Clippers goalie Cooper Black backstopped the team to a 2-0 start the season. His 69 saves on 72 shots earned him the BCHL's first star of the week. (Gary Dorland)

By Dan Marshall

Great Start

VIDEO: Clippers season starts with standout performances at both ends of the rink

Oct 12, 2021 | 7:25 PM

NANAIMO — By any metric the Clippers start to the BCHL season was a massive success.

Nanaimo outscored Powell River 10-3 over two road games and a hand full of players sit at or near the top of several statistical categories.

In goal, Cooper Black was named the BCHL’s first star of the week with a 2-0 record, 1.50 goals against average and a .958 save percentage. The 6’8 netminder deflected praise towards his teammates as the team allowed just three goals on 72 shots.

“You’ve got to look at how the team played in front of me. Quite frankly I probably only had two or three Grade A shots this week and other than that everything was from the outside. I think it’s more of a team award.”

While Black kept pucks out, Nanaimo’s top line of Tristan Fraser, Max Itagaki and Keighan Gerrie were putting pucks in.

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The trio combined for 14 points including a hat trick for Gerrie on Saturday, Oct. 9. All three are in the top 11 in BCHL scoring

Coach Darren Naylor believed his skilled forwards would find chemistry despite not playing together in preseason.

“We couldn’t get anything together in the exhibition games because guys were out hurt, but we knew we had some guys with offensive capabilities. Fraser and Gerrie we were counting on for big seasons and Itagaki came highly regarded so it was great to see those guys gel.”

Naylor called the feeling surreal being back on a BCHL bench in front of a live crowd for the first time since March 2020.

He hopes the impact of the fans will be even bigger at home.

“When you start putting the pressure on you can feel the momentum building in the crowd. Nanaimo is one of the best places to play junior hockey.”

The Clippers host Powell River both games during their home opening weekend with matchups Friday, Oct. 15 and Saturday Oct. 16 at Frank Crane Arena.

CLIP NOTES:

Nanaimo was tied or ahead for all 120 minutes of their first two games.

The Oct. 8 game between the Clippers and Kings was the first matchup for the long time rivals since February 2020.

Nine different players had points for Nanaimo in their first two games.

The Clippers will welcome popular media personality Terry David Mulligan to perform a ceremonial faceoff for their Oct. 15 game.

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