By Ian Holmes

Buccaneers pound Cougars, win 5-1

Nov 26, 2016 | 10:16 PM

NANAIMO — It was a statement 5-1 victory for the Buccaneers (14-12) over the Victoria Cougars (18-6-0-3) on Saturday night at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.

The city’s VIJHL team scored four unanswered goals in the second and third periods to soundly defeat one of league’s top squads. Nanaimo returned the favour on the back half of a home-and-home series, after the Cougars downed Nanaimo 6-2 on Thursday night in Esquimalt.

“To show up today is the sign of a good team,” said Bucs’ head coach Dan Lemmon. “You’re not going to win every game, it’s how you battle back. I thought we were physical, we played Bucs’ hockey for 60-minutes and it showed on the scoreboard.”

Danny Pion, Chad Bell, Cole Broadhurst, Cam Nickerson and Trent Bell all put the puck past Cougars’ netminder Anthony Ciurro. Former Buccaneer Owen Dalman managed the lone goal for the visitors.

Nanaimo goaltender John Hawthorne was named the game’s first star. The 18-year-old rookie from Chemainus was sharp, turning aside 28 shots, including 16 in a perfect second period. It was a measure of revenge for Hawthorne, who was three evenings removed from allowing six goals on 34 shots in the setback in the Cougars’ barn. Nanaimo outshot Victoria 33-29. The Bucs went 1/5 on the powerplay, while Victoria was 0/8.

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Nanaimo and Victoria were tied 1-1 after the first period, then the Bucs scored twice late in the second period and didn’t look back. Nanaimo is now 10-0 when leading after two periods of play.

Lemmon says a big factor in the win was their ability to limit the speed of the quick-skating Cougars.

“We didn’t give them a lot of time and space to rush pucks. They’re fast, they play a similar game to Campbell River, they want to generate speed through the neutral zone,” he said. “I thought our d-men did a good job of shutting them down.”

Nanaimo capped off what was a productive month of November in style. The Bucs went 6-2 this month, claiming wins over Campbell River and Victoria — the first and second place teams respectively in the 9-team VIJHL. Ironically, Nanaimo’s other setback in November besides Thursday night’s defeat down island, was a 1-0 decision to the last place Peninsula Panthers on Nov. 10 at the Ice Centre.

Buccaneers’ captain Chad Bell scored the eventual game-winning goal late in the second period, his team-leading 15th of the campaign. The key tally marked a career-high in goals in a season for the likable 20-year-old from Port McNeill.

“We’ve been playing well. I think if we play a full 60 minutes every night we can beat any team in this league,” said Bell.

Lemmon says he’s extremely pleased with the leadership and chemistry on this year’s team.

“This is a tight-knit group…you’ll do more for each other than the other team will. I think that’s what we have with this team right now,” coach Lemmon said.

The Buccaneers host the Comox Valley Glacier Kings on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7:15 at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. Nanaimo is four points behind Comox Valley, who holds down second place in the VIJHL’s North Division.

– with files from Dominic Abassi –