GRIZZLIES PUNISH SUMMERSIDE

Photo by Gordon Lee

May 08, 2009 Sharie Epp ©Times Colonist -

Victoria clinches spot in semifinals, while Summerside eliminated.

Burned twice in RBC Cup games this week, the Victoria Grizzlies stayed away from the fire last night. 

Looking for anything but a close game, the Grizzlies defeated the Summerside Western Capitals 6-3, assuring themselves a berth in the tomorrow’s semifinals at the national Junior A championship.

“You have to have a short memory in this tournament, because you’ve got to win games to advance,” said Victoria captain Brian Nugent, whose four goals leads all players. “I think we did a good job of adjusting off a tough game with Vernon.”

This time, the Grizzlies scored enough goals to stay mostly out of trouble, finishing the round robin with a record of two wins and two losses, while knocking the winless Capitals (0-3) out of contention. Even if they win their last game tonight, the Caps lose out on head-to-head records.

“Everyone in that room had dreams of winning a national championship,” Summerside coach Ken MacDougall said. “I think that part of the games we’ve played real well, it was just that 60 minutes we’ve been missing.”

The round robin winds up today, featuring the Vernon Vipers (3-0) and Kingston Voyageurs (2-1) at 2 p.m., while the Humboldt Broncos meet Summerside at 7 p.m. After those games, the semifinal matchups will be set, although Victoria is definitely playing at 7 p.m. tomorrow night.

Except for a 5-0 defeat of the Voyageurs, the Grizzlies’ previous outings have been late-game disasters. They opened the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Humboldt, after giving up the winning goal with one second on the clock. On Tuesday night, Victoria had a 4-2 lead in the third period against the Vernon Vipers, but wound up losing 5-4 overtime.

“Both the games we lost in this tournament were definitely disappointing, but I think we’re a pretty resilient group,” Nugent said.

Against Summerside, the Grizzlies dominated the opening period, but didn’t get on the board until Justin Courtnall connected on a power play at 14:11. Nugent, on a nice two-on-one with Derek Lee, scored at 17:26, and it was 2-0.

The Grizzlies looked good, but, fighting for their RBC Cup lives, the Capitals tried to make the most of their few chances. Steven Brazil stole the puck inside the Victoria blueline and went the distance to keep the game within reach at 18:59.

Pouring it on in the second period, however, the Grizzlies scored three unanswered goals to go up 5-1, and, hopefully, take command of the game. Young Dustin Mowrey, Jonathan Milhouse — his goal and two assists moved him into a tie with Vernon’s Mike Collins for the lead in tournament scoring — and Evan Pighin all hit the net in the middle frame.

“Victoria is a highly skilled team, and skate really really well,” MacDougall said. “We were on our heels.”

Both teams switched goaltenders to begin the third period, with Alex Peck replacing Anthony Grieco in the Victoria net, and Paul Dorsey came in for Summerside’s Alex Dupuis.

The change coincided with a renewed attack by the Capitals, and Peck paid the price at 1:41, when Brazil added his second of the night. Three minutes later, Jason Gallant scored with a high bouncer, and suddenly the Grizzlies looked vulnerable.

Peck never had a chance to regroup, as he got hit in the neck by a puck, and left the game. The Grizzlies got back on their feet, and carried through to the buzzer, with Courtnall adding an empty-netter.

NOW THAT’S CLASS — The young men in town to play in the RBC Cup this week are getting the job done when it comes to public relations. The Victoria Grizzlies were out and about chatting and playing floor hockey with school kids on Monday, while the Humboldt Broncos visited Spencer and Crystal View, the Kingston Voyageurs went to Ruth King and the Summerside Western Capitals were at Colwood on Tuesday. Yesterday, the Vernon Vipers split up to go to Savory and John Stubbs.