Colwood, BC ~ The Victoria Grizzlies are out for justice tonight against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs at the Q Centre in Colwood, with puck drop at 7:00 p.m.
It will certainly not be far from the minds of the Grizzlies tonight that Alberni rolled into Victoria on October 3rd for the Grizzlies’ home opener and steamrolled the home side 4-0. That extra motivation could be something that lights a bit of an extra spark over an already fierce historic rivalry. Add newcomer Artur Gross into the mix for Victoria, and tonight has all of a sudden become a highly anticipated late October contest.
Since that weekend that saw Victoria lose their first two home games, the Grizzlies have won four of their five contests, outscoring their opponents 24-16. It is no secret that their offence is coming from everywhere, with 14 players on their roster registering at least five points. The Bulldogs, for comparison’s sake, have four. They do, however, have a trump card in the form of Jacob Terpstra, who leads all BCHL players with 18 points in his first 10 games. Victoria’s Sam Rousseau is not far behind with 17 of his own.
The Grizzlies will almost certainly look to the latest squad addition, Artur Gross, with the Kazakhstan international making his debut in North America. Victoria announced the signing of the Kazak 2025 World Junior Championships star in mid-August, but Grizzlies fans have had to wait until now to see him make his debut in the Black, Gold and White. Gross spent his time 2024-25 season split between Snezhnye Barsy Astana of the MHL (Russian U20) and Barys Astana of the KHL. He appeared in the high-profile U20 World Junior Championships in Ottawa for team Kazakhstan and scored three goals while adding an assist for four points.
Viewers should also be aware of Max Silver and Cooper Faughnan, who were both named honourable mentions in the BCHL three stars of the week nominations. Silver and Faughnan had six points in three games this past week, with Cooper netting three goals and Silver snagging two. Their line with Levi Eiter has been unstoppable over the past two weeks, with Faughnan leading the charge with three goals and seven points in his last four, Silver holding seven points in his last five, and Eiter keeping pace with three goals and four points in his last four.
If the Grizzlies are to be successful this evening, one would think a major consideration of their will have to be before the aforementioned red-hot Jacob Terpstra. The Alaska Anchorage commit has nine goals and 18 points through his first 10 games and that includes an eight game point streak to begin the season. Apart from Terpstra and Kai Matthews (5-8-13), the Bulldogs (4-5-1, 7th in the Coastal Conference) have struggled to generate offense at 15th in the league with 3.00 being averaged per contest. They have however been air tight defensively, allowing just 3.00 against per game. Their man advantage is going through a lull that they will attempt to snap out of. Their power play is rolling at just 3.6% which is good enough for dead last in the league.
On the other hand, Victoria (7-4-0, 3rd in the Coastal Conference) will try to continue their strong play as of late thanks to high octane offense and splendid goalkeeping from Paolo Frasca. Victoria is averaging 4.8 goals per game over the last five while Frasca is 3-0-0 in his four appearances over those five Grizzlies games with a 1.49 GAA and .968 SV%. Sam Rousseau is riding a six game points streak with four goals and 11 points in that span to make him the hottest player in the league at this moment.
Puck drop goes at 7:00 pm this evening in Victoria with tickets being available for purchase BY CLICKING HERE. Kids are free of charge as always when accompanied by an adult thanks to Maxxam Insurance while adult tickets start at just $10.00 in the Viking Value Section “Fleet Seats”.
2025-26 Team Ranks
| Victoria Grizzlies | Alberni Valley Bulldogs | |
| Record | 7-4-0 (8th) | 4-5-1 (T-14th) |
| Goals Per Game | 4.27 (4th) | 3.00 (15th) |
| Goal Against Per Game | 3.40 (10th) | 3.00 (6th) |
| Power Play Percentage | 26.8% (4th) | 3.6% (20th) |
| Penalty Kill Percentage | 84.8% (6th) | 80.4% (10th) |
| Penalty Minutes Per Game | 14.00 (7th) | 13.00 (T-8th) |
| Home Record | 3-3-0 (T-8th) | 2-4-0 (16th) |
| Away Record | 4-1-0 (T-5th) | 2-1-1 (8th) |
| Head To Head | 0-1-0 | 1-0-0 |
