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The Victoria Grizzlies will be trading in their Bauer hockey gear for golf equipment after their season came to a crashing halt on Saturday night, losing 4-2 to the Chilliwack Chiefs before a crowd of 1,418 at The Q Centre.
The home team lost the best-of-seven series 4-2 and the Chiefs advance to the Fred Page Cup final for the second straight season after losing in six games to West Kelowna last year.
Chilliwack will face either the Vernon Vipers or Penticton Vees in the championship final. That semifinal series is tied 3-3 after a 5-1 Vernon victory on Saturday.
This series here was simply lost at home.
After stealing home-ice advantage away in Game 2, the Grizzlies lost all three at home and were a sloppy 4-6 in their own barn throughout the playoffs, including three shutouts.
Jake Smith scored a pair of goals for the Chiefs, who rebounded from an early 1-0 deficit. Smith cashed in on a horrendous turnover just 1:38 into the third period to make it 3-1 Chiefs, who are a perfect 8-0 on the road so far this sa国际传媒 Hockey League post-season.
鈥淚t was a great season for the boys. We just came up a little short,鈥� said Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon.
鈥淚t was a good hockey club over there. It was disappointing that we didn鈥檛 have our X-factor the last couple of games. That part leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.鈥�
Didmon was referring to the loss of starting netminder Matthew Galajda to a concussion in Game 4.
鈥淲e had a tough Game 3, we got in the box early and couldn鈥檛 recover. I thought Game 4 we played a great game and deserved to win,鈥� he said when challenged about the home record.
On Saturday, Cole Pickup made it interesting, cutting it to 3-2 with 46.3 seconds remaining, but Linden Hora added an empty-net goal with one second left.
Marty Westhaver scored just 2:24 into the game for Victoria, but Tommy Lee tallied a mere 26 seconds later.
Smith gave the Chiefs a 2-1 lead when he wired a long wrister by Grizzlies goalie Tony Rehm at 8:21 of the middle frame.
Rehm faced 30 shots on the night while Sinclair stopped 23.
鈥淥bviously, it wasn鈥檛 our fate,鈥� said Pickup, one of six graduating 20-year-olds who still had tears in his eyes afterward.
鈥淲e had the guys in there to do it this year. It was just one of those things, you can鈥檛 even put it into words.
鈥淭hose guys in there, we all stuck together in the end and it鈥檚 a tough one.鈥�
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