The B.C. Hockey League Island Division playoff race moved from a snail-like slither to a turtle-trot on Sunday with both the Victoria Grizzlies and Alberni Valley Bulldogs finally winning games.
It should pick up speed this week with just two games remaining for both teams.
Mitchel Benson’s 24 saves led Victoria to a much needed 4-0 victory over the Langley Rivermen. It was just the Grizzlies’ second win in 11 outings as Joey Visconti, Keyvan Mokhtari and Dante Hahn all snapped lengthy scoring droughts of 12, 17 and 10 games, respectively.
Nathan Looysen — who was called up from the VIJHL’s Victoria Cougars for the Grizzlies’ road trip and played his second straight game — had a goal and an assist as Victoria tallied twice on the power play. All four goals came in the first 12:44 of the game.
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, dumped the league’s worst team, the Surrey Eagles, 6-2 as the two Island teams capped three-game road trips with their only victories.
Alberni did earn points in all three games, but blew 2-1 third-period leads in both Prince George and Merritt. The first ended in a 2-2 tie and the second collapsed into a 3-2 overtime loss, with the tying goal coming with 1:30 to go in Merritt, with the home goalie pulled for an extra attacker.
The Bulldogs have won two of their last seven games overall as neither Island team has managed to grab a stranglehold on fourth place.
Victoria and Alberni remain tied in points (50) for the last post-season berth in the division, but the Grizzlies do have the pivotal first tiebreaker in overall wins, 23 to 21.
With just two games remaining the Grizzlies do have that advantage, meaning the Bulldogs will need one more point than Victoria can collect to advance to playoffs.
“The big thing is we have six periods left and we control our own destiny,” said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon. “We need to go out and have six good periods.”
The Grizzlies play host to Powell River on Friday before those same Kings venture to Port Alberni for Saturday and Sunday games to conclude the regular season. Victoria heads to Chilliwack on Sunday to play their make-up game from a couple of weeks ago.
“I know we’ll be a good hockey club on Friday,” added Didmon. “I thought our guys put 12 out of 12 periods in over the weekend.”
The Grizzlies lost 2-1 in Wenatchee on Friday and were blanked 5-0 in Penticton on Saturday against the country’s No. 1 club.
“Penticton is just real good and they were on that night,” said Didmon. “Then in Langley, for a third game in three days, the guys played with a lot of energy.”
Opposition lineups could factor in to how the race all plays out as Powell River is locked into second place on the Island and could ice a weaker lineup to rest for playoffs. Chilliwack has a six-point lead on Wenatchee in the Mainland Division, with three games remaining for each.
“I can’t see them giving us a light game, ever, because of the rivalry,” Didmon said of the Kings.
Of note, Alberni is 14-11-2-0 at home where the Bulldogs will wrap up play. Victoria is 12-13-3-0 at home and 11-16-1-0 on the road. Powell River is 10-14-2-0 away as the Kings head to Victoria and Port Alberni.
