The 2024-25 season is a fresh start for the Nanaimo Buccaneers, and they played like it.
The Bucs (1-1) defeated the Saanich Predators on Thursday, Sept. 12, by a 4-3 score in Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League action at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. It was the Buccaneers' first regular-season win since 2023 and their first home-ice win since 2022.
"I thought we played well," said Brett Bestwick, the team's assistant coach. "There's obviously some things that we can go over and fix – the season's young."
Nanaimo was energized with two goals in the first minute, and held the lead the rest of the game.
"We were fast, we moved the puck well and we were dominating over the ice with our forecheck," said Kenneth Boychuk, Bucs forward.
His third-period goal in his first game since returning to the team stood up as the game-winner, as the Buccaneers got through some close moments late in the game to hold on.
"It felt really good, especially being back," he said. "The Bucs have been needing this for a while."
Brody Lindal, Baden Pazdzierski and Zack Mongeon were Nanaimo's other scorers and Darian Feser made 26 saves as his team was outshot 29-25.
"It's huge for the guys' confidence, it's huge for the buy-in on our systems that we keep preaching and we've been trying to teach…" Bestwick said. "They're starting to see that when it works, it works, and when we follow it and when we play our systems and play with our linemates and communicate, we're very effective."
Bestwick said turnovers and breakdowns will happen, but they're something that can be fixed, and in the meantime, the coaching staff wants players to play quick and be hard to play against.
"They're a rambunctious bunch. They have tons of energy, they want to win, they're all here for the right reason and it's starting to show," he said. "I would say that their goals are dependent on their work ethic and their consistency. As hard as they want to work is as high as they can go. So we're going to keep pushing them."
GAME ON … The Buccaneers play the Oceanside Generals on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. at Parksville's Oceanside Place. The Bucs and Gens play Sept. 19 at 7:15 p.m. at the NIC.
