The Lake Cowichan Appollos battled the Nanaimo Steelmen on Sept. 13 in their first West Coast Senior Hockey League (WCSHL) exhibition series of the season.
The senior men's 'AA' hockey team, was resurrected last year and they are now in their second year of action.
Lake Cowichan got the game's first goal when captain Josh Anderson flung a shot on goal from the blue line. Bryce Burnett got a stick on it and deflected it through a crowd and into the back of the net.
Nanaimo countered not once in the first period, but thrice — the first, an ugly goal on a broken play, the second on a breakaway, and the third on a short passing play.
"Our effort was good, but we were a little out of sync for the first two periods for the most part," said assistant coach Mike Eddy of Saturday's game. "We had a few stretches where we played well, but didn't find any consistency and we weren't able to establish a good forecheck and presence in front of Nanaimo's net. "
The Appollos kept pushing in the second period and it paid off when a Brayden Kmita slap-shot, redirected by Colten Thompson, pulled their team within a goal.
Defender Taylor Webb hopped over the boards, was passed the puck and skated just inside the blue line before he snapped a bullet past the Nanaimo goaltender to tie the game at 3-3.
"During the third period we started to find our game and picked up the physical play as well. We controlled play for almost the entire third period and out-shot the Steelmen badly, but their goaltending was very good and they held on for the win. We also had a few new guys playing their first games with the Appollos and they all played well."
Despite the run of play, Nanaimo pulled ahead again in the middle frame, and then added a late goal in the third period to take the 5-3 victory.
The following night in Oceanside, the two teams met again, with the Appollos firing 56 shots on the Nanaimo goaltender en route to a 7-2 drubbing of the Steelmen.
"The players rode the momentum from a good third period on Saturday, came out flying and we quickly established our game by pressuring Nanaimo all over the ice for long stretches," Eddy said.
The team overcame a number of penalties in the first with strong penalty killing efforts throughout the lineup.
"We picked up the physical play and used our speed in the second and continued that into the third period, which we pretty much dominated in, securing the win," Eddy added.
With their exhibition schedule over, the Appollos are gearing up to play each of the Steelmen, Powell River Regals, and Hope Ice Breakers four times (two home, two away) over the course of their 12-game 2025-26 regular season, starting Saturday night at 8 p.m.
"It was a good tune-up weekend for us and we are really excited for the inaugural season of the West Coast Senior Hockey League, and we are lucky enough to be playing in the league's first ever game on Saturday, Sept. 27 in Lake Cowichan against the Steelmen."
