Having lost a 5-1 decision to the Clippers last week in Nanaimo, the Victoria Grizzlies get another chance to knock down the B.C. Hockey League’s Island Division leaders at home this Friday.
The Grizzlies, who rebounded from that loss and a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Trail Smokeaters at The Q Centre last Thursday to soundly beat Cowichan Valley 6-2 in Colwood on Friday, host the Clippers for a 7 p.m. game.
Victoria then takes on Alberni Valley on Saturday night at 7 at The Q Centre.
The Grizzlies are 0-3 against Nanaimo so far this season and have been outscored 14-7.
Last Wednesday in Nanaimo at Frank Crane Arena, the home team led 2-0 after one period, but Cole Pickup got the Grizzlies on the board in the second.
The Clippers’ Zach Court restored the two-goal lead at the 14:42 mark of the middle frame. The Grizzlies controlled the play in the third, outshooting Nanaimo 11-4, but could not beat Clippers goalie Evan Johnson.
Sheldon Rempal scored his second of the game into an empty net for Nanaimo with 1:10 to go, and Nolan Aibel found the net with nine seconds left.
The Grizzlies led 2-0 after one against Trail, but gave up three straight goals to fall to the Smokeaters.
Pickup, with a power play goal, and Keyvan Mokhtari with a shorthanded marker, had given the locals a 2-0 lead late in the opening frame.
On Friday, the Grizzlies spotted the Caps a 1-0 lead in the first before Mokhtari went to work. He scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season before the period was over, giving the home team a lead they would not relinquish.
P.J. Conlon, Dante Hahn and two from Brayden Gelsinger in the second made it a 6-1 game. Gelsinger ended with a four-point night, while Mokhtari had a season-best three points and was named first star.
Matthew Hudie and Ryan Hogg tallied for the Capitals.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com