Victoria, BC ~ The Nanaimo Clippers used timely scoring to defeat the Victoria Grizzlies 7-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Q Centre in Colwood to set Victoria and Cowichan Valley up for a first-round meeting.
The first period was one to forget for Victoria, who controlled the run of play but found themselves down 3-0 at the end of twenty minutes.
With Mikus Vecvanags out of the lineup for rest reasons, Mitch Kathler got the start and struggled through the first, giving up three on 17 shots. Tanner Bruender (28th) opened the scoring at 6:43 before Hayden Fechner (26th) gave them a second just over a minute later. Charles Beland (16th) added insult to injury with just over a minute left, jamming one through Kathler, and Victoria found themselves in a big hole early.
Victoria looked determined in the second period and pulled itself within one at one point. First Maddux Martin (20th) found the twine during a power play, and then Hunter Ashton (3rd) got a wacky one to go at 15:30, seeing Victoria within one.
Nanaimo responded with a goal with four seconds left on the clock from Jack Rimmer (25th), who beat Kathler from a bad angle to lead 4-2 after forty.
Maxime Lapointe (1st) made it a three-goal advantage with 6:45 gone in the third, and the Clippers added two more on a five-minute major to Levi Eiter for boarding to make it 7-2. First, Charles Beland (17th) got his second of the game, and then Sam Boisvert (19th) got the final Clipper tally. Jack McDonough was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct in the final seconds for an Illegal Check to the Head.
Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau got the win for Nanaimo, making 34 saves, while Mitch Kathler took the loss for Victoria, stopping 41 of 48.
The loss this afternoon sets up a first-round matchup with the Cowichan Valley Capitals, beginning on Friday night in Duncan. Games Three and Four would be in Victoria on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 7th and 8th, at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available for those two BY CLICKING HERE.
