It鈥檚 an 11-plus hour drive from Wenatchee, Washington, to Prince George, but a lot of Vancouver Island eyes were fixated on the two cities on Friday night.
The Victoria Grizzlies dropped a 2-1 decision to the Wenatchee Wild at the Town Toyota Center south of the border.
But at the same time, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs let a valuable point slip away in a 2-2 double-overtime tie against the P.G. Spruce Kings at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
The combination leaves the Grizzlies one point upon the Bulldogs in the race between the two Island Division teams for the fourth and final playoff spot.
Victoria moves on to face the sa国际传媒 Hockey League-leading Penticton Vees tonight, while Alberni chugs south to Merritt to face the Centennials.
Both teams have just four games remaining in the regular season.
In Wenatchee, Kyle Stephan scored his 21st of the season as the Wild opened up the scoring at 9:10 of the first period.
Grizzlies defenceman Jake Stevens evened it up at 5:08 of the second as his sharp-angled shot managed to somehow get by Wenatchee goaltender Garrett Nieto.
Brendan Harris, on a breakaway, restored the lead for Wenatchee as he beat Matthew Galajda as the Wild forward sneaked in behind the Victoria defence late in the second period.
The game included a long delay in the third period due to shattered glass near the penalty box.
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