Chilliwack, BC ~ The Victoria Grizzlies begin their third round matchup with the Chilliwack Chiefs tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the Chilliwack Coliseum hoping to build off of their emotional series win over the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
Victoria faces Chilliwack in the conference final for the second time in the two teams history. Victoria fell in seven games to the Chiefs in the 2016-17 season in this very same arena where they will be doing battle tonight, but if you know anything about junior hockey it is that the history plays almost no factor.
The Grizzlies have defeated the Coquitlam Express and Cowichan Valley Capitals en route to their first third round berth since 2019. Both of those series victories came in six games. Most recently their series win over the Caps saw them go up 3-0 in the series before allow the Cowichan squad to make a series out of it at 3-2. It took a game winner from Chase Pirtle with 7.8 seconds remaining on the clock in game six to close out the pesky team from up Island.
Chilliwack themselves have had an interesting run to this point to in the Conference Final. They made quick work of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in the second round 4-1 but it was their first round with Prince George that really gave them trouble. Prince George (the eighth seed) pushed the first seed Chiefs to seven games. Game seven was quite decisive for the Chiefs but it was certainly a nail bitter for quite some time.
The Grizzlies will have their hands full against a four line deep team with plenty of size and grit on both sides of the puck. They will need continuous big performances from their top talent in order to find success. Tom Molson leads the BCHL in goals during the playoffs with nine while Reegan Hiscock is tops for point outpoint with 15. They have four players with a point per game including the aforementioned Hiscock and Molson. The other two are Will Schumacher and Chase Pirtle. Tobias Pitka is not far behind either.
Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. tonight and you can listen live for free with Tom Wilke by CLICKING HERE.
2024-25 Team Ranks (Post Season)
| Victoria | Cowichan | |
| Goals For Per Game | 4.00 (3rd) | 3.50 (5th) |
| Goals Against Per Game | 3.08 (6th) | 2.00 (2nd) |
| Power Play Percentage | 30.4% (3rd) | 21.1% (8th) |
| Penalty Kill Percentage | 75.0% (11th) | 87.2% (2nd) |
| Penalty Minutes Per Game | 8.83 (7th) | 13.08 (13th) |
| Home Record | 5-1 (4th) | 6-1 (3rd) |
| Away Record | 3-3 (T-3rd) | 2-3 (T-6th) |
| Playoff Record Last Five Post Seasons | 15-21 (.417) | 27-26 (.509) |
