Grizzlies fans be advised, we have discovered that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban might be Vipers fans as both where seen in attendance at the Wesbild Centre on Friday night. This must be met with swift action from the Victoria faithful. We shall never watch Moulin Rouge or Days of Thunder again or listen to one of Urban's dodgy Country albums. Nicole and Keith the dye has been cast.
More importantly, one down and two to go as Victoria picked up two precious points in the first of three road games on this trip. What makes this more satisfying is, they managed to beat a Vernon team who have been solid at home for most of the season.
With Garrett Rockafellow starting in goal again, 'Rocks' showed how valuable he has become this team with 33 saves on the night, limiting Vernon's run and gun attack to just Viper 3 goals.
The Grizzlies also had a little help from AP's Dayne Ellison and Victoria Cougars defenseman Trevor Chown who was at Grizzlies preseason camp.
1st period: The game started with power plays ruling the roost in the goals dept. The ever dangerous Michael Zalewski would score on the man advantage after just 3 minutes for a Vipers lead. Victoria, would then collect themselves with the topline coming back to form as Ten Vaanholt with assists from Murphy and Myron on the PP would beat Vernon goalie, Halcrow to tie it up. Vernon again, would cause the Grizzlies problems on the PP and would go in at the end of the first 2-1 up, with a marker from Darren Nowick. Ten Vaanholt would leave with an injury in the first and will hopefully be back for the Trail game.
2nd Period: The Grizzlies would really come to life in the second, and persistence does pay as on the PP, Wes Myron would score from Murphy and that man who gets better every game, Nolan Dejong to tie it up 2-2. Kerry Park Islander and 17 yr old forward Dayne Ellison, who has looked sharp in his stint with the Grizzlies so far, scored his first BCHL goal a few minutes later to give the Grizz the lead with a little help from Sandor and Dejong for a 3-2 Grizz advantage. That lead would last until close to the end of the 2nd, when the Vipers feeling the heat from their home crowd would equalize through an Aaron Hedley goal,
3rd Period: The third period would see the Grizzlies soak up a lot of pressure and at times Rockafellow was keeping the boys in it with some great saves. But, a good all round team effort would see the Grizzlies match Vernon toe for toe. But, it would be the Grizzlies who would claim the two points as Mr. Consistency, Mike Moran would score on a juicy rebound to beat Halcrow and keep Victoria's playoff hopes alive with 5 minute to go with assists from Holland and Myron. Rockafellow and a great team effort would lead the Grizzlies to Victoria in one of the tougher road rinks to pick up points.
On a side note, I never thought I'd say we should be cheering on Powell River, but, we really need them to beat the Express in Coquitlam tonight, to help our playoff cause.
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| First Star of the game Garrett Rockafellow |
After game Grizzlies thoughts: A huge boost going into the next two games with two points under the Grizzlies belt. There should be a real belief in the team that they can make the playoffs and with efforts like the one in Vernon, they could pick up maximum points on this road trip and put the team right back in playoff contention. But, the flip side of the coin is, the shine would be taken off this Victoria victory with a defeat in Trail tonight, against a Smokies teams that won only 5 games all season. The Grizzlies are very capable of beating the Smokes tonight and making it 2 for 2 on the road trip so far.
Good luck guys and great effort.
Three Stars of the Game:
1st * - Garrett Rockafellow 2nd * Mike Zalewski 3rd* Wes Myron
Attendance - 2000 Shots on goal - Vernon 33 and Victoria 24
Grizzlies fans, just say no to Vipers supporters Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman
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| Urban and Kidman |
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