Matthew Galajda was the first Victoria Grizzlies player to earn an NCAA scholarship this season, committing to Cornell University in September.
Now, the 19-year-old goaltender wants to check off another item on his to-do list 鈥� a sa国际传媒 Hockey League championship. And Friday night at The Q Centre, he served notice he鈥檚 ready to lead the Grizzlies to the promised land, making 20 saves en route to his second shutout of the season and a 4-0 victory over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
It wasn鈥檛 Galajda鈥檚 busiest game of the season, but several point-blank saves early kept the Bulldogs at bay while his teammates finally solved Bulldogs veteran netminder Brody Claeys.
鈥淭here was some real tough ones I had to come up with, but other than that, the team was great in front of me and that made life fairly easy for me,鈥� said Galajda, whose 2.43 goals-against average going into Friday鈥檚 game was second in the league, behind only Penticton鈥檚 Matthew Robson鈥檚 1.88.
As he has all season, veteran Cole Pickup got the Grizzlies offence started, banging home a goal from in close with just under two minutes to play in the first period. It was Pickup鈥檚 team-leading 11th goal of the season. Claeys kept it close until midway through the second when Jake Stevens鈥� point shot was stopped but T.J. Friedmann was there to bang home the rebound.
It was Friedmann鈥檚 second goal in three games since joining the Grizzlies from the USHL. Justin Michaelian and Tyler Welsh added empty-net goals in the final minute to put the game on ice and improve the Grizzlies鈥� record to 12-3-2-3. Victoria trails the Powell River Kings by a single point in the race for the Island Division title, but the Grizzlies have two games in hand.
The Bulldogs remain winless in 11 games and saw their record drop to 4-12-3-0.
鈥淲e knew they would be desperate, but their goalie was solid so it was a close game,鈥� said Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon. 鈥淏ut what helped us was [that] our goalie was outstanding. He looked sharp early and carried that through the entire game, and that gave us some confidence going into the third.鈥�
Galajda picked up his ninth win of the season and has plenty of other goals in mind, including a possible invitation to next month鈥檚 selection camp for Team sa国际传媒 West for the World Junior A Challenge, which is slated for mid-December in Bonnyville, Alta.
Playing in the Junior A Challenge 鈥渨ould be awesome, but we鈥檙e focused on challenging for the league championship and I think we have the guys to do it, so I鈥檓 really excited for the rest of the season,鈥� he said.
Claeys faced 32 Grizzlies shots.
Victoria was one-for-4 on the power play, while Alberni was 0-for-4.
The Grizzlies are at home again tonight as they play host to the Vernon Vipers. The Vipers fell 5-2 to the Cowichan Valley Capitals in Duncan on Friday, dropping their record to 9-8-2-0.
LOOSE PUCKS: Elsewhere on Friday, the Chilliwack Chiefs downed the Nanaimo Clippers 6-1 at Frank Crane. . . . After tonight鈥檚 game against the Vipers, the Grizzlies head to Powell River next weekend for games Friday and Saturday against the Kings.
