VICTORIA 4 (OT)
COWICHAN VALLEY 3
The Victoria Grizzlies鈥� depth was put to the test Friday night at The Q Centre, and it passed with flying colours.
Thanks to key veterans rising to the occasion, the Grizzlies clawed back from 3-0 deficit to edge the Cowichan Valley Capitals 4-3 in double overtime in front of 1,100 delirious fans.
Defenceman Jake Stevens was the hero in OT, burying a great feed from rookie Justin Michaelian with just a minute left in the three-on-three session. It was Stevens鈥� third point of the night and extended the veteran鈥檚 points streak to seven games.
The Grizzlies dominated most of the play but needed a Cole Pickup goal with just 18 seconds left in regulation time to force the overtime. They also got another impressive outing from goaltender Matthew Galajda, who stopped Justin Perron on a second-period breakaway that would have made it a 4-0 game.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 say much to the guys after the first period. We let them figure it out and veterans like Stevens, Pickup and [Cody] Van Lierop and Galajda just stepped up their game and refused to lose,鈥� said Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon, whose club improves to 6-1-2-2 and remains atop the sa国际传媒 Hockey League鈥檚 Island Division.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not ideal going down 3-0 in your own barn and I think we probably took them too lightly, but Galajda was sharp and gave us a chance to get back in it.鈥�
The Capitals, who drop to 6-2-2-0, opened the scoring at 8:35 of the first period when Michael Montambault buried a rebound past Galadja. Then Cowichan鈥檚 power play went to work, with Max Newton tipping a point shot at 13:40, then George Sennott burying one at the first-period buzzer on a two-man advantage.
Lucas Clark got the Grizzlies going, converting a pretty pass from Cam Thompson midway through the second.
In the third, the Grizzlies veterans got going. Tyler Welsh tipped Stevens鈥� slap-pass past Lane Michasiw on the power play midway through the final period, setting up Pickup鈥檚 late heroics. Stevens wrister from the point was stopped by Michasiw but Pickup was at the top the crease to bury the rebound.
鈥淭his was a real character win for our guys and hopefully it is a turning point for us,鈥� Didmon said.
The Grizzlies were without injured veterans Brett Stirling and Nick Guiney and forward Keyvan Mokhtari was serving a one-game suspension for verbal abuse of an official.
Didmon called up forward Tanner Hopps from his midget team in Burnaby, and the 16-year-old held is own.
鈥淐ertainly, you want your best lineup when you鈥檙e playing a team that is also challenging for top spot in the division, but some other players stepped up and took advantage of the opportunity,鈥� Didmon said.
The Grizzlies now lead the season series between the two clubs by a 2-1 margin, and they鈥檒l square off again next weekend in a home-and-home series.
Next up for the Grizzlies is a Sunday matchup with the Chilliwack Chiefs at 2 p.m. at The聽Q Centre.
