The Victoria Grizzlies were snake-bitten Friday night, allowing three power-play goals in the second period as the visiting Vernon Vipers slithered off with a 6-2 win in B.C. Hockey League play at The Q Centre.
Colton McCarthy, Liam Coughlin and Anthony Latina all scored on man-advantage situations in the middle period to break open a 2-2 tie.
The Vipers came into the game having been shut out in three straight outings, but the Interior Division team more than made up for it on Friday as the high-flying club gave the Grizzlies’ defence trouble with their speed.
Grizzlies’ goaltender Mike Stiliadis also struggled, turning over the puck on the McCarthy goal.
It was the third game in four nights for the Grizzlies who were without Thomas Gobeil, who is out due to what the club is calling a nagging lower-body injury. It’s not known if he’ll be back on Sunday afternoon as another strong club, the Langley Rivermen, come in for a 2 p.m. matinée.
“We didn’t bring our work boots today and it showed,” said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon. “When you get into the trenches on a [penalty] kill, that’s what happens when you’re not 100 per cent prepared to play.
“This is a team with 31 wins now, they’re a good hockey club and we seemed to think we didn’t have to put in our best effort to have success tonight. I guess we were wrong.”
It was also the return of former Grizzlies’ defencemen Mitch Meek and Brandon Egli, who were traded to Vernon. Egli ripped home his second goal of the season for the Vipers at 1:37 of the second to tie it at 2-2 just 38 seconds after Brett Gruber had provided the hosts with their first lead of the night.
Riley Brandt had opened the scoring for Vernon at 8:52 of the first period before Kevin Massy tied it up with just 7.2 seconds remaining in the first stanza. Johnny Coughlin added a late Vernon goal.
A win would have clinched a playoff spot for the Grizzlies, who instead fall to 22-17-1-10. To make matters worse, the fourth-place Alberni Valley Bulldogs defeated the Nanaimo Clippers to move to within four points of Victoria with two games in hand in the Island Division. Second-placed Powell River also won.
Jarred Schamerhorn made 22 saves for the Vipers, who improve to 31-15-1-2, third overall in the BCHL.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
