It’s been an up and down season for the North Van Wolf Pack junior B hockey team, but the club is hoping that the return of a familiar face will help them get back to the lofty heights they’ve achieved in recent years.
The Pack won back-to-back regular season titles the past two seasons but, following the departure of most of their top players, has started this year with a .500 record through 13 games to sit third out of five teams in the PJHL’s Tom Shaw Conference. One of those players, however, has made his way back to the Pack and is ready to help the team return to glory. Goaltender Trevor Withers, a North Vancouver native, was the No. 1 option in each of the past two seasons and has returned to the team after taking a shot at making a junior A roster in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
“(It’s) unfortunate for him – he was trying to make that jump (to junior A) and things obviously didn’t work out – but selfishly we’re happy to have him back,” said Wolf Pack general manager and associate head coach Elias Godoy. “He’s probably one of the best goalies in junior B right now. … His skill speaks for itself. I thought last year he had a phenomenal playoffs – he was probably our best player in the playoffs last year.”
Godoy is hoping Withers can help stabilize the team immediately – North Van has had some nice wins but also big losses, including a 7-0 drubbing by the first-place Grandview Steelers Oct. 16.
“We’ve had games where we’ve put in six or seven goals, and we’ve had games where we haven’t scored any,” said Godoy. “Defensively, offensively it’s kind of been up and down this year for sure. A guy like Trevor in net will really give us the confidence and hopefully shut down the goals against and move us in the right direction.”
Godoy was quick to note, however, that the goaltending so far is not fully to blame for the team’s middle-of-the-road record.
“We lose 7-0, that’s not on our goalies 100 per cent. It’s a team game, obviously a team effort. You’re giving up breakaways and two-on-ones and stuff – it’s more than just the goalie at that point.”
Withers, however, will slide right back into the No. 1 slot and should give the team a boost of confidence while also bringing in some needed leadership.
“Even though he’s a goalie and they kind of like to stay to themselves, he’s a pretty vocal guy in the dressing room,” Godoy said. “We don’t have a ton of leadership – we have a pretty young team this year – so it’ll be nice to have a veteran guy in the room and on the ice. … He’s definitely proven himself. I’m sure even the new guys this year can look at past stats and where we’ve been the last couple of years and see that he’s been our guy. I’m sure they’ll have confidence in him, and our veteran guys that know him know what he can do. I think it’s all positive stuff for sure.”
Another bright spot for the team so far has been the play of captain Ian Creamore, who leads the league with 22 points in 13 games, including nine goals.
“We were counting on him to be one of our top scorers this year and obviously he’s almost at two points per game right now,” Godoy said. “He’s playing well, he’s getting that opportunity and he’s seizing it. … He’s one of our better defensive guys, (penalty kill) guy as well. It’s nice to have a good combination of offensive and defensive player at the top there.”
The standings in the Tom Shaw Conference are tight with just four points separating second place and fifth place, giving hope to Godoy that his young team will still be in the thick of things come playoff time.
“It’s just a matter of learning how to play the right way and getting ready for the playoffs by the end of the year,” he said. “We’re young, we’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of grit and our breakdowns are just mistakes made by younger guys not knowing the systems, now knowing how to play at the next level. They’ll get there for sure. We’ve seen a lot of good things and we’re happy with our group right now.”
