Victoria Grizzlies News
RESTED GRIZZLIES EYE SECOND-HALF RUNJanuary 02, 2010 Sharie Epp ©Times Colonist - The prevailing attitude around Bear Mountain Arena this week has been bring on the new year. After a nice long Christmas break, the Victoria Grizzlies are healthy, energized, and ready to take a run at the last 20 games of the B.C. Hockey League regular season. “You can see everyone’s excited to be back,” Grizzlies captain Jordan Heywood said, after the team wrapped up a lively intrasquad game on Wednesday with plenty of chatter and joking around in the dressing room. “We had seven games in nine days before Christmas, and six of them were on the road.” “I know the guys were just ready to go home and see family, and really have a good break from it all.” The Grizzlies, currently tied with Langley for fourth place in the Coastal Conference, wound up the 2009 portion of the schedule in the Interior. Led by goaltender Ryan Holfeld — the BCHL player of the week for his efforts — they posted 4-0 victories in both Merritt and Salmon Arm, but ran out of steam for the final two games. A tired, injury-depleted bench couldn’t muster much energy in 8-2 and 4-0 losses in Vernon and Trail, respectively. Today, when Victoria kicks off 2010 against the Clippers at Frank Crane arena in Nanaimo, starting at 7:30 p.m., the only Grizzlie still on the injured list will be defenceman Sean Robertson. Robertson broke his leg in first game of the season, but even he won’t be out for much longer. “He’s out practising with us, and getting used to contact. He’s definitely making leaps and bounds,” Heywood said. “We’re all anxiously awaiting the day he can suit up again.” Another defenceman the Grizzlies sorely missed in December was Brad Pawlowski, who’ll be back in action against the Clippers. Grizzlies coach Victor Gervais, a little concerned about how his boys will respond to a Nanaimo group that’s already played three games since the break, is relieved the big guy is returning to man the blueline. “Having Pawlowski back is huge. He’s just a good presence on the ice that makes our guys feel confident,” said Gervais, also happy to be able to run four lines again, rather than three. “We’ve been playing with 10 forwards for a long time.” Against the sixth-place Clippers, the Grizzlies (19-14-2-5) are taking on a team that should be ready to break out of a slump. After a shaky start to the season, Nanaimo (16-15-1-8) rose through the charts in November, only to plunge back down in December. Last month, the Clippers suffered through 10 losses, including four straight in overtime. They posted just one victory in December, a 5-1 win over Surrey last Tuesday, and have since fallen 5-2 to Langley and 4-2 to Powell River. Things can’t be happy in Clipperland, and the Grizzlies are in the mood to keep it that way. “We’re just realizing we have the potential to be great in this conference,” Heywood said. “Now we’re trying to tap into that potential.”
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