Colwood, BC ~ The Victoria Grizzlies host the Sherwood Park Crusaders tonight at 6:00 pm at the Q Centre in Colwood for a historic first-ever regular-season meeting between the Grizzlies and an Alberta-based opponent.
Victoria hopes there will be no celebration hangover from last night. They are fresh off a 6-5 emotional overtime rollercoaster ride victory against the Cranbrook Bucks, which improved them to 6-4-0 on the season. Victoria is now 3-1-0 in their last four games and continues to find unstoppable offence, averaging 4.20 goals per game through ten games and 4.75 over the last four. There is certainly room to improve, especially defensively, but their ability to find the back of the goal is certainly a welcome sign.
The Cru roll into town with a 6-2-1 record (4th in the Interior Conference) but have lost three of their last four (1-2-1). The Crusaders boast a basically completely new roster after losing high-end prospects like Jeremy Loranger (2024-25 BCHL MVP & 7th round pick to Columbus) to the NCAA and Kale Dach (7th round to Pittsburgh) to the WHL. They seemed to have found some more than capable replacements, with Joseph Sinclair leading the league in scoring with six goals and 16 points through his first nine games. Stevie Grumley is making an early-season push for BCHL defenseman of the year with his six goals and 12 points through the first nine games.
Look out for Victoria’s line of Max Silver, Cooper Faughnan and Levi Eiter, who were all splendid once again last night. Those three connected for two goals last night and had a combined six points between them.
Although this is the first-ever meeting between Victoria and an Alberta opponent in regular-season action since the 2024 merger of five AJHL teams into the BCHL, it is not the first meeting in all play between Victoria and their provincial neighbours’ representative. When the Victoria Salsa (the Grizzlies’ predecessor) of 2000-01 won the BCHL championship, they faced off with the Camrose Kodiaks of the AJHL in the best-of-seven “Doyle Cup” to determine the Pacific Region’s representative in the National Championship. The Kodiaks won the series 4-2 and ended the Salsa’s season then and there.
Puck drop this evening goes at 6:00 pm with tickets available by CLICKING HERE. Local youth are free of charge when accompanied by an adult, as always, thanks to Maxxam Insurance.
2025-26 Team Ranks
| Victoria Grizzlies | Sherwood Park Crusaders | |
| Record | 6-4-0 (10th) | 6-2-1 (T-4th) |
| Goals Per Game | 4.20 (4th) | 4.89 (1st) |
| Goal Against Per Game | 3.40 (10th) | 3.67 (14th) |
| Power Play Percentage | 27.0% (4th) | 23.7% (8th) |
| Penalty Kill Percentage | 85.4% (6th) | 82.6% (9th) |
| Penalty Minutes Per Game | 14.00 (7th) | 21.00 (1st) |
| Home Record | 2-3-0 (T-12th) | 3-0-0 (1st) |
| Away Record | 4-1-0 (6th) | 3-2-1 (T-12th) |
| Head To Head (Last Year) | NA | NA |
