Victoria Grizzlies News

VEES SCORE EARLY TO SILENCE GRIZZLIES

VEES SCORE EARLY TO SILENCE GRIZZLIES

October 22, 2009 Sharie Epp ©Times Colonist -

If the Victoria Grizzlies needed to check out the level of hockey in the B.C. Hockey League, the opportunities abounded last night. The Penticton Vees began their Vancouver Island road trip by setting a high-water mark at Bear Mountain Arena, defeating the Grizzlies 3-1.

“We haven’t seen a team like that all year,” Grizzlies coach Victor Gervais said. “They come with four or five guys all the time.

“We’ve got to learn from that. We’ve got a young hockey club that can only get better playing a game like that.”

The opening period, in particular, was an abrupt eye-opener for the Grizzlies, who spent most of it chasing swarms of Vees, sweeping down the ice.

“We talked as a team about how we wanted to come out in the first period with a lot of energy,” Penticton coach Fred Harbinson said, noting his team was facing four road games in five days after a two-week break. “We want to set the tone, in a positive manner, for the entire road trip.”

The tone they set was to outshoot Victoria 15-6, and score goals eight seconds apart for a 2-0 lead by the first break. Harbinson said playing with speed, skill and intensity every night is the only way to survive in the highly competitive Interior Conference.

The defending RBC Cup champion Vernon Vipers are leading the league — they haven’t skipped a beat since last season — and Penticton, now 12-2-0-1, Salmon Arm, and Westside are hot on the trail.

“It’s my third year in the league, and it seems like every year the bar keeps getting raised in our conference,” Harbinson said.

After team captain and leading scorer Denver Manderson and linemate Garrett Milan had given the visitors the upper hand, the Grizzlies started the second period with a pace several notches higher. Fittingly, it was Victoria’s captain and leading scorer Jordan Heywood who got his team back in the game.

The Grizzlies stole the puck deep in their own zone and went on the attack. Charging down the middle, Wesley Myron passed out to Heywood on the wing, and the captain lifted a lovely shot past Penticton goaltender Sean Bonar at 2:02 of the second period.

It didn’t take long, however, for the Vees to regain their two-goal lead. Victoria goaltender Richard Virtanen made some good saves on the night to keep things close, but he couldn’t track a bouncing puck that got knocked in by Alex Szczechura at 4:34.

The Grizzlies pressed hard in the third period, but the Vees were content to sit back and defend their lead. Final shots on goal were 31-25 for Penticton.

“Their defence is what makes their offence go,” Gervais said. “They move the puck quick, and play a smart game.”

Now 7-5-1-1, the Grizzlies have a day to regroup before taking their game to the Lower Mainland. The Grizz play Surrey tomorrow, move to Langley on Saturday and finish off the trip on Sunday afternoon in Burnaby.

In other matchups around the league yesterday, Surrey downed Westside 6-4, and Vernon continued to roll, beating Merritt 7-2.