Ganoung Blanks Bombers as Glacier Kings Roll 6-0 in Port Alberni

Three weeks ago, Port Alberni sent the Glacier Kings home with a 3-2 loss. On Friday night, Comox Valley returned the favour emphatically. Anthony Ganoung stopped all 28 shots he faced, Westin Churchill scored twice, and five different Glacier Kings found the back of the net in a 6-0 win over the Bombers that evened the season series.

After a quiet start, Churchill broke it open late in the first period. At 12:50 he finished a play set up by Suhaan Nagra and Owen Downey to give Comox Valley a 1-0 lead, and that goal stood as the winner. Less than two minutes later, Churchill struck again at 14:39, this time off a feed from Downey, and the Glacier Kings carried a 2-0 lead into the intermission.

The second period belonged to the Comox Valley blue line and the depth scorers. The Kings outshot Port Alberni 17-14 in the frame and scored three times. Jace Parsons opened the period’s scoring at 8:09 with his first goal of the season, assisted by Nagra. Ethan Gobel followed at 15:21 with his first of the year, set up by Collin Lee and Evan Marko. Marko then scored at 16:37, his first of the season, with Churchill and Downey picking up the assists to make it 5-0.

The game got chippy along the way. Nagra and Port Alberni’s Joel Dorn went off together for roughing twice in the second period, and Landen May picked up a roughing minor and a 10-minute misconduct in the third. None of it slowed the Glacier Kings down. Leon Mikhalchuk capped the scoring at 12:07 of the third with his third of the season, assisted by Trevor Swanson.

At the other end, Ganoung was excellent from start to finish. He turned aside all 28 Port Alberni shots, including 14 in a busy second period, and was sharp every time the Bombers pushed to get on the board. Comox Valley tightened up in front of him in the third, allowing just six shots, and Ganoung closed the door the rest of the way to earn the shutout. Neither team scored on the power play, with both going 0 for 2.

Downey’s night deserves its own mention. A week after scoring his first goal of the season against Westshore, he set up three goals in Port Alberni and earned second star honours. Churchill (2G, 1A) took first star, and Ganoung was named third star.

Xavier Hahn made 34 saves on 40 shots for Port Alberni.

The win improves Comox Valley to 4-5-0-0 and eight points, level with Port Alberni and fifth in the North Division. The Glacier Kings now sit two points behind fourth-place Campbell River, and they have a game in hand on every other team in the division.