Victoria, BC ~ The Cowichan Valley Capitals beat the Victoria Grizzlies 5-1 on Saturday night at the Q Centre in Colwood in front of just over 1800 fans in attendance to force a game seven on Monday night in Duncan.
One would’ve easily assumed that Cowichan would give their best this evening, and Victoria certainly got it in the first, being outshot 20-5 and finding themselves down 2-0 after twenty.
Slade Fikus (1st) opened the scoring at 4:42 before a power-play goal from Anthony Hall (2nd) made it two rip at 8:18. Jack McAra assisted on both of those tallies.
The second period would yield no better for Victoria, whose two power plays mustered no so much as a sniff, rather coughed up a shorthanded tally instead. Jack McAra (3rd) beat Vecvanags in the Grizzlies’ crease on a breakaway at 9:50 to kill any momentum Victoria had hoped to gain. They would head to the third down 3-0.
With all the momentum on their side and starting the third with a man advantage, Cowichan struck again early to make it 4-0 off the stick of Michael Ryan (1). Gavin Nemis (1st) added another power-play goal for the visitors at 7:23.
Victoria finally cracked Rhett Stoesser with under four minutes to play with a power play of their own. Levi Eiter (3rd) tipped a point shot from Landon Cowper home to break Stoesser’s shutout bid and close the book on game six’s scoring at 5-1.
Victoria will reload for game seven on Monday night in Cowichan Valley with everything on the line. The two teams will play for it all, with the Nanaimo Clippers waiting in the wings for the victor.
