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Buccaneers outskate Islanders to win exhibition

The Nanaimo Buccaneers beat the Kerry Park Islanders 5-3 on Thursday at the Nanaimo Ice Centre
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Nanaimo Buccaneers player Clayton Peace looks for a puck in his skates with Kerry Park Islanders defencemen Conner Bissett and Tory McClintick and goalie Brady Thompson providing opposition Thursday at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. (GREG SAKAKI/The News Bulletin)

The Nanaimo Buccaneers finished their short pre-season with two wins and no losses, and are now one week away from dropping the puck for real.

The Bucs beat the Kerry Park Islanders 5-3 on Thursday at the Nanaimo Ice Centre, falling behind 2-0 before gaining control. The score was 4-2 going into the third, the Isles got one back to make it close, but Bucs forward Noah Kelly created a partial breakaway for himself and scored an insurance marker.

“I think for the most part we’re happy with the effort and at this time of year, the systems and all that stuff will come,” said Curtis Toneff, Buccaneers coach. “But they seem to be buying in and coming together as a group and that’s what we’re going to take out of this one.”

Nanaimo’s goal scorers Thursday were Mathieu Jallabert, Coleman Doney, Clayton Peace, Jayden Schubert and Kelly and the Bucs tripled the Islanders in shots on goal. The home team was skating fast and winning races.

“We want to be fast, we want to come in waves and that’s going to be a trait of our team,” said Toneff.

Nanaimo now has a full week before it starts the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League regular season on home ice. Toneff, who is also the club’s general manager, said the Bucs are coming close to an opening night lineup.

“We will probably leave some spots open, we’ll probably carry one or two less than we need to and see where the pieces fall…” he said. “And [there are] a couple little things in the works. But other than that, what you see out there is for the most part what you’ll get next Thursday.”

GAME ON … The Buccaneers host the Oceanside Generals on Sept. 7 at 7:15 p.m. at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. For ticket information, click here.

sports@nanaimobulletin.com