Alec Dillon blocked all 28 shots he faced in earning his first B.C. Hockey League shutout and victory on Saturday night.
Dillon, who recently committed to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in NCAA Division I for the 2015-16 season, made his third start of the campaign in the Victoria Grizzlies’ much-needed 1-0 victory over the Prince George Spruce Kings.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak and a winless run of four games for the Grizzlies, who dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat the night previous in Merritt, allowing a goal with 0.8 seconds remaining in the game.
“We absolutely deserved at least a point [Friday]. I thought we worked hard enough to earn one. I thought we should have had two, but at the end of the day we didn’t,” Grizzlies head coach and general manager Bill Bestwick said of the bounce-back win. “But here we are, winning a key one tonight.
“Alec played really well tonight, steady right throughout, and this performance will make for a much nicer return trip home.”
Victoria improves to 4-5-0-1 while the Kings, who were riding a four-game win streak, slip to 6-4-0-1.
Jesse Schwartz continues to carry a hot hand as he popped a rebound by Spruce Kings goaltender Jesse Janks — a native of Crofton and graduate of the South Island Royals program of the B.C. Major Midget League in Victoria — on a power play at 7:01 of the opening period.
Schwartz had a pair of goals for Victoria on Friday.
On Saturday, it got feisty early as Prince George’s Braiden Epp took a minor and misconduct for a blow to the head 5:31 in.
Grizzlies defenceman Brandon Egli, who recently committed to UMass-Amherst for next season, then got into a fight with Matt Painchaud just three minutes later.
The Grizzlies are home to the Nanaimo Clippers on Friday night before venturing back out to Alberni Valley on Saturday.
