The Clippers swept their opening weekend of the Island Pod season with some impressive BCHL debuts. (Gary Dorland)

By Dan Marshall

SCORING PUNCH

VIDEO: Hometown Lavery leads Clippers to perfect opening weekend

Apr 5, 2021 | 4:54 PM

NANAIMO — Despite an extended off-season and the constant threat of another cancelled season, the Clippers showed they haven’t missed a beat.

Four months after winning the Island Cup and thirteen months after capturing their only 2020 playoff series, Nanaimo swept the opening weekend of the BCHL pod season in Alberni.

The Clippers beat Victoria 4-3 in their first game and downed Cowichan Valley 5-2 on Easter Sunday.

Of the nine goals Nanaimo scored, six came from players who are new to the uniform. One of the pleasant surprises was the play of 16-year-old Nanaimo winger Luke Lavery.

The Clippers scoring leader said he always hoped he would one day suit up for his home town team.

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“Ever since I was a kid growing up in Nanaimo I’ve had a lot of opportunities to play high level hockey including with the North Island Silvertips. Now to play with my home town junior team it’s a great accomplishment.”

Lavery scored a goal in his first game and had two assists in his second.

He’s been enjoying early season success with linemates Kai Daniels and Jaeger Murdock.

“It’s been going well for me. I’ve been off for a while so I wanted to jump back in there and get into the flow of things. It’s been working so far.”

The play of the young line caught the eye of Clippers coach Darren Naylor.

“Since I’ve been here that’s the most production we’ve had from our fourth line. They’re doing a good job.”

The busy Island pod schedule continues with three games in the coming week.

Nanaimo and Cowichan will play on April 6 and April 9 in what will amount to a three game series.

We’ve got a best of three here,” Naylor said. “We took the first one now we need to go out and get the next one.”

CLIP NOTES:

Jordan Naylor was named a third star in both Clipper games. He was named a runner up for BCHL Player of the Week with 75 saves on 80 shots and a .938 save percentage.

With Luke Lavery, Ethan Jones and Brendan Carlson the Clippers have three home town Nanaimo players on their roster this season.

April 3 marked the first game for Trevor LeDonne as the Clippers new captain. He follows Kyler Kovich who captained the team in the Island Cup and Ethan Scardina who wore the ‘C’ in the 2019-20 campaign. LeDonne also scored the game winning goal in Nanaimo’s 5-2 win over the Capitals on Easter Sunday.

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dan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @danmarshall77