Call it, advantage Victoria Grizzlies.
The seasonal statistics all favour the local sa国际传媒 Hockey League club as it prepares for the opening best-of-seven series against divisional rivals, the Nanaimo Clippers, beginning tonight at 7 at The Q Centre.
The Grizzlies finished with 83 points, 30 better than the Clippers, including 14 more wins. The 83 points were also fourth best in the entire league behind just Wenatchee, Chilliwack and Penticton.
Victoria also defeated Nanaimo seven of eight times in head-to-head matchups in 2016-17, losing the last one, 2-1 last Saturday, in a meaningless affair for the Grizzlies, who went with just three forward lines.
So the role of favourite, in this series, will be played by GM and coach Craig Didmon鈥檚 Grizzlies.
With that, however, comes the pressure to win.
鈥淲e have expectations for ourselves,鈥� stressed Didmon, who knows the numbers always revert to zeros across the board as the second season begins. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been a good team all year and we need to keep being a good team.
鈥淭he guys are antsy and ready to go. They鈥檙e getting on each other and they need someone to battle with. Pressure is pressure. I think these guys have played with it and we have to answer the bell, that鈥檚 all.鈥�
All season, the Grizzlies have leapt out of their corner, throwing haymakers, while racking up an impressive 37-12-5-4 record. In comparison, Nanaimo鈥檚 log was 23-28-6-1, fourth last in the 17-team league.
Cole Pickup led the Grizzlies in scoring with 27 goals and 65 points. Jake Stevens, Tyler Welsh and Nathan Looysen were next with 54, 52 and 49 points, respectively. Victoria鈥檚 Jamie Rome and Lucas Clark each had 43 points.
The top scorer for Nanaimo was Ben Solin with 39 points, followed by Matt Creamer with 36, tied with Victoria鈥檚 Keyvan Mokhtari. Solin and Creamer were the only Clippers to top 30 points, while the leading Nanaimo defenceman was Sean Buchanan with 22.
In comparison, the Grizzlies had 12 players at 30 points or better, including three defencemen as Cody Van Lierop and Brett Stirling had 33 and 31 points, respectively, behind Stevens鈥� totals of 54.
Matthew Galajda鈥檚 goals-against average was 2.33 and save percentage was .926 as the Grizzlies鈥� netminder was runner-up for the league鈥檚 most valuable player award. As a team, Victoria allowed just 143 goals against this season, third lowest in the BCHL.
Meanwhile, Nanaimo鈥檚 Evan DeBrouwer held a 3.15 GAA and .894 save percentage for the Clippers, who surrendered 199 goals while scoring 146. Victoria tallied 218 times.
鈥淓very year is a bit different when you head to the playoffs, with regards to turning the clock to the new season,鈥� said Clippers coach and GM Mike Vandekamp.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in first place, you want to use the season series to your advantage and talk about it and try to build confidence from it 鈥� the fact that you鈥檙e X-amount of points ahead of a team and try not to be overconfident, but obviously you want to build off of it.
鈥淥n the other side of the scale, you want to wipe the slate clean and sell to your guys that we鈥檙e at 0-0 again,鈥� added Vandekamp. 鈥淥bviously, we鈥檙e in that position this time around.
鈥淚鈥檝e been on both sides of the fence. I think this side of the fence can be enjoyable in its own way because there鈥檚 not a lot of pressure on the team. We鈥檙e excited about being in the playoffs and the challenge.鈥�
And they have the confidence of taking the Grizzlies to overtime in the second-last meeting of the season, followed by the 2-1 win in the last clash.
鈥淚 think everyone is equal coming into the playoffs,鈥� said Welsh, one of the Grizzlies forwards who needs to step it up in the post-season. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not taking these guys lightly.
鈥淭hey beat us last game and they鈥檝e been strong the last month so we鈥檙e preparing to play a good team. We鈥檙e not too worried about that last game. It was a mean nothing game for both teams, so I think we鈥檒l be a bit more prepared and more ready to go.鈥�
Welsh, one of the best players in the league in the first half, has just one goal in his last 19 outings after bagging 19 in his first 32 games played. He does have eight points in his last 13 appearances, having battled injuries and illness the second half.
鈥淧ucks haven鈥檛 been going in quite as much lately,鈥� Welsh admitted. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a little because of how games go closer to playoffs, with things getting tighter and it getting harder to score. I鈥檓 hoping things come around come playoff time.鈥�
But the Grizzlies have plenty of depth and though their playoff experience lags behind the Clippers (just Pickup, Nick Guiney and Van Lierop have previously played in the post-season for Victoria), they do have experience from other leagues.
鈥淎ll the guys are really excited. We have eight guys leaving next year, so it means a lot to them and a lot to the whole organization,鈥� added Welsh. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping for a good run. We did what we wanted to do during the regular season. That was our goal to win the Islands, now it starts fresh and we can鈥檛 look past Nanaimo.鈥�
And that job goes to Didmon, who attempts to keep his players focused on the ultimate goal.
鈥淗aving the record we have, we expect to continue that pace,鈥� Didmon stressed. 鈥淲e also know it鈥檚 going to be tough to continue that pace.
鈥淢ike鈥檚 a very good coach 鈥� he鈥檚 won the league, he鈥檚 been runner-up in the league and he probably has more playoff experience than most. I鈥檓 sure there鈥檚 going to be adversity that we鈥檙e going to face, but we just have to meet those challenges head-on,鈥� added Didmon.
Game 2 of the series will be played Saturday at The Q Centre before the scene shifts to Nanaimo for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
