Travis Stephens admits the pressure was building.
Acquired at the B.C. Hockey League trade deadline by his hometown Victoria Grizzlies, the 20-year-old forward was goalless in his first seven games with his new club.
He finally struck paydirt with a pair of goals and an assist in last Saturday’s 9-5 win in Port Alberni.
Playing on a line with Jesse Schwartz and Garret Forster provided more than what you can describe as secondary scoring to the Fitzgerald triplets line of Gerry, Leo and Myles, who collected six points.
Schwartz finished with three goals, Stephens garnered his three points and Forster had two helpers for a solid night, considering the trio was just put together with Leo Fitzgerald’s much anticipated return two games ago.
“It felt really good to get on the scoresheet,” said Stephens. “There’s always a transition period, like I said before, where you adjust to new systems and new players. There’s aways a period where you adjust to a new style of play.
“You stick with it. I’ve been around long enough to know that it will come, you just have to have the patience.”
Stephens did and it finally paid off.
“It’s nice to see Stephens, who has been working hard and doing a lot of good things, finally get rewarded for it,” said Grizzlies head coach Craig Didmon, who hopes to get more of that production tonight at 7:15 against Coquitlam and Sunday at 1 p.m. versus Powell River at Bear Mountain Arena.
“It’s like anyting else, you’re struggling to score, you get the one and you get the next one right away.
“I think he wanted to be a positive part of the team right away so he might have been squeezing the stick a little around the net or trying too hard to make plays work and force plays,” Didmon added of Stephens. “It got to a point where he let his instincts take over and play hockey.”
On a line that is well matched.
“We connected right off the hop,” Stephens said of joining Forster and Schwartz, who dropped down from the top line while Leo Fitzgerald was out. “We’re all pretty fast guys so it was like we had chemistry right away.”
Fitzgerald is still pointless in his two games back, but everyone in the BCHL knows what that unit is capable of.
“It will take a bit for Leo to get in sync with his brothers at 100 per cent, but we’re seeing flashes of what it will be like in the playoffs,” said Didmon. “If we can have two lines go out like that and then go with the [Jay] Mackie line, which is hard to play against, and good depth in the all-Victoria line in [Cole] Pickup, [Shawn] McBride and [Dante] Hahn, I think we have a good four units.”
IN THE DEN: Starting tonight, and throughout Febuary home games, the Grizzlies will wear a newly designed pink jersey in support of breast cancer awareness. … On Sunday, Hannah Day and family are slated to be at the game along with One Match Blood Services for swab testing for potential bone marrow donations. Testing will start at 12:30 p.m. and will run until 30 minutes post-game. … Disney actor Calum Worthy will also be in attendance Sunday in support of the team’s “Happy Day” initiative (supporting Hannah’s battle with cancer) and both he and Hannah will be involved in dropping the puck in the ceremonial opening faceoff.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
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