Outside of home and away matchups against the Penticton Vees next month, tonight and Sunday afternoon鈥檚 dates against the Kings at The Q Centre (and one more trip to Powell River) will be Victoria鈥檚 most intriguing tests in their final 16 games.
After Friday night鈥檚 8-0 win in Nanaimo, the 26-16-1-0 Kings are eight points back of the 27-8-3-4 Grizzlies in the sa国际传媒 Hockey League鈥檚 Island Division.
鈥淚t鈥檚 huge,鈥� Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon said of this matchup. 鈥淧owell River picked up a couple of defencemen and they鈥檙e coming on. We just have to keep coming on ourselves.
鈥淲e know how we need to play and execute. It鈥檚 going to be a battle. This could be the toughest experience of the year for our guys and it鈥檚 extremely important. They are a valuable four points,鈥� added Didmon.
With 164 goals for, the Kings were the second-highest scoring team in the BCHL heading into Friday play. They have surrendered 134 against, 36 more than the Grizzlies have allowed, hence the moves to shore up the blue line.
Kent Lewis picked up the rights to Edmonton Oilers prospect Matthew Cairns from Georgetown in the OJHL. Cairns, who was selected 84th overall in the 2016 NHL draft by Edmonton, is committed to Cornell University.
The Kings also benefitted from the return of defenceman Carmine Buono after he played at UMass Amherst since 2015-16.
Grizzlies鈥� leading scorer Cole Pickup, who has 10 goals in his last 10 games and 22 points in his last 15 outings, is looking forward to the challenge the Kings bring.
鈥淭he guys are excited for this one,鈥� he said after Thursday鈥檚 4-1 victory over Nanaimo. 鈥淭he guys were excited about the Nanaimo game, but I think a lot of them had their minds on this Powell River series.鈥�
As for his success (he鈥檚 had four goals in his last two games 鈥� including a hat-trick in Surrey on Sunday 鈥� and seven goals in his last five), Pickup credits it to the play of his linemates and the team as a whole.
鈥淢yself, [Nick] Guiney and [Tyler] Welsh have had some chemistry here and it helps a lot when we have team success,鈥� he said.
鈥淢y linemates have been great. They鈥檙e finding me in open areas and I鈥檝e been throwing pucks at the nets and they鈥檙e finding their way through. The defence have been pushing up the pucks to the forward unites and all the way through our lineup right now, guys are getting their confidence going,鈥� he added.
鈥淩ookies have had 40 games under their belts now and they鈥檙e showing a bit more maturity,鈥� he said of the team, which is still struggling to find its health over a tough little stretch here.
Six regulars were out of the lineup Thursday and affiliates Jordan Guiney, Eamon Duffy, Zach Benson and Jordan Spandli had to fill in.
鈥淲e faced adversity this week. We were nervous,鈥� admitted Didmon of Thursday鈥檚 outing. 鈥淲e were concerned about how we would play over 60 minutes and I thought the guys came through. It was a good third period and it showed that they had the energy.鈥�
