Victoria Grizzlies News

GRIZZLIES TROUNCE TIMBERWOLVES

February 13, 2010 Sharie Epp ©Times Colonist -

A ball cap flew onto the ice when Wesley Myron scored his third goal, as the rookie forward’s hat trick propelled the Victoria Grizzlies to an 8-2 victory over the Williams Lake Timberwolves last night at Bear Mountain Arena.

“He played very well. He’s a big guy, and he can skate,” said soon-to-be Victoria assistant coach Nate Forster, who was watching from the press box while his paperwork clears the B.C. Hockey system. “I’m still getting to know the guys, and how they play, so it was pretty nice to sit up here and watch.”

The Grizzlies (32-16-2-6), now just one point behind second-place Powell River in the Coastal Conference standings, return to Bear Mountain to take on the Quesnel Millionaires tomorrow, facing off at 4:30 p.m.

Yesterday, it looked like fears the Grizzlies would play down to their opposition were materializing against the 9-44-1-0 Timberwolves, who are at the bottom of the B.C. Hockey League standings.

With Victoria outshot 6-1 in the first period, coach Victor Gervais called a timeout. The Grizzlies didn’t exactly storm the bastions after that, but played well enough to start putting some goals on the scoreboard.

“They try to be flashy, and a little too pretty,” Forster said.

Graeme McCormack made a nice pass to Myron, standing to the right side of Timberwolves goaltender Sean Donnelly, to get things started at 8:24. Dustin Mowrey, with his 32nd of the season, sifted the puck under a few legs at 15:15, and Jordan Heywood made it 3-0 on the power play at 17:16.

McCormack gave Victoria a 4-0 lead at 5:47 of the second period, but the Grizzlies seemed to lose focus again. They couldn’t get organized on an extended power play, including nearly a minute at five-onthree, then turned the puck over, and gave up a breakaway goal to Timberwolves forward Justin Bardarson at 11:29.

The problem for the struggling Timberwolves, who lost 9-1 to Victoria last week, was that the Grizzlies didn’t need to play at full speed to win the game.

Victoria’s Spencer Copp and the T-Wolves Jake Harcoff, with the man advantage, exchanged goals late in the second period, and the Grizzlies maintained a relatively safe 5-2 margin heading into the third period.

Coming out with more of a killer mentality in the third, the Grizz kept the visitors off the scoreboard. Myron posted his second and third goals, and Mike Tebbutt also got into the mix. The improved effort helped out Victoria goaltender Colin Fernandes, who had kept his team in a comport zone, as the Timberwolves outshot the Grizzlies 31-28.

Down the road, Forster expects his role will be mainly working with the defence. Following two seasons with the Victoria Salmon Kings and a year in Italy, he coached the Sooke Stingers and Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. Since qualifying to become a Victoria firefighter a year ago, he’s now ready to get back and give back to hockey.

“I love it,” he said. “I want to do what I can to help the kids.”