With Hallowe’en fast approaching, the Campbell River Storm’s play during the month of October has been quite scary for their opponents.
In the midst of a five-game win streak and owning an astounding seven-and-one record in October, the Storm have earned this week off after a gritty 3-2 victory over the Peninsula Panthers on Sunday afternoon.
This has catapulted them to the top of the VIJHL’s Northern Division, trailing leaders Oceanside by a mere two points.
“We help each other out,” says forward Davis Frank, who has led the team in scoring with eight points during the streak. “My linemates, Dylan (Frankin), and Ty (Smith) have had my back. I don’t think I’d be sitting with eight points in five games without them.”
Still, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows: Just six-for-19 on the power play in the five wins, the team has gone three-for-13 since a 6-3 win versus Comox Valley on Oct. 14 when the win streak began. The Storm also took a trio of penalties late in Sunday’s win against the Panthers, topped off with Frank receiving a game misconduct with just over a minute to go.
“It can get chippy in there,” says Frank. “We got to clean that up. Got to stay even keel, and not get away from what we were doing. That’s what happened there. I personally got to fix that.”
Defenceman Kal Nagy, who has 13 points this season, said that while pressure mounts, the most direct approach to getting consistent results is as simple as staying on the straight and narrow.
“Stay within the system,” says the veteran Nagy, in his third season with the Campbell River after a pair of games with the Kerry Park Islanders in 2020 “This is the style of play the Storm usually has. It seems to all be coming together at this time.”
The Storm will play again on Friday night, as they host to the Victoria Cougars at the Rod Brind’Amour arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
