By Dan Marshall

Young Buccaneers team opens regular season against Oceanside

Sep 7, 2016 | 9:43 PM

NANAIMO — The Nanaimo Buccaneers open their season on Thursday with a home game against the Oceanside Generals.
 
The mid Island rivalry is always heated because so many of the players on both sides are from Nanaimo.
 
It was a whirlwind exhibition schedule for the Bucs with three games in four days last week, and the team finished 0-2-1.
 
Last season Nanaimo was 22-21-1-4 which was good for second place in the VIJHL’s North Division.
 
The Buccaneers overtook Comox Valley in a first round playoff sweep, but were then swept themselves by Campbell River in round two.
 
This year the club will look a lot different, and Head Coach Dan Lemmon says, a lot younger.
 
“We’re a young team, I can see that right away,” said Lemmon.  “We’re a team that can move the puck out of our end really quickly.  We’ve got a young D corps that’s picking things up as we go every practice.  Right now it’s just boiling down to the X’s and O’s on the forecheck and coming back into our own zone and what I like to see guys do in our D zone.”  
 
Jordan Levesque led the Buccaneers in scoring last season and Lemmon has high hopes for the clubs top returning scorer Trent Bell.
 
“Trent plays a gritty north-south game.  Playing with Jordan Levesque for the most part of all last season put him in a lot of situations were he could put up a lot of points.  This year he’s going to be that leader on that top line for us.  It’s a little bit of a different role for him.  We expect big things from him this year, but we expect more of a leadership role from him as well.”
 
Despite Nanaimo being a young team Lemmon has high expectations for this group.
 
“I don’t like to set goals on where we want to place in the end, but I definitely think if our team plays 110% percent, plays by our systems, sticks together, and works hard, I always expect us to win every game.”  
 
The Bucs season opener is a 7:15 start at the Nanaimo Ice Centre on Thursday.
 
Once again this season the majority of Nanaimo’s home games will be played on Thursday’s at the NIC.