With an Island Division crown in their back pocket, the Victoria Grizzlies may get to know the Nanaimo Clippers quite well over the next couple of weeks.
Heading into this weekend’s home-and-home with the fourth-place Clippers, the Grizzlies could be previewing their first-round playoff opponent in the B.C. Hockey League playoffs.
Grizzlies head coach Craig Didmon, whose team has won all six meetings with Nanaimo this season and can keep them in fourth with a pair of wins, knows his team has to come ready to play this weekend.
“On paper we match up well, but anything can happen in a hockey game,” he said, noting Nanaimo is a notoriously tough place to play. “The team that wants it most gets it, so we have to take nothing for granted.”
Friday’s game in Nanaimo gets underway at 7 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena, while Saturday’s contest also starts at 7:00, at The Q Centre.
Heading into this week’s play, the Clippers sat a point back of third-place Cowichan Valley, which has three games remaining, to Nanaimo’s two. The Capitals host Salmon Arm tonight (Feb. 22), Alberni Valley on Friday and Powell River on Saturday.
The Grizzlies clinched top spot in the division with a 3-2 overtime loss to West Kelowna on Saturday. The game was sandwiched in between a 4-2 win on Friday in Vernon and a 2-1 overtime loss in Penticton on Sunday.
The last game of the weekend was another great matchup between two of the top teams in the BCHL, Didmon said.
“After three (games) in three (nights) and the travel, to have the boys come out like that it was really impressive,” he said.
James Miller scored the winner late in the first overtime, after the Vees tied the game at one in the second period. Timothy Friedmann, with his 16th goal of the season, gave Victoria the lead in the first. Grizzlies goaltender Matthew Galajda had another stellar outing, kicking out 38 of 40 shots, while Matyew Robson made 27 saves in the Penticton net.
In West Kelowna, Chase Stevenson’s second goal of the game proved the winner with 55 seconds to go in the first overtime, as the Warriors beat Victoria.
After the Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the first period, goals from Cole Pickup, with his team-leading 26th of the season, and Lucas Clark pulled the visitors into a 2-2 tie to end the period. The Grizzlies’ Tony Rehm and Warriors Gabriel Morency blanked their opponents through the next two periods. Morency finished with 40 saves, while Rehm chalked up 29.
In Vernon, the Grizzlies built a 3-0 lead after one period and added an empty net goal in the third after the Vipers scored twice in the final frame to make it close.
Friedmann, Cody Van Lierop, Keyvan Mokhtari and Nathan Looysen scored in the Friday win.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com