VICTORIA 5 ONTARIO 0
Is it time to hand off the wooden spoon, that fanciful but dubious "award" which goes to last-place sports teams?
At 5-2-1 since Nov. 11, including the current run of two wins in a row, the Victoria Salmon Kings' rally is still modest in the extreme.
But it is a glimmer, nonetheless, as the Salmon Kings finally look to emerge from the ECHL basement.
Last night's 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings-affiliate Ontario Reign at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre pushed Victoria's record to 6-11-1 -- after a 1-9 start -- and into a tie with National Conference rivals Las Vegas Wranglers and Stockton Thunder with a game in hand on both.
"It's more fun for sure to have results. We're gaining confidence with every game," said Olivier Latendresse, the slick stick-handling forward out of the Quebec Major Junior League, who had a goal and an assist last night.
It is perhaps too early to call any games 'big,' but Victoria's three-game set at the Orleans Casino Arena on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in Las Vegas looms as large as any hockey games are bound to get in the first week of December.
"We take it game by game as we look to climb the ladder," said Salmon Kings GM and head coach Mark Morrison.
"It's not just the teams in the lower end of the standings we're looking at, but also the Utahs and Alaskas a little higher up."
Victoria's turnabout has coincided with the addition of defenceman Jimmy Sharrow, the AHL veteran who has brought a needed touch to the back end. It's perhaps not accidental the Salmon Kings began the current 5-2-1 run the day he came to the team.
Goaltender David Shantz, another key addition from the AHL, needed to parry only 22 shots for the shutout last night as he allowed just one goal in the two-game set against Ontario (8-10-2), including Friday night's 2-1 victory.
"I came to play and came to work," said the Calgary Flames prospect.
"Overall, this was our best team effort in the time I've been here. I've worn a lot of jerseys in the AHL and ECHL in recent seasons but I don't worry about call-ups. I just try to go out and stop the puck."
Which he did very well the last two nights.
Latendresse, with his fifth goal of the season, and defenceman Tim Wedderburn, with his first, scored for Victoria in the first period. Dirk Southern, on the power play, and defenceman Patrick Coulombe scored in the second period with Andy Brandt capping the night in the third period on the power play with his fifth goal of the season.
Victoria's previously moribund odd man showed signs of life by going 2-5 yesterday while the suffocating penalty-kill unit remained stingy by holding the Ontario power play to 0-4.
The Salmon Kings, in a rarity, were awarded penalty shots in back-to-back games. They missed both, with Scott Howes having the puck dribble off his stick last night and Chad Painchaud catching the post on Friday.
ICE CHIPS: First-round draft pick Colten Teubert of White Rock, taken 13th overall by Los Angeles in 2008, paid Ontario head coach Karl Taylor a nice compliment when in Victoria last Wednesday for the WHL-Russia game. The highly-regarded world junior gold-medallist rearguard Teubert said he learned a lot from Taylor during a 14-game stint with the Reign last spring.
cdheensaw@tc.canwest.com
