Any coach will tell you that when your top players are out of the lineup, it鈥檚 just a chance for other players to step up and take advantage of the opportunity.
And that鈥檚 exactly what the Victoria Grizzlies鈥� second line did.
Thanks to a pair of goals from rookie Jamie Rome and a four-point night from hometown boy Cam Thompson, the Grizzlies won the battle for first place in the sa国际传媒 Hockey League鈥檚 Island Division with a 6-3 victory over the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Friday night at The Q Centre.
The Grizzlies improve to 7-2-2-2 on the season, two points up on the 7-4-2-0 Capitals.
The Grizzlies did welcome back veteran forward Nick Guiney after a long absence due to injury, but 20-year-old defenceman Brett Stirling remains out with a lower-body injury. Fellow 20-year-old Nathan Looysen was injured in practice this week and forced to sit out Friday. Throw in the fact that feisty winger Cory Hatcher was lost late in the first period thanks to a fighting major and a game misconduct, and the Grizzlies were down to just 10 forwards.
鈥淵ou saw good depth tonight and a great game from Clark, Rome and Thompson 鈥� and that鈥檚 what you need to be successful in this league,鈥� Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon said.
After the Capitals opened the scoring when Simon Chen buried a breakaway past Matthew Galajda, Rome got the Grizzlies started just 32 seconds later, converting a great feed on a two-on-one from Thompson. Rome struck again midway through the first, banging a rebound past Adam Marcoux in the Caps鈥� net. Hatcher managed to score, before getting into the scrap, to put the Grizzlies up for good.
The line of Rome, Clark and Thompson combined for eight points.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had some good games together but we鈥檙e really starting to find some chemistry together now,鈥� said the 18-year-old Thompson, who hails from Saanich and played for the Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League last season.
Thompson capped the scoring with a nifty move on a late-third period penalty shot.
鈥淚 was just thinking 鈥榙on鈥檛 mess it up,鈥� 鈥� he said with a laugh.
Guiney celebrated his return with a third-period marker for the Grizzlies, and Galajda finished with 21 saves to pick up the win as the Grizzlies outshot the Caps 43-24.
Max Newton and Ryan Hogg had the other Cowichan goals.
The same two teams will do it all again tonight in Duncan.
IN THE DEN: Grizzlies defenceman Jake Stevens is headed to NCAA Division 1 hockey next season after he accepted a four-year scholarship offer Friday from the St. Lawrence University Saints. Stevens, from Naperville, Illinois, visited the school in up-state New York this week and liked what he saw. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful campus, reminds me of my prep school back home, and they have what I want to study [psychology and exercise science],鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e losing four senior defencemen next season, so the opportunity for playing time is very good. And they play in a great conference.鈥� The Skating Saints, as they are known, play in the East Coast Athletic Conference alongside Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Cornell, which is where Stevens鈥� teammate Galajda is headed next season.
