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Victoria Grizzlies beat No. 1 ranked Penticton Vees

Grizzlies finish the weekend 1-0-1 to take top spot in BCHL Island Division.
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Grizzlies forward Justin Michaelian receives a pass during last Friday night’s action in The Q Centre against the Nanaimo Clippers. (Katherine Engqvist/News Gazette staff)

The Victoria Grizzlies are on top of the BCHL Island Division standings this week after a tie and a win at The Q Centre this past weekend.

Forwards T.J. Friedmann and Alex Newhook led the charge for Victoria, Newhook scored four goals, had one assist and Friedmann scored two goals and had one assist.

The Grizzlies tied the Nanaimo Clippers Friday night 3-3 in double overtime. Nanaimo was up 2-0 before Newhook scored the first of his two goals at 13:05 in the first period and he evened the score in the second.

Victoria took the lead with a goal from Shawn O’Malley, but the Clippers scored a short-handed goal to send the game into overtime. The Grizzlies took seven shots in overtime, but were not able to put the Clippers away.

In the net for the Grizzlies, Kurtis Chapman saw all 70 minutes of action and saved 40 of 43 shots.

Sunday the Grizzlies beat the No. 1 ranked Penticton Vees 6-3, to even the series 1-1 between the squads.

Grizzlies’ Ethan Nother scored two goals in the first at 3:51 and 12:23 with the assist from Newhook. Newhook got in the action and scored his own goal in the first period off an assist from Nother and Jamie Rome, putting Victoria up 3-1 at the end of the first.

The Vees rallied and scored two goals in the second period off power plays but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Grizzlies.

Friedmann (two) and defensemen Carter Berger (one) rounded out the rest of the scoring for Victoria.

Grizzlies’ goaltender Zachary Rose stopped 25-of-28 shots to take the win against Penticton.

Looking ahead to this week the Grizzlies hit the road to take on Cowichan Valley on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.

They were also scheduled for a re-match with the Clippers Wednesday (after the Gazette’s press deadline) at 7:30 p.m. in Nanaimo. Victoria holds a season advantage of 4-1-2 over the squad.


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lindsey.horsting@goldstream

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