Duncan, BC ~ The Cowichan Valley Capitals used a big third period to beat the Grizzlies 4-2 and take a 2-0 series lead over Victoria.
After a Cowichan push to start, the Grizzlies outshot their hosts 12-2 in the final ten minutes and went ahead at 12:32. Levi Eiter (1st) finished a scramble in the Cowichan crease after a two-on-one chance for Eddy Spytz was stopped. That gave Victoria a 1-0 advantage after twenty minutes.
Victoria opened the second period by coming inches away from making it 2-0. Levi Eiter outwaited Rhett Stoesser in the Capital crease but couldn’t jam it home on the near post.
Cowichan found their footing through the latter 10 minutes of the second and tied things up at 12:03. Jack McAra (1st) beat Carter Hynes wide and wristed one past Mikus Vecvanags to see the game knotted after forty minutes.
Cowichan pulled away in the third period with Trace Frienden (1) finishing a rush for the Capitals at 4:47 before Brendyn Van Oene (2nd) made it a multi-goal lead on a tip at 14:02.
Levi Eiter (2nd) made things interesting for the visitors by slipping a puck home with just over two and a half minutes remaining. Still, the Capitals ended things with an empty net goal off the stick of Havryil Simchuk (2) with less than a minute left.
Mikus Vecvanags was very good for the Grizzlies, stopping 36 shots for Victoria, while Rhett Stoesser was named first star of the game with 23 saves.
The series flips to Victoria with the Grizzlies playing to get on the board in the series, trailing now 2-0 in this Coastal West Division Semi-Final.
