January 22, 2016 10:14 PM
Like a 12-year-old at Disneyland’s Splash Mountain, Joey Visconti hopes this ride never ends.
The Victoria Grizzlies’ rookie, coming off a three-goals and two-assists performance in Sunday’s 7-2 win over the Surrey Eagles, now has four of his six seasonal tallies and seven of his 11 total points in his last three games.
The Markham, Ont., product, who played at Lake Forest Academy near Chicago, hopes to continue that run tonight as the Grizzlies look to extend their win streak to six games against the visiting Salmon Arm Silverbacks at The Q Centre at 7 p.m.
“Hopefully, it doesn’t end. It just keeps going and the team keeps going. That’s all we need,” said the 18-year-old, who has looked like a much smoother player since coming back from the long Christmas break, along with the rest of his teammates.
“I think our habits have been great. Everyone has been doing everything right. Dumping pucks when we have to, making great plays defensively and we’re starting to score on our chances,” said Visconti.
“Ever since I came back [from the break], I feel a lot more confident. I feel like I’m carrying the puck more and making a lot better plays, but that has to do with the whole team and everybody being real positive right now.”
Since their return in 2016, the Grizzlies have outscored their opposition 21-8 in racking up the five straight wins and, at 19-20-4-0, the team can get to that .500-win mark with a victory tonight. It will have to come against a solid Salmon Arm team that was 24-12-3-3 after losing Friday night at Cowichan Valley.
Victoria is getting production from several sources, but most importantly, the goals against have come way down, having allowed 120 in the 43 games. Just three teams have allowed fewer: Penticton, Chilliwack and Wenatchee.
“It’s great to be winning games. The fans are starting to love it and we’re getting more and more coming out,” said Visconti, who when he scored against Cowichan Valley on Jan. 12, snapped a 24-game goal-less drought, dating back to Oct. 18 when he tallied twice against the same Capitals’ club.
The Caps were the only team he had scored against until Victoria rolled through Surrey last Sunday in his five-point game.
“We’re closing up on Cowichan and if we keep rolling we can catch them,” Visconti said of the playoff race. “This will be a good test this weekend. At the beginning of the year, when we played them, they were the better team, but with all our changes and the way we’ve been playing, I think we can handle them.”
Salmon Arm defeated Victoria 5-1 back on Oct. 23.
IN THE DEN: With backup Mitchel Benson earning back-to-back wins in goal, the Grizzlies are expected to go back to Matthew Galajda, who has won four straight. His 2.27 goals-against average is third best in the BCHL. … The Grizzlies and Chilliwack Chiefs have rescheduled their recently postponed game to Feb. 28 on the Mainland.
