Above Photo: Sophiesphotographys
Victoria, BC ~ The Victoria Grizzlies got goals from Sam Ward, Reegan Hiscock and Malcolm Green to steer themselves to a 2-0 series lead over the Coquitlam Express with a 3-1 victory on Saturday night at the Q Centre.
The first period saw some scrambly play on both sides of the puck with both squads looking a little bit jittery out of the gates.
It was Coquitlam however who opened the scoring at 4:09 of the first when Andrej Kovacevic was unmarked in front of the Grizzlies goal and jammed home his own rebound to give the visitors an early advantage.
The Grizzlies answered back less than a minute later with Sam Ward finishing off a pretty three way passing play off the rush with Reegan Hiscock and Alex Hebblethwaite at 4:53. That would be all the scoring the opening 20 would have in store for the Grizzlies faithful.
A tight checking second would follow with Victoria playing chip in and bump hockey while Coquitlam was content to try and play a game based around exploiting Grizzlies mishaps. There would however be no new goals to report heading into the second intermission.
In the third Victoria come out firing and played their best twenty minutes of the series so far. Reegan Hiscock put them ahead at 7:42 with a wrist shot to the top left corner before Malcolm Green gave them a two goal lead that they would hold to the end less than five minutes later. Both of those were their firsts of the post season.
The Grizzlies locked things down and didn’t surrender a shot with when Coquitlam pulled Andrew Ness, their starting netminder, with a minute and a half remaining.
Kyle Kelsey made 39 saves on 40 shots for the Grizzlies while Ness made 38 on 41 for the Express.
The series will turn to the mainland in Coquitlam with Victoria leading the Quarter Final best of seven series two games to none. Game three and four go on Wednesday & Thursday from the Poirier Sport and Leisure Centre in Coquitlam before a game five would be on Friday at the Q Centre in Victoria if necessary.
