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Grizzlies strike late to sink Rivermen

This time, there would be no late collapse and Landon Mackie made sure of that
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Victoria Grizzlies’ Landon Mackie, seen here left in action against the Surrey Eagles this month, scored the winner against Langley on Saturday. DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST

VICTORIA 3 LANGLEY 2

Giving up four unanswered goals in the third period en route to an 8-4 loss in Chilliwack to the conference-leading Chiefs on Friday night was not the way the Victoria Grizzlies wanted to come out of the holiday break.

Fortunately for Victoria, they didn’t have time to dwell on the tough loss as they had to trek over to Langley for a Saturday afternoon matchup with the Rivermen.

This time, there would be no late collapse and the red-hot Landon Mackie made sure of that. The 18-year-old from Victoria took a great feed from Alex Hebblethwaite and beat Bodee Weiss in the Rivermen net with just 1:38 left in the third period to give the Grizzlies a 3-2 victory.

The goal was Mackie’s ninth of the season and the seventh point in his last three games. It helped the Grizzlies fend off a late push from the Rivermen who tied the game midway through the final period on the power play when Ethan Merner slid one past Kyle Kelsey.

A trio of Grizzlies veterans also had strong games in the bounce-back win as Julian Cull, with his third goal in as many games, and captain Jacksenn Hungle supplied the offence, and 20-year-old netminder Kyle Kelsey made 31 saves to pick up his third win of the season.

After Langley’s Jackson Krill opened the scoring eight minutes into the first period on the power play, Cull answered that a minute later, beating Rivermen goaltender Weiss with a high slapper. Hungle gave the Grizzlies the lead with five minutes left in the second when he buried a rebound in close on the man-advantage.

Next up for the Grizzlies is their first game of 2025 when they welcome the Coquitlam Express to The Q Centre on Friday night.

LOOSE PUCKS: The Grizzlies were without injured defenceman Easton Kovacs and forward Tobias Pitka, who is playing for Team Slovakia at the world junior championship, so GM and head coach Rylan Ferster called up two players from the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, with Austin Garrett of the Victoria Cougars and Nathan Hayes from the Port Alberni Bombers stepping in to help.