The Victoria Grizzlies are about to run the road gauntlet to attempt to secure a playoff berth.
In easily the most important weekend of the sa国际传媒 Hockey League regular-season, the Island Division club ventured south of the border Thursday night in preparation for tonight鈥檚 first of three games in three days.
The Wenatchee Wild (32-15-3-3) will form the opposition tonight before the Grizzlies head back north to Penticton to play the league鈥檚 No. 1 Vees (46-6-0-1) on Saturday, and then finish off with a Sunday afternoon affair versus Langley (29-21-3-1).
Collectively, the trio is 55 games above .500 and forms much tougher tests than Alberni Valley鈥檚 stops in Prince George (12-37-4-1), Merritt (20-29-4-1) and Surrey (7-43-0-2).
Victoria remains two points up on the Bulldogs with each team having just five games remaining in the battle for the fourth-and-final post-season spot.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge weekend. We鈥檙e playing three good teams and we know we鈥檙e going to have to be at our best to get wins,鈥� said Grizzlies captain P.J. Conlon. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to work hard and come out and play our game. Execute our game plan.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a matter of not looking at the weekend as three games. It鈥檚 going to Wenatchee and trying to get a win, then regroup and try and prepare for the next game. Just take this one game at a time.鈥�
The old clich茅 is rather fitting here and will be heard daily over these last five games.
鈥淭his is a huge weekend, all the boys know that, so we鈥檙e going to be prepared and give it our all,鈥� said grinding Grizzlies forward Alex Peck, who scored twice in Tuesday鈥檚 key 3-0 win in Cowichan Valley that has given Victoria the two-point edge on the Bulldogs.
鈥淔or the rest of the season, we need to take it one game at a time and just worry about what we can do and not score-board watch to see what Alberni is doing. One game or even one period at a time, and take as many points as we can,鈥� said Peck.
Easier said than done, however, and you can guarantee the Grizzlies will keep a close eye on what Alberni Valley is doing.
Should the Bulldogs get two wins this weekend, the Grizzlies will require at least one. If Alberni sweeps all three, Victoria will require two to stay on pace for the final two league games next week. Should the two teams be tied in points, the first tiebreaker is total wins. The second is head-to-head, which the Bulldogs own.
鈥淚t鈥檚 no easy task,鈥� said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon of this three-game weekend. 鈥淲e need to play a certain way. We need to play the way we played [Tuesday] night.
鈥淭hey know what it takes, the style of play required and the habits in which we play at. If we can get to that level, we鈥檒l be OK.鈥�
Earlier this season, the Grizzlies dropped a 2-0 decision to visiting Wenatchee in what was Victoria鈥檚 Teddy Bear Toss night in early December as Chase Perry stopped all 22 shots he faced.
The Grizzlies blanked Langley 5-0 on Jan. 10 as part of a seven-game winning streak, but then blew a 5-1 lead in the last minute of the second period at home to Penticton, to lose 7-5 on Feb. 4, as part of a seven-game losing skid.
