The Nanaimo Buccaneers seem to have righted the ship, at least if the first month of the season is any indication.
The Bucs sit at 7-3 through their first 10 games of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League season. It would be a solid start no matter what, but it's more remarkable considering the franchise is coming off a one-win season and had only seven wins over the three previous seasons combined.
"I think a lot of people probably didn't take us seriously to start the season and we honestly didn't know what to expect and we still don't know what to expect," said Bill Bestwick, the team's coach and general manager. "But one thing for sure is these kids have all made a choice. They want to be taken seriously and because of that, they have a chance to win most nights. It's all on them. It's what they've done and it's all what they believe in. That's made the difference."
The Bucs defeated the Comox Valley Glacier Kings by a 7-1 blowout score on Thanksgiving Monday, Oct. 14, at the Nanaimo Ice Centre, to bounce back from a lopsided loss the previous week. Bestwick said opponents are realizing they need to bring their best effort against the Buccaneers, and said his team needs to be ready for that. He said the Bucs are also still in the process of learning how to win.
"Most of the kids in this room haven't won a lot, so winning just seems cool [but] you sometimes don't really know how to keep it going," he said. "Now I think we're learning … as good as it feels to win, it's a cliché, but losing sucks."
Baden Pazdzierski, Bucs forward, said Bestwick and his staff set the culture early on, and said players have bought in, want to be part of the team, want to work hard and want to win.
"I think right from the start, the team came in with a mindset that this year's going to be different," Pazdzierski said. "We're going to compete, we're going to battle and we're going to be good this year. We've had the same goals from the start."
The on-ice results now have the hockey club re-assessing its potential. Bestwick said for example, the Bucs might not have previously considered a transaction unless they were certain it would have a significant impact."It's incumbent, now, upon us, if we can make a change to better our team incrementally, we have to do it," he said.
In this past weekend's win, Brody Lindal had two goals and two assists, Zack Mongeon also scored twice and Darian Feser stopped 24 of 25 shots for the win.
GAME ON … The Bucs visit the Saanich Predators on Friday, Oct. 18. Next home action is against the Oceanside Generals on Oct. 24 at 7:15 p.m. at the NIC.
