Goalie Liam Souliere stars for Victoria Grizzlies

Brian Drewry / Times Colonist
FEBRUARY 11, 2020 10:06 PM

VICTORIA 4
LANGLEY 3

The beat goes on for Liam Souliere and the Victoria Grizzlies.

The 20-year-old netminder made 51 saves Tuesday night at The Q Centre to post his seventh straight win in a 4-3 Grizzlies victory over the Langley Rivermen.

The Grizzlies survived a late push-back thanks to a power-play goal from Alex DiPaolo with 55 seconds left in regulation to escape with the victory.

Souliere, who is headed to Penn State of the NCAA next fall, improved his record to 8-4 since returning in early January after missing the first half of the season due to a leg injury suffered in preseason.

Victoria (23-30-1) is now 7-1-1 in its last nine games and has put a stranglehold on the B.C. Hockey League’s top wild-card seed which would see them open the playoffs against the third seed from the Interior Division, which is currently the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (27-20-5).

After beating the Rivermen (21-28-4) 7-2 on Sunday afternoon in Langley, the Grizzlies picked up right where they left off with Chase McInnis scoring just 30 seconds into the game Tuesday, much to the delight of the 858 fans at The Q. Vincent Nardone added another at the nine-minute mark as the Grizzlies went to the break up 2-0.

But when Trevor Bishop finished off a two-on-one with Bryce Anderson to put the Grizzlies up 3-0 7:30 into the second, the Rivermen started to tilt the ice and the BCHL leaders in penalty minutes took over the game with their physical play.

Souliere faced an onslaught of shots and the Rivermen poured in three goals in the final seven minutes, including the tying goal from Matthew Hubbards with 1:09 to play and netminder Jonathan Mor pulled for the extra attacker.

The Grizzlies now get ready for their final four games of the regular season, beginning Saturday night in Duncan against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.

Then it’s three straight with the Powell River Kings starting Sunday afternoon at The Q Centre and finishing Feb. 21 and 22 in Powell River.

bdrewry@timescolonist.com

© 2020 Copyright Times Colonis