Roughly an hour after he potted the overtime winner late Wednesday night, clinching a 3-2 series victory over Powell River, Victoria Grizzlies captain Zach Urban fired out a few Twitter messages over his @Urbanator_27 account.
“I just blacked out #WhereAmI,” he tweeted in jest after scooping up an attempted clear-out, skating in, toe-dragging the puck to his backhand around a sliding defenceman, pulling it back to his forehand and beating goalie Jonah Imoo between the legs for one of the slickest goals you’ll see.
Grizzlies fans are hoping the team captain comes to from the blackout in time for the next series that begins tonight at 7:15 at Bear Mountain Arena as Victoria meets the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in the first game of the best-of-five Island Division final.
Game 2, originally set for Sunday at home, switches to Alberni on Saturday, moving away from the 2-2-1 usual format to alternating home and away games throughout.
“I was thinking shot right away, but their defenceman covered a large bit of ground,” Urban said of his series winner. “I just wanted to get it around him and take it to the net. I wasn’t trying to go five-hole. I just got lucky there.”
The building erupted in pandemonium with the Grizzlies converging in the corner, much to the delight of the fans.
“Man, that was exciting,” said Urban. “Brady [goalie Brady Rouleau] made some great saves and kept us in it early in that overtime. He deserved just as much credit, if not more, than I did.”
Rouleau made 29 saves in the 3-2 win, including six in the overtime session. He also allowed just three goals in the last two games as the Grizzlies bounced back from a 2-1 series’ deficit.
“It’s definitely exciting and we’re definitely glad our season is carrying on,” said Urban. “It was a great series and there’s not much more you can say, going five games against a team like that, that worked its heart out.”
As did the Grizz, who many counted for dead, down 2-1 with Game 4 in Powell River.
“We had a great game [a 5-1 win Tuesday] in Powell River and we did it again in our building,” said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Bill Bestwick.
“We did what we needed to do to win,” added Bestwick, referring to staving off elimination twice. “That’s what it’s about in playoff time.
“Our goaltending stood on its head, especially in overtime in Game 5, and gave us a chance to win. That was probably the best 15 minutes Brady’s played all season.”
And they’ll require more of the same against Alberni Valley, which fought back from a 2-0 series deficit to take three straight from Nanaimo, including the clincher in the Harbour City on Wednesday.
“The series turns around real quick against Alberni,” said Urban. “That’s going to be an awesome series, too.
They’ve got a lot of skilled forwards who can score on the power play, so we’re going to have to be more disciplined. We’ll be working on that for sure, and our special teams in practice.”
Not much separated these two teams in the regular season. Victoria did win six of nine matchups, but the teams went to overtime six times. The Grizzlies won four of those extra sessions, but out-scored the Bulldogs by a slight 32-29 margin over the nine games in taking the series 6-1-0-2. Three wins were at home and another came at Prospera Centre in Chilliwack to start the season in the BCHL Showcase.
“Alberni is a very good hockey team,” Bestwick said. “We went to overtime six times and another two times were one-shot games. They are two evenly matched teams. We have home-ice advantage and, hopefully, we take full opportunity to use that to our favour.”
Both teams will be exhausted having played five games in six nights, but Victoria did more travelling, including a nine-hour day in Wednesday’s Game 5. Games 3-5 against the Bulldogs will go Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday — the last two if necessary.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
SCHEDULE
GAME 1
Today, 7:15 p.m. at Victoria
GAME 2
Saturday, 7 p.m. at Alberni Valley
GAME 3
Monday, 7:15 p.m. at Victoria
*GAME 4
Tuesday, 7 p.m. at Alberni Valley
*GAME 5
Wednesday, 7:15 p.m. at Victoria
• If necessary
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