HOLFELD, GRIZZLIES ADD TO CLIPPERS' MISERY

The Victoria Grizzlies remain undefeated in 2010. Building on a winning streak that began Jan. 2, the Grizzlies extended it to six consecutive games last night at Bear Mountain Arena, with a 2-0 victory over the Nanaimo Clippers.

It was the fourth shutout of the season for Victoria goaltender Ryan Holfeld, the game’s first star.

“Our goaltender was outstanding,” Grizzlies coach Victor Gervais said. “He brings confidence for all the kids. When there’s a goalie back there they know is going to shut [the other team] down, it gives them confidence.”

The Clippers are also streaking, but straight down. Still missing key players to injury, Last night’s loss was Nanaimo’s ninth straight, including one in overtime. The Clips (1621-1-9) have posted just one win in their last 18 games.

“I give full credit to Nanaimo. They came and played a real hard game,” said Gervais, who doesn’t expect the downward trend to continue much longer. “They’re a team that’s going to break out. They can win the next 10 games.”

The last time Nanaimo and Victoria met, they took a scoreless game into overtime, where Jordan Heywood fired the 1-0 winner. Wednesday night’s battle — a makeup game for one postponed during the swine flu outbreak — was more of the same: Plenty of action, but nobody was able to light up the scoreboard behind a couple of tough netminders.

The Grizzlies, now in a tie with Langley for third place in the B.C. Hockey League Coastal Conference, had many of the best chances, especially during more than a minute on a five-one-three power play in the first period. Shots were 15-5 for Victoria at that point, but Nanaimo goaltender Loic Boivin stood up to the attack.

At the other end, former Grizzlie Teal Burns opened the game by crashing Victoria defenceman Brett Kolins into Holfeld at the Victoria net. Holfeld was slow to get up, but shook off the hit.

The Clippers Kyle Kramer took another shot at Holfeld early in the second period, resulting in the second goaltender interference call of the night on Nanaimo. With the Grizzlies also a man short, Joel Lowry had a clear shot from the point, and gave the home side a 1-0 lead at 4:06 of the second.

Withstanding a flurry of Nanaimo pressure to open the third period, the Grizzlies responded. A powerplay goal by Jordan Heywood slid smoothly under Boivin to add the insurance marker at 13:59 of the final frame.

“We’ve had a lot of improvement in our D-zone and on the power play since Christmas, and I think that has resulted in the wins,” said Holfeld.