Vincent Nardone comes to Victoria after 22 games with the Penticton Vees.
Photograph By ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST

Brian Drewry / Times Colonist
NOVEMBER 14, 2019 10:02 PM

In a little over a year, Vincent Nardone has gone from living in Montreal, Flin Flon, Man., Penticton and now Victoria.

But he wouldn’t have it any other way, as long has he has a hockey stick in hand.

And he’ll now be putting his hockey stick to use with the Victoria Grizzlies, after the B.C. Hockey League club traded for the speedy and skilled centre on Tuesday, sending 19-year-old Darwin Lakoduk to the Penticton Vees in exchange for Nardone, who just turned 19 on Halloween.

Nardone leaves a Vees team that is tied for first in the Interior Division and joins a Grizzlies team whose 7-18 record has them in last place in the Island Division.

“To tell you the truth, when I heard of the trade on Tuesday, I was in my house and started jumping up and down because I’m super happy to be coming to Victoria,” said Nardone, who had four goals and five assists in 22 games with a loaded Vees team that has 16 players committed to NCAA schools.

“Penticton is just stacked with a lot of the same type of highly skilled players so I wasn’t getting as much playing time as I was hoping for.”

Nardone came across on the ferry Wednesday night and will be in the Victoria lineup tonight when the Grizzlies host the division-leading Nanaimo Clippers (16-6-1-1) at The Q Centre. It’s his second trip on B.C. Ferries in about 10 days as the Vees were at The Q Centre on Nov. 2, beating the Grizzlies 4-1 with the help of a Nardone goal.

“When I played against the Grizzlies a couple of weeks ago, I really liked the way they played. They were fast, with really skilled forwards and that suits my game, so I’m really excited to join the team.”

Grizzlies head coach Craig Didmon expects the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Nardone to step right in on one of the Grizzlies’ top two lines.

“He’s skilled, skates well and has a nose for the net so we’re going to let him do what he does best,” said Didmon, whose club will be facing the Clippers for the third straight game, and then will welcome the Merritt Centennials (5-14-1-0) to town on Saturday night.

Nardone, whose family resides in the Montreal suburb of Rosemère, was a high-scoring player in midget before him and a friend were recruited by Flin Flon to play in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. After a strong rookie season with the Bombers, where he racked up 39 points in 55 games, Nardone accepted an NCAA Div. 1 scholarship offer to the University of Nebraska-Omaha for the fall of 2021. Then the perennial powerhouse Vees came calling that summer and he made the move to the Okanagan.

“I really liked my time in Flin Flon,” Nardone said. “It’s a small town but all they talk about is hockey so it’s a fun place to play.

“And Penticton is a great city and a great arena so I liked living there, too.”

But now his focus is on getting the Grizzlies, who have lost seven straight games, back on track.

“I played against the Grizzlies and don’t be fooled by their record,” he added. “I know they have a lot of injuries right now, especially on defence, and their captain [Marty Westhaver] is just coming back from injury, so I think once we get these guys back in the next little while we’ll be able to make a real run in the second half and surprise some people.”

LOOSE PUCKS: The injured Grizzlies include veteran defencemen Brady MacDonald and Reid Lindsay, 19-year-old winger Eddie Yan and rookie forward Connor Eddy. None are expected back tonight. Twenty-year-old netminder Liam Souliere, who is bound for Penn State of the NCAA in the fall, has yet to play this season due to a lower body injury but could return next month.

bdrewry@timescolonist.com