The Kerry Park Islanders have won only one of their last three Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League games, but that lone victory was a convincing one.
In between two-goal losses to the Oceanside Generals last Friday and the Westshore Wolves on Wednesday night, the Isles mounted a 10-1 crushing of the Peninsula Panthers.
Eight different players had goals as the Isles set a season high with 10 goals in one game, without any goals in the third period. Alex Engan opened the scoring just 12 seconds into the contest. Peninsula replied a few minutes later, but the rest of the night belonged to the Islanders. Kerry Park scored three more goals in the first and six in the second before their guns went quiet in the third.
When the dust settled, Brandon McClintick finished with two goals and two assists, Tanner Tiel had two goals and one helper and Samson McLean had a goal and two assists. Engan, Matt Baird and Riley Windsor each had a goal and one assist, and Isaac Leik and Logan Furkalo scored singles. VIJHL scoring leader Evan Easton compiled three helpers, and Tory McClintick, Arsh Dillon and Romaeo D’Intino had one assist apiece.
Rett Rook stopped all but one of the 25 shots he faced in the Kerry Park net. The Isles scored five times on 30 shots to chase Peninsula starter Chris Akerman, then put five of 10 shots past backup Chris Combiadakis. Both teams finished 0-for-4 on the powerplay.
The night before, the Isles lost 3-1 to the Oceanside Generals in Parksville. After a scoreless first period, Dillon scored his second goal of the season on a powerplay early in the second. The Generals put their own powerplay to work after that, scoring two extra-man goals in the second and one more in the third. Charles-Olivier Lepage turned aside 35 of 38 shots, while the Isles mustered 24 shots on the Oceanside net.
On Wednesday night, the Isles lost 4-2 to the Westshore Wolves at the Q Centre. Westshore opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 2:41 of the first, and Tiel replied for Kerry Park 40 seconds later. Westshore scored twice in the second period, Brandon McClintick got the Isles back within one with a powerplay goal in the third, but the Wolves capped it off with 46 seconds left. Rook finished with 25 saves, while Jordan Spandli made 30 stops in the Westshore net.
The Isles hold a record of 19 regulation wins, 14 regulation losses, one overtime win and four overtime losses to sit second in the South Division and third in the league overall.
Kerry Park plays host to Westshore this Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and the Victoria Cougars visit Mill Bay next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. In between, seven Islanders — Easton, Tiel, Brandon McClintick, Leik, Blanchette, Lepage and Rook — will take part in the VIJHL All-Star Game in Campbell River on Sunday afternoon.