But that鈥檚, essentially, what the Victoria Grizzlies and Powell River Kings are in the midst of as they get set to tangle in the second of four straight meetings tonight between the two sa国际传媒 Hockey League clubs.
The Island Division foes are in Powell River for this weekend鈥檚 back-to-back t锚te-à-t锚te before returning to Victoria on Tuesday for the fourth-and-final clash.
The Grizzlies won the first matchup last Saturday, settling on a 6-2 victory after taking a 6-0 advantage into the final period.
鈥淚 saw that on the calendar. I saw the four in a row 鈥� it鈥檚 almost like a playoff battle and I assume we might see them in the playoffs down the road,鈥� said Grizzlies forward David Mazurek, who had two goals and two helpers in Saturday鈥檚 victory.
It was a game that turned nasty in the late going as liberties were taken. Two fights occurred, six seconds apart, in the last 10 minutes, soon followed by three unsportsmanlike penalties.
鈥淓specially with those two scraps late in the game, it will just agitate more in the next few days, I assume,鈥� said Mazurek. 鈥淎ll in all, though, we got three of the four points on the weekend and we felt we owed our fans a better effort after [Friday鈥檚 overtime loss to Merritt.]
鈥淲e just look at this week-to-week, game-to-game and we don鈥檛 usually fall a couple of games in a row.鈥�
No, they don鈥檛. Victoria has only lost two straight three times this season in building a 29-9-0-5 record, tied for first place overall with Penticton with a game on hand on the Vees.
In fact, in January 鈥� after dropping a 6-4 decision to Nanaimo after the Christmas break on Dec. 29 鈥� the Grizzlies earned points in all 10 games played, losing three in overtime.
Led by Myles Fitzgerald (who is on a 16-game point scoring streak in which he has 28 points), Victoria is rolling. Fitzgerald is now fourth in overall scoring with 22 goals and 56 points.
And, of late, the Grizzlies have done it without Turner Lawson, Keyler Bruce and Kade Pilton, who are all reaching the end of their lengthy suspensions.
LOOSE PUCKS: Capitals majority owner Stew Gordon recently confirmed the sale of the Cowichan club to an out-of-town purchaser, said to be from Saskatchewan. The team will remain in Duncan, but Jim Ingram has stepped down as head coach and general manager. He is replaced behind the bench by assistant Aaron Plumb of Shawnigan Lake, a former Capitals forward who also played for the Victoria Salmon Kings in the ECHL.
