NANAIMO — The first month of the BCHL season has yielded largely positive results for the Nanaimo Clippers.
At 6-3 the Clippers are two points out of first place in the Coastal Division. Coach Darren Naylor was pleased with his club’s start to the year.
“It was a good start. We’ve got a big game against Cowichan which will take us to our first 10 game increment. If we can get that one and keep up that pace all year it will be pretty solid.”
Nanaimo was playing at a blistering place through the first seven games with six wins.
Naylor wasn’t as pleased with his team’s most recent efforts, a 5-3 loss in Trail on Friday, Oct. 29 and a 4-1 setback against Cranbrook the following night.
“There are a few things that have crept into our game I’m not happy with. We have to keep playing the team game which brought us success.”
Nanaimo gave up goals 61 seconds apart against the Smoke Eaters and 15 seconds apart versus the Bucks.
In both cases a hole they couldn’t dig out of.
A busy three game week is on the horizon with games against the Capitals Nov. 3, the Vees Nov. 5 and the Bulldogs Nov. 6.
Naylor has been watching the Capitals closely noted they have two wins in their previous three games.
“We’re taking it one game at a time. We can’t look past them, but everybody always eyes up Penticton. For a long time they’ve set the standard for our league and we want to catch those guys. Then we’ll worry about Alberni Valley on Saturday.”
CLIP NOTES:
Sean Donaldson is tied second in BCHL goal scoring with eight goals in his first seven games of the season.
November is the Clippers busiest month of the BCHL campaign with 11 games.
Nanaimo had an extremely strong start to the season on special teams. At the end of October the Clippers had the third best power play and the second best penalty kill in the league.
Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.
info@nanaimonewsnow.com
On Twitter: @NanaimoNewsNOW
