Quinn Syrydiuk collected the game-winner, short-handed, just over the midway mark of the third, and added an empty-netter in yet another low-scoring affair as the Grizzlies continue to search for goals from different sources.
There are still 10 Grizzlies without a goal and six without a point.
This night was all about turnovers, though.
It was the third loss of the season to the Bulldogs, who improve to 3-6, all victories against Victoria, which falls to 1-7-0-1 and dead last in the sa国际传媒 Hockey League, having played one more game than the Prince George Spruce Kings (1-6-0-1). Prince George is the only team the Grizzlies have beaten and that came in overtime at the BCHL Showcase.
鈥淚t鈥檚 effort, it鈥檚 60 minutes of effort,鈥� said a frustrated general manager and head coach Craig Didmon. 鈥淚t鈥檚 being ready to play. It鈥檚 playing the game plan. It鈥檚 not cheating on plays.
鈥淭o give up the breakaways we give up in the third period, now we鈥檙e cheating. We鈥檙e not worrying about the salvation of the team, we鈥檙e worried about the salvation of self and that creeps in.
鈥淚 know our back end is injured,鈥� he added, referring to the absence of injured defencemen Brett Stirling, Jake Stevens and Drayson Pears. 鈥淚t鈥檚 details, effort and battles. We can鈥檛 continue to be OK with being in one-goal games and being on the wrong side. We came out flat in the first and flat in the third and it costs us the game. That鈥檚 the bottom line.鈥�
Victoria ventures to Duncan tonight to face the Cowichan Valley Capitals before returning for another home game on Saturday against the 2-6 Surrey Eagles.
The bright spot was the Grizzlies tallied twice on the power play as Corey Iapalucci and J.D. Falconer scored in the second and third. They did surrender their fourth short-handed goal.
The teams traded man-advantage goals on the first two, with Victoria product Josh Adkins burying a nifty pass from Jordan Sandhu just 3:58 into the game. Iapalucci got it back at 3:28 of the second as he took a super feed from P.J. Conlon.
Adkins made it 2-1 early in the third on a Cole Pickup giveaway before Syrydiuk collected the short-handed goal at 11:11, just 45 seconds before Falconer scored his first.
Victoria鈥檚 special teams unit finished 2-for-6, while Alberni was 1-for-4.
Grizzlies goalie Matthew Galajda made 23 saves as he continues to look for his first win, while Carson Schamerhorn stopped 21 shots for the Bulldogs.
