Tuesday, November 10, 2015- Submitted by Mario Annicchiarico / Times Colonist
VICTORIA 7
PRINCE GEORGE 3
The good times are obviously rolling for the Victoria Grizzlies, who claimed their fourth straight B.C. Hockey League victory on Sunday in a rare scoring spree at The Q Centre.
Defenceman Jake Stevens tallied twice and added two assists and Dante Hahn added two goals and a helper in a 7-3 victory over the struggling Prince George Spruce Kings, who were swept on their three-game road trip over the weekend.
Victoria improves to 7-12-0-2, while Prince George is just 5-14-0-2. Two of the Grizzlies’ wins have now come against the Spruce Kings.
The locals will attempt to keep on that roll, this time on the road where Victoria is just 1-9 this season, claiming the lone win, 2-0 in Vernon on Oct. 24. The Grizzlies will play in Powell River tonight at 7 against the Kings.
“We’re excited,” said Grizzzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon, whose team has seven games in 11 days with the next five all on the road. “We’re hoping we can get out there and improve on that road record.
“Powell River is going to be ready for us and it’s a travel day so it will be a tough victory. It’s nice to get the four points [from this past weekend] and move in with some momentum.”
What he also received was the team’s largest production of the season, with seven goals in Sunday’s win, which is a lot for a team that is averaging just 2.52 a game.
“I don’t know where they all came from. We threw a lot of pucks at the net. Somehow the hockey gods are starting to look after us here and we had some puck luck. It was almost shocking to have so much luck around the net,” Didmon said with a chuckle.
“These guys know. We evaluate ourselves and we know we can even be better than that. We have confidence and we’re looking forward to the challenges ahead. We’ve got a good streak going now and we want to keep it going.”
What he also has is a pair of streaking rookies in Tyler Welsh and Keyvan Mokhtari, who have found their scoring touch. Both had a goal and an assist on Sunday. Captain P.J Conlon also recorded his second-straight game-winner and backup goalie Mitchel Benson recorded his second win. Top point-getter Brayden Gelsinger also added three assists.
Welsh now has all 13 of his points in his last 12 games, while Mokhtari has all 11 of his points in his last 12 games. Linemate Nick Guiney has 11 points and is currently on a four-game point streak, along with Welsh and Mokhtari.
“It’s a lot nicer than losing, that’s for sure,” Welsh said of the win streak. “We needed this because we were a little down in the standings, but we’re starting to climb. All the guys are starting to gel.”
In particular, his line.
“It’s just part of the team’s success, everyone seems to be clicking and we’re all just rolling,” Welsh said, shunning the spotlight and throwing some on Mokhtari. “He’s so fast, it’s nice to have someone with that speed on your line. You can chip pucks through and have him skate on to them.
“Hopefully, now we can continue this run,” added Welsh, who is 18.
IN THE DEN: After tonight’s game, Victoria heads to Coquitlam, Merritt and Trail for the weekend and follows that up with three games in three nights at Nanaimo and home to Trail and Cowichan Valley from Nov. 18-20.
