his first BCHL goal in the second period, and defenceman David Melaragni had Cowichan’s other goal. Goalie Blake Wood made his third start in three days and made 26 saves as both teams mustered 29 shots. The Caps scored once on five powerplay opportunities, and held Chilliwack to one powerplay goal on 11 chances.

The Chiefs’ second goal came on a bad bounce as the Caps attempted to kill off the second half of a double minor penalty to David Melaragni for slew-footing.

“If anything, that was one game we put our heart and soul into,” Vandekamp said. “We still left with some positives.”

The Caps opened the trip with an 8-1 loss to the defending champion Wenatchee Wild on Friday night. Olivier Gauthier had the lone goal for the Caps. Wood stopped 42 of 50 shots, while the Caps mustered 21 shots.

On Saturday, the Caps lost 5-2 to the Coquitlam Express, who sit one spot back of the Chiefs in the league standings. Lucas Vanroboys and Paul Selleck staked the Caps to a 2-0 first-period lead, but Coquitlam got one back late in the opening frame, then added three in the second and one more in the third. Wood made 28 saves as the Caps were outshot 33-22.

Despite facing the defending BCHL champs and the top two teams at this point in the season, Vandekamp didn’t think his team was intimidated by the opposition last week.

“I guess I just try to prepare with the utmost confidence,” he said. “I’ve never really approached a game like that. I don’t have that feeling, ever.

“From a personal standpoint, I haven’t had a record like this, ever, but that hasn’t changed the way I feel going into it. I always have the utmost confidence that we’re going to win. I hope that permeates into the group over time.”

Vandekamp has been a head coach in junior A and major junior hockey for the better part of the last two decades, and only once finished a season with a sub-.500 record. The Caps are currently sitting at .263.

The Caps are still without injured forwards Vincent Millette, Jordan Robert and Ryan Moon. They hope to get goalie Jack Grant back in action this weekend after eight games on the sidelines, but fellow netminder Matt Waite is out for the long run. Wood, who was an AP for his first eight appearances, has been signed to the roster.

“We’ve faced quite a bit of adversity,” Vandekamp noted. “We’ve played 19 games, and we’ve had moments where we’ve had as many as eight regulars out [due to injuries or suspensions]. We’ve had stretches without a rostered goalie. Adversity is something that can make you stronger in the long run, and that’s what I’m hoping happens, obviously.”

In other roster moves, the Caps added 1999-born defenceman Peter Tabor, who started the season with the Madison Capitals of the U.S. Hockey League. The Minnesota product played the last two games of the recent road trip. On Wednesday, the team sent Marshall Skapski to the Melfort Mustangs of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The 1998-born blueliner from Abbotsford was the longest-tenured Cap, having joined the team in December 2016 in a trade with the Merritt Centennials. Skapski played 103 games for Cowichan, recording 38 points.

The Caps visit the Nanaimo Clippers this Friday evening, then host the Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday at 6 p.m. Cowichan (4-13-1-1) is fifth in the Island Division and last in the 17-team league, while Nanaimo sits fourth in the division and 15th in the league, and Trail is last in the Interior division.

After playing a lot of non-division opponents in the first two months, things will settle down a little for the team in November.

“This month we’re either in our division or in our rink,” Vandekamp said. “It’s a different look than we’ve had the first two months, and it will have a direct effect on the standings.

“We need points, we need results. We’ll go into these games with that mindset.”