Mario Annicchiarico / Times Colonist
Photo Credit: Kyle Robinson Photography
NOVEMBER 10, 2016 10:02 PM
First place in the Island Division is on the line this weekend for the Victoria Grizzlies, who venture to Powell River to face the Kings in a pair of pivotal B.C. Hockey League matchups at Hap Parker Arena.
In fact, three of the next four games will come against the Kings, who are tied in points with the Grizzlies at 31. Victoria does have two games in hand on their Island rival.
“We’re working hard to get ready for it,” said Grizzlies defenceman Brett Stirling. “I think everyone knows what’s at stake here this weekend and we’re hoping we can go in there and take it to them right off the bat.
“The first day is the real big test. It would be nice to get a win on a travel day. The ferry there is tough. We just want to be able to get mentally ready and hopefully walk in and take it to them in that small rink.”
Which is never an easy task, but the Grizzlies head into the weekend matchup on a stretch of 142 minutes and 38 seconds of shutout hockey, coming off 4-0 and 3-0 victories against Alberni Valley and Vernon last weekend.
“[Matthew] Galajda has been pretty amazing these last few games,” Stirling said of the starting netminder, who claimed the back-to-back goose eggs. “He’s been making some huge saves.
“As a defensive corps, we’re playing well and battling and we’ve said to ourselves let’s just keep the puck out of our net and let the forwards start dealing with the offence a bit.
“Sure, we can help out a bit with that and do what we can here and there, but if we don’t get scored on, we’re going to win,” added Stirling. “That’s how we’re viewing things. The older guys are enforcing that and the younger guys are stepping up. We just want to play solid defence. That will get us wins and that’s our goal.”
It’s paid off tremendously for the 13-3-2-3 Grizzlies. The Kings are 15-7-1-0.
“Obviously, not letting a goal in is pretty successful,” veteran forward Cole Pickup said of last weekend’s performance. “Now we have three of four against [Powell River] so that’s three huge games.”
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