Above Photo: Kyle Robinson Photography
Victoria, BC ~ The Victoria Grizzlies (26-16-7) play host to the conference leading Chilliwack Chiefs (32-12-5) tonight from the Q Centre at 7:00 PM with the hopes of righting the ship.
Victoria is on the heels of a tough road trip that saw them lose on Wednesday in Cranbrook, Friday in Surrey and finally Saturday in Langley. They have lost four in a row and five of their last six meaning that tonight’s importance (with both the standings and confidence in mind) cannot be overstated.
They will see the Chiefs in town who Victoria got the best of on November 29th at the Q Centre 5-2 even though the Chiefs have had the last laugh in the season series (1-1) with a 8-4 victory at the Chilliwack Coliseum on December 27th. These two squads have played each other very tough over the past couple of years with Victoria holding a 6-2-2 record against the Chiefs over the past three seasons.
Tonight’s matchup with the Chiefs will be a good telling point for Victoria, as to if they can bounce back and create some momentum heading towards the 2025 Fred Page Cup Playoffs. If the playoffs were to start today, Victoria would host Coquitlam in a four vs five in the conference series. Looking at the Coastal Conference however, it is hard to say who will end up where. Surrey sit in second with 62 points and 50 games played while Cowichan Valley, Victoria and Coquitlam all have 59 points. Coquitlam has played 50 games while the Grizzlies and Capitals both have played 49. Scarily enough, Nanaimo has had such a good second half of the season (16-6-1) that they now trail by just three points (56) and could definitely finish even higher than sixth.
Victoria, however, is just focused on themselves and trying to play their best hockey heading into the postseason. Something to look for from them is their offense which mustered just seven goals this past week during their three game road trip. Some of that may be to do with their health as they have been without first line center Tobias Pitka and dangerous scorer Will Schumacher for the past week. Schumacher did appear in the Surrey game in a limited capacity (picking up an assist) but was out of the lineup against Langley. Not to mention last week they were without offensive rookie defenseman Dan D’Alessandro who is out of the lineup with a concussion sustained against Nanaimo a week and a half ago. Here’s to hoping the Grizzlies can get fully healthy for the postseason.
Tonight’s game is presented by the Westshore Chamber of Commerce and puck drop goes at 7:00 PM for a Tuesday Night Thriller from the Q Centre! Tickets are available for purchase by CLICKING HERE.
NEED TO KNOW STATS
- Victoria is 1-4-0 in their last five and 4-5-1 in their last ten
- Chilliwack is 2-3-0 in their last five and 6-4-0 in their last ten
- Alex Hebblethwaite has three goals in his first four games back from injury
- Chase Pirtle has 11 points in his last 10 games (1-10-11)
- Reegan Hiscock has scored in three straight games and has 12 points in his last 10 games (7-5-12)
- Hiscock leads the Grizzlies with 29 points in the second half of the season (22 games) (16-13-29)
- Seamus Latta is on a five game point streak (3-4-7). He also has 10 points in his last 10 games (3-7-10)
- Tobias Pitka has 10 points in his last 10 games (3-7-10)
- Victoria’s power play has sputtered in the month of March where it is 3/20 (15%) with all three goals coming from the second unit.
- Victoria is 15-3-3 when leading after the first period
- Chilliwack is 19-3-1 when scoring first
- The Chiefs lead the Coastal Conference with an average of 4.53 goals per game
- Chilliwack is 16-0-1 when leading after one and 23-0-1 when leading after two
2024-25 Team Ranks
| Victoria | Chilliwack | |
| Goals For Per Game | 3.80 (8th) | 3.53 (2nd) |
| Goals Against Per Game | 3.47 (10th) | 3.00 (5th) |
| Power Play Percentage | 25.3% (3rd) | 25.6% (3rd) |
| Penalty Kill Percentage | 84.7% (2nd) | 78.7% (10th) |
| Penalty Minutes Per Game | 10.65 (6th) |
12.96 (16th) |
