Storm Spoil the Opener: Lee Stone Wins His Return, Campbell River Downs Glacier Kings 4-1

Lee Stone’s second stint behind the Campbell River bench started exactly the way he’d want it to. The Storm jumped the Glacier Kings early, built a four goal cushion by the end of the second period, and held on for a 4-1 win at Comox Valley Sports Centre on Saturday, spoiling the Glacier Kings’ 2026-27 season opener.

It was Campbell River’s game from puck drop. The Storm had their legs from the opening shift, and the Glacier Kings spent long stretches of the first period pinned in their own end, coughing up pucks at their own blue line and never quite finding the pace of a regular season game. The opener came directly off one of those turnovers. Evan Marko’s attempted D to D pass was turned over at the blue-line, sending the Storm the other way on a 3 on 2. Ethan Hill threaded a pass through the seam, and Koen Gauthier, working a sharp angle from the left side, beat Anthony Ganoung over the blocker and in under the crossbar to make it 4:26. Comox Valley never found an answer for the rest of the period.

Comox Valley came out of the intermission looking like the better team, at least for a few minutes. That changed at 5:23 of the second, when Campbell River struck again off another odd man rush the other way, this one started by a blocked shot at the Storm’s blue line. Gauthier carried it down the left wing and, from a sharp angle, slid a pass into the blue paint that Hill tucked home to make it 2-0. From there the Storm leaned on the pressure that had worked all night. Dublin McGuire made it 3-0 at 13:13 after forcing a neutral zone turnover himself, dumping the puck in, and collecting it in the near corner. His initial sharp angle attempt came back to him off Ganoung’s initial save and he wrapped it around the far side and tucked it under Ganoung’s pad, a goal that was originally waved off before the officials huddled at center ice for a review and reversed the call. Aidan Yu finished the second period scoring at 14:31 on a give and go, taking a pass up the left wing blue line, dishing to Hill at the top of the zone, then finishing off a beautiful pass in front by Hill, forehand to backhand, to put the Storm up 4-0 heading to the third. The middle period also got chippy, with a pair of five minute fighting majors, to Aidan Ansell and Comox Valley’s Marko Udovicic, part of a second period that saw seven total penalties called.

The Glacier Kings were the better team for most of the third, if only slightly. It took 11 seconds for them to make it count, as Tee Hagel jumped on a power play look and beat Mason Hillier over the glove and under the crossbar to get Comox Valley on the board. Leon Mikhalchuk and Cruz Bulfone drew the assists. Outside of a scrum at 1:45 that produced two ten minute misconducts, on Campbell River’s Charlie Pena and Comox Valley’s Trevor Swanson, along with a pair of penalties on each side, the rest of the period was played mostly even, but the deficit was too much to make up.

Ganoung took the loss in net for Comox Valley, stopping 31 of 35. Mason Hillier picked up the win for Campbell River, turning aside 29 of 30. Campbell River outshot the Glacier Kings 35-30 on the night and went 0 for 4 on the power play, while Comox Valley finished 1 for 3 with the man advantage. Discipline was an issue for the home side, with the Glacier Kings taking 39 penalty minutes across 10 infractions compared to 27 minutes and 8 infractions for the Storm.

Gauthier, Hill, and Yu were named the three stars, all three wearing Campbell River sweaters, a fair reflection of how one sided the night was.

It’s an opening night result that fits the story written about this game all week. Stone, back on the Campbell River bench for the first time since 2023, gets a win in his return, against the coach he once brought up as his assistant during that 2014-15 treble season. Toneff and the Glacier Kings will look to respond quickly as they open the new season 0-1-0-0.

Next Up: The Glacier Kings hit the road to face the Peninsula Panthers on Friday, September 11th.

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