Above Photo: Seamus Latta in action on Friday night. He would score the game tying goal. (Photo: Kyle Robinson)
Victoria, BC ~ The Victoria Grizzlies fought back to come from behind and knock off the West Kelowna Warriors 3-2 in overtime on Friday night from the Q Centre.
After a fairly uneventful first period the Warriors opened the scoring the first five minutes of the second period after a two on one chance was sent home by Ian Alonso for his first of the season. The Warriors were done there as they took a 2-0 lead less than five minutes later. Elias Callgren got behind the defense and made a deke to the backhand for a nice finish to put his West Kelowna side up by two after two.
Victoria came out on a mission in the third frame and were able to pull within one just past the halfway mark of the period. Alex Hebblethwaite fired home a cross body one timer on the powerplay after a nice feed from Oscar Pantzare to make that happen. Three and a half minutes later Seamus Latta scored about as nice of a goal as you will ever see. He took a pass on the right wing and drove to the front of the net pushing a defenseman out of the way to finish in the far corner of the goal for his second of the season and a game tying goal.
We would again need overtime from the Q Centre and after the Grizzlies failed to score on a powerplay, Chase Pirtle banked a puck home on an attempted centering pass. That goal marked Victoria’s 5th OT win this year and Pirtle’s second extra time game ender.
A little extra sweet for the Grizzlies was the fact that Friday night for the first evening of a two night parents weekend celebration. An overtime win for the parents ain’t half bad.
Victoria takes back to the ice tomorrow night for a meeting with the Coquitlam Express on Canadian Armed Forces night in Victoria. Puck drop goes at 6:00 PM.
