They managed to help themselves, in a big way, with an impressive 7-0 victory over the Prince George Spruce Kings on Friday night before 1,107 fans at Bear Mountain Arena. The victory increased their grip on the division to five points.
The win leaves the Grizzlies with 42 points thanks to a healthy 20-8-0-2 log, beyond pre-season expectations from throughout the league.
A change in ownership and a late start on recruiting has not affected Victoria, which sits five points ahead of the 16-11-1-4 Alberni Valley Bulldogs, who will entertain the Grizzlies tonight at 7 at Weyerhaeuser Arena.
The Bulldogs 鈥� who have played two more games than Victoria 鈥� will then break for the holidays, while the Grizzlies return home on Sunday at 6 p.m. to wrap up another challenging weekend of three games in three days against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
鈥淭his team has a lot of pride,鈥� said Grizzlies associate coach and assistant general manager Craig Didmon.
鈥淭hey want to win every game and they want to do the little things in order to do it.鈥�
Victoria opened up a 2-0 lead after the first period and added two more in the second.
鈥淚 know it was 7-0, but it really wasn鈥檛 our best game tonight,鈥� said Didmon. 鈥淚 thought we had a lot of puck luck tonight, it was bouncing where we wanted it to. I don鈥檛 know if it was a 7-0 game chance-wise, but boy was it nice to see the guys put the puck in the net.鈥�
Gerry Fitzgerald had three goals, while David Mazurek added a pair for the Grizzlies, who have now won three straight. Mark McLellan and Stefan Nicholishen had the others and Mike Stiliadis earned his first shutout of the season, stopping all 23 shots he faced.
鈥淗e deserved it, too, you know,鈥� Didmon said of his 18-year-old netminder. 鈥淚 thought he played really well. He stood up and definitely earned it. He was in the newspaper today, which you don鈥檛 always want to see on a game-day, but he answered the bell, again.鈥�
Myles Fitzgerald, Chase Kaiser and captain Zach Urban all had a pair of assists for Victoria.
The Grizzlies are now only one win back of their entire total (21) from last season and sit three points in arrears to the No. 1 overall BCHL team, the Penticton Vees. Victoria is tied with Chilliwack for second overall.
