The road woes away from Vancouver Island continue for the Victoria Grizzlies, who were swept in all three games this past weekend, dropping a 4-2 decision to the Chilliwack Chiefs on Sunday afternoon to cap off a road trip in which they earned just one of six possible points.
Victoria lost 6-5 in overtime in Wenatchee on Friday and then dropped a 4-3 result in Langley against the Rivermen on Saturday.
The Grizzlies are now 24-16-4-2 overall, but just 3-6-1-0 against Mainland Division teams and a less than desirable 1-5-0-3 against Interior teams while amassing a 19-5-1-1 record against the Island Division.
Victoria is also a pathetic 0-8-0-1 on extended road trips 鈥� those of three straight games on weekends 鈥� and have one more to go with visits to Salmon Arm, West Kelowna and Merritt, Feb. 16-18. The good news is the Grizzlies play six of their remaining 12 games against Island opponents, starting Friday at home against the struggling Nanaimo Clippers, who have lost seven straight.
鈥淲e do need to get off this slump of not being able to win off the Island,鈥� Jamie Rome told Grizzlies play-by-play man Scott Didmon before Sunday鈥檚 game. 鈥淥bviously, we haven鈥檛 had the same success on the mainland, but come playoff time everything changes.鈥�
It didn鈥檛 come to fruition this past weekend. T.J. Friedmann scored both goals, one short-handed and one on a power play, as the Grizzlies were badly outshot 33-18 by the Chiefs, who eliminated Victoria from the post-season last year and have won both meetings this season. In fact, the Grizzlies had just two shots in the opening period and six more in the second before managing 10 in the final 20 minutes.
Kurtis Chapman suffered the loss in goal for Victoria, while Mathieu Caron earned the win.
Tommy Lee led the way offensively for the Chiefs with two goals, while P.J. Marrocco and Ryan Bowen had a goal apiece.
