Victoria Grizzlies News

A LITTLE REVENGE NEVER HURTS AS GRIZZLIES SHUT OUT EXPRESS

A LITTLE REVENGE NEVER HURTS AS GRIZZLIES SHUT OUT EXPRESS

October 11, 2009 Ron Rauch ©Times Colonist -

Goaltender Richard Virtanen came out of sick bay and was perfect last night as the Victoria Grizzlies blanked the Burnaby Express 4-0 in B.C. Hockey League action at Bear Mountain Arena.

Playing against his former team and before 1,701 fans, kicked out 26 shots to record his first BCHL shutout.

“I was motivated to play against my old team,’’ said Virtanen. “They released me after last season and said that I didn’t fit into their plans. I was a little jittery to start the game but I just wanted to make sure that I had a good start.’’

Virtanen missed the last game against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs as he had the flu.

“You always want to play a goaltender against his former team,’’ said Victoria coach Vic Gervais. “He was sick all week but he worked out Friday and said he was ready to go. He has been great for us all year.

“We changed up our system a little bit and Greg Adams came in and helped out on our power play. A lot of guys stepped up tonight and with this young team, they are only going to get better.’’

Veteran Dustin Mowrey was instrumental in Victoria’s first goal at 5:16 of the period. The forechecking Mowrey bumped a Burnaby defenceman off the puck behind the Express net and then fed a pass to the crease area. After a scramble, he then scored on a rebound.

Late in the period, Mowrey was at it again, this time taking a perfect pass from Wesley Myron and beating Harrison May with a quick wrist shot.

In the second period, the Grizz finally came alive on the power play as rookie 16year-old defenceman Sam Grist collected his first goal and point in the BCHL. Prior to Grist’s goal, the Grizz had been experiencing a 0-for-17 power-play outage.

Grist fired a point shot that deflected off a Burnaby defender and the screened May never saw it coming. Gregory Simpson made it 4-0 late in the second period.

FACEOFFS: The Grizz are back in action today on the road at the Frank Crane Arena in Nanaimo against the Clippers. Game time is 3 p.m. The three stars were Virtanen, Teal Burns, who was celebrating his 17th birthday and Mowrey.

The Grizz finished the game 1-for-7 on the power play while Burnaby was 0for-5 The Victoria power play looked very sharp but they just didn’t have any puck luck around the Burnaby net . . . The next home game for the Grizzlies is Friday against the Cowichan Valley Capitals at the Bear. Game time is 7:15 p.m. Former Victoria players — goaltender Alex Peck and forward Mike Hammond — are expected to be in the Cowichan lineup.

Defenceman Todd Gebert played on a forward line with Alex Allan and Simpson because of a lower body injury to Spencer Copp . . . Burnaby netminders May and third-period replacement Nick Enegren combined to make 22 saves . . . The Grizz now have a record of five wins, three losses and two ties while the Express are 5-4-2.