They led them in the regular season and Alex Newhook and Carter Berger came through again when needed most by the Victoria Grizzlies, helping send Victoria into the second round of the sa国际传媒 Hockey League playoffs.
Newhook, the BCHL鈥檚 leading scorer in the regular season with 102 points, scored just 15 seconds into Game 4 on Wednesday night at Weyerhaeuser Arena in Port Alberni and the Grizzlies never trailed after that, defeating the Bulldogs 3-2 to sweep the first-round series 4-0. Going back to last year, it was the Grizzlies鈥� eighth straight post-season win over the Bulldogs.
The Grizzlies will host Game 1 of the Island Division final against either Powell River or Nanaimo on March 15 at The Q Centre.
Newhook鈥檚 goal stood up until midway through the second when Michael Hodge was credited with sliding the puck under Kurtis Chapman.
And then Berger went to work. The 19-year-old from North Vancouver who鈥檚 headed to UConn of the NCAA in September, took a nifty pass from Charlie Campbell and blasted a shot past John Hawthorne just three minutes into the third period.
Henri Schreifels added an empty-netter with two minutes left in regulation before Marcus Welter got a power-play goal with 33 seconds remaining to make the Grizzlies sweat a little more.
Kyle McGrath set up the Newhook goal and filled in on the Grizzlies鈥� top line in the absence of BCHL rookie of the year Alex Campell. Campbell, who had three goals and three assists in the first two games of the series, left Game 3 on Tuesday in the first period with an undisclosed injury and didn鈥檛 return.
Hawthorne played his final junior hockey game as the 20-year-old from Chemainus heads to Northern Michigan next fall.
LOOSE PUCKS: In Duncan on Wednesday night, the Cowichan Valley Capitals stunned the Interior Division top seed Penticton Vees with a 3-0 victory in Game 4 and the Caps now lead the series 3-1 with Game 5 going Saturday night in Penticton.
