Tuesday, December 1, 2015 – Submitted by Mario Annicchiarico / Times Colonist
The puzzle that is the Nanaimo Clippers remains unsolved for the Victoria Grizzlies.
Victoria lost its fifth straight to the Island Division rivals, this time in a tight 2-1 double-overtime setback on Tuesday night at The Q Centre, a game the hosts really let get away, outshooting the visitors 34-24 in regulation and 35-29 overall.
“If anything, we got the point against a very good team. I thought we were the better team tonight. We had out-chanced them throughout the game,” said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon. “I think we’re showing that we can play with them.
“We played a full bench tonight. They were forced to play a short bench because of our pressure on the puck,” he added. “You just have to look at the positives — we’ve struggled against them all year, but I think that’s the first time we can say we were the better team.
“Hopefully, the next time we see them we can take the two points and not just one.”
Nanaimo improves to 18-10-0-1 on the B.C. Hockey League season, while the Grizzlies slip to 11-16-0-4.
Chris Dodero scored at 1:50 of the second extra session in the 3-on-3 format, banging a rebound by Victoria goaltender Matthew Galajda, who is now 7-1-0-2 in his last 10.
Victoria has lost five of the last seven outings (including the OT defeat) as it tries to gain some form of traction. The Clippers, meanwhile, are on a six-game win streak.
The Grizzlies now travel to Powell River on Saturday and Sunday and will then wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of the season with four of the five remaining games at home.
The lone road trip remaining is to Alberni Valley, which sits four points in arrears of the Grizzlies for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Island Division, but with four games in hand on Victoria.
Grizzly killer Sheldon Rempal out-waited Galajda on the opening goal on the power play, going around the netminder and patiently tucking a backhand into the net from behind the red-line at 12:17 of the first. It was his 29th goal of the season, 11th on the power play and seventh in five games against Victoria.
Brayden Gelsinger, Victoria’s leading point-getter, got it back on a power play at 18:29 as he has now scored in four straight games. He also has nine points in his last five outings and 22 points in his last 16 appearances.
Grizzlies’ captain P.J. Conlon had the best chance to end it, point blank with 2:00 to go in the third, but he was stopped by Evan Johnson.
IN THE DEN: Didmon shipped out Luc Soares yesterday in a trade to the Winkler Flyers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for future considerations.
