Saturday, October 10, 2015 – Submitted by Mario Annicchiarico / Times Colonist
The Victoria Grizzlies still have little to give thanks for — at least hockey wise — after losing their sixth straight B.C. Hockey League outing on Saturday night at The Q Centre.
Virtually one-fifth of the way through the season, they still have just one win to show for their efforts, this time losing 2-1 in double overtime to the equally inept Surrey Eagles, who improved to just 3-7 with the victory.
It was the 10th loss overall (the second in overtime) in 11 games for the Grizzlies.
That turkey might be a little difficult to digest today as Victoria (1-8-0-2) wrapped up a three-games-in-three-nights scenario with just the single point to show for their efforts.
The way their luck is going, that Thanksgiving Day turkey wishbone might just snap and poke one of the Grizzlies in the nose — it’s been that type of strange start. Lack of scoring continues to be the team’s downfall.
It’s the same story for the Eagles. Surrey has scored 23 goals so far this season, but Victoria has tallied just 20 times.
Goaltender Matthew Galajda seemed to have saved Victoria’s bacon in the second extra session, turning away Kodi Schwarz on a penalty shot just 24 seconds in. But Darius Davidson stole the puck off Kevin Massy’s stick and buried it 41 seconds later.
“The last two games, the effort has been there and you can see things working so you have to look at the big picture at this point,” said Grizzlies’ assistant coach Tyler Matheson, keeping it positive. “Tonight was a tough loss, but I love the fact that everyone on the bench cared.
“To me, it’s the little things and I thought most of them were there. It’s tough when you’re trailing entering every third period. It’s tough to get out of the hole.”
This was the eighth time in 11 games that Victoria surrendered the first goal.
The Grizzlies had plenty of chances early, led by Cole Pickup, who failed to bury a breakaway and also shot wide on a late first-period chance. Alex Peck also had a point-blank opportunity short-handed that couldn’t produce a goal.
Surrey then cashed in on a 5-on-3 at 4:54 of the second period as John Wesley broke the goose-egg.
Grizzlies captain P.J. Conlon finally got Victoria on the scoreboard at 5:43 of the third period on a power play. Mitchell Barker and Drayson Pears both had great opportunities in the last nine minutes of regulation, but both were thwarted by Davidson who made 37 saves. Galajda stopped 26 for Victoria.
