It鈥檚 no secret that the Victoria Grizzlies and Powell River Kings dislike each other.
The disdain was on display last weekend in Victoria鈥檚 penalty-filled 7-6 win last Sunday at The Q Centre which included a pair of ejections, a pair of blow-to-the-head calls (including a major), five slashing penalties (also including a major) and a total of 15 power-play opportunities.
The question is, will the bad blood spill over into this weekend鈥檚 two-game set in Powell River? It begins tonight at 7:15 and continues Saturday at 5 p.m. at Hap Parker Arena.
鈥淭here always is,鈥� Grizzlies head coach and general manager Craig Didmon said of the bad blood between the two organizations. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of emotion there. We were sort of critical of some of their tactics [Saturday], but certainly we have to stick to our plan.
鈥淲e鈥檙e expecting to go in there and the guns should be blazin鈥� from both sides. We expect a real tough weekend, but we鈥檙e certainly looking forward to the opportunity.鈥�
The Grizzlies will be without rugged forward Ryan Nolan, who is suspended for four games following his blow-to-the-head major and game misconduct last Sunday. Drayson Pears is out for about a month with a shoulder injury and captain Lucas Clark is listed as day-to-day with a bad bone bruise he suffered from a slash from Kings goalie Mitch Adamyk, who earned a slashing major and game misconduct in that physical affair on Sunday.
Victoria will get a boost from the return of 16-year-olds Alex Newhook and Jacson Alexander from the World U-17 Hockey Challenge.
As veteran Grizzlies鈥� forward T.J. Friedmann said prior to last weekend鈥檚 play, the three straight outings against Powell River are vital for the local squad, which is now just one point back of Powell River in the Island Division standings, although the Kings do have two games in hand. Nanaimo is also just a point back of the Grizzlies.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an important stage and we鈥檙e facing some adversity as a team, but it鈥檒l make us stronger,鈥� said Didmon. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just another obstacle that we have to overcome. This team is, no question, a process and we are evolving. This weekend is one of those pendulum weekends where we have to keep moving in the right direction.鈥�
Last Sunday the Grizzlies came back from a 2-1 first-period deficit with three goals in a 1:38 span early in the second to spark the win. The shenanigans began shortly afterward when Adamyk was tossed at 12:59 of the middle frame with the Kings down 4-3.
Backup Matteo Paler-Chow was immediately welcomed by Victoria goals from Ethan Nother and Carter Berger and the Grizzlies managed to hang on despite allowing three power-play goals in the third period. They gave up four man-advantage tallies in total, while scoring a pair themselves.
鈥淚 thought we stuck to our plan, but unfortunately we took some penalties and got into trouble and struggled with their power play,鈥� said Didmon. 鈥淚f we can play the same way five-on-five and shut down their power play, it should be good hockey.
鈥淕iving everything we have [tonight] is extremely important. We see this is a three-game series and we鈥檙e up by one, but you鈥檙e only as good as your last game and we鈥檒l move into this one. If we can come up with a successful night then we鈥檒l be extremely happy. We鈥檒l do everything we can to be able to do that. To take two would be great, but let鈥檚 just worry about one at a time.鈥�
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