While he let his players celebrate a hard-fought, emotional seven-game victory over Powell River this week, Victoria Grizzlies head coach Craig Didmon wasn’t about to stop long to take stock of his team’s situation.
“I feel good for the group, but you know, we’re halfway there, our goal is to get that league title and we’re halfway there,” he said.
With two B.C. Hockey League playoff series victories under their belt, the Grizzlies face an equally tough challenge as they open the Fred Page Cup semifinals Friday night (March 31) in Chilliwack.
Talking about the Chiefs, who finished a close second in the Mainland Division and overall league standings behind Wenatchee, then tamed the Wild with a 4-0 sweep of the division final, Didmon didn’t mince words.
”They just knocked out a team that was made for the regular season,” he said. “So now we’re going to go after them, we’re going to show them what a playoff team looks like.”
While Powell River’s three victories proved the Kings had staying power, in the end the Grizzlies outlasted their opponent when it mattered most.
Didmon said that was a testament to the way his players have looked after their minds and their bodies, especially during the post-season. It wasn’t that way through stretches of the regular season, when the Grizzlies suffered through injuries to key players.
“We’re all fresh, we don’t have any injuries and it’s great,” he said with the glee of a kid on Christmas morning.
The teams match up relatively well on paper. Chilliwack scored 25 more goals in the regular season, but gave up 22 more than Victoria. In head-to-head play, the Chiefs beat the Grizzlies 3-1 Oct. 9 in Colwood, then Victoria returned the favour Oct. 28 on the mainland, winning 4-3 in overtime.
In the playoffs the prolific Chiefs have scored 36 goals in 10 games and given up 22, while the Grizzlies have scored 30 in 12 games and allowed 25.
Jason Tatarnic, head coach of the Chiefs, is expecting a tough series between two teams that have fought hard to reach the BCHL semis.
"At this time of the year, the four teams that are left are all good teams," he said. "Our league's so competitive these days that any time you take a night off you can lose." He added that the Grizzlies and Chiefs are playing with confidence right now after defeating very good hockey clubs in their respective division finals.
There is more at stake in this series, Tatarnic said. Whichever team advances to the Fred Page Cup final would receive an automatic berth into the Western Canadian Championships, if that tournament's host, Penticton, beats Vernon in the other league semifinal.
Keyvan Mokhtari, whose goal 57 seconds into the second overtime period Monday gave the Grizzlies a 2-1 win and a 4-3 series victory over the Kings, talked about the importance of starting strongly against the Chiefs.
“Chilliwack’s a good team, we know that and they’ve got home ice, so we’ve got to go over there and steal one, if not two right away,” he said.
Defenceman Brett Stirling, who fed Mokhtari the pass on the goal, likes the Grizzlies’ chances against the Chiefs. “We’re confident that with this week of rest and everyone getting recuperated that we can beat ‘em,” he said. “They’re going to be a good team; it’s going to be a helluva series and a helluva battle, but I think we’re ready for it.”
The Grizzlies organization will be hoping to replicate the atmosphere at The Q Centre when the series comes back to Colwood next Tuesday and Wednesday (April 4 and 5). More than 1,700 fans attended Monday’s game – easily the largest crowd of the season – and the players were clearly inspired.
“That was unreal to have that kind of support out there tonight, and to hear the building erupt when we finally won was a surreal experience,” Mokhtari said.
Game 2 goes Saturday at Prospera Centre in Chilliwack and start time for games 3 and 4 is 7 p.m. Game 5, if necessary would return to Chilliwack next Friday, game 6 would return to The Q on Saturday and game 7 would go in Chilliwack on Monday, April 10.
Visit victoriagrizzlies.com or call 250-385-1555 to purchase tickets, or drop by the Grizzlies office in the arena. The team also has special early bird pricing available until today on season tickets for next year.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com