POWELL RIVER 5
VICTORIA 2
All that has been going so right for the Victoria Grizzlies went south on Saturday evening in a 5-2 B.C. Hockey League loss to the Kings in Powell River.
Major case in point was goaltender Matthew Galajda, the NCAA Ivy League Cornell-bound puck stopper, who had been stellar in allowing only two goals on 88 shots in the previous three outings.
Galajda, who made 44 saves the night before, in a 5-2 win in Powell River, was touched for a 4-0 Kings lead on Saturday. He let in five goals on 26 shots before being replaced by Tony Rehm midway through the third period.
The loss dropped Victoria (14-4-5) while the Kings (16-8-1) moved into a first-place tie with the Grizzlies in the Island Division. Victoria, however, retains, two games in hand on the Kings.
“The puck didn’t bounce our way tonight,” Victoria head coach Craig Didmon said.
“I thought we were unlucky, but I liked our effort. We kept battling. I can’t be too upset, having lost only three games previously, especially with both captains missing.” Defenceman Cody Van Lierop is out short-term with a lower-body injury, while Grizzlies’ leading scorer, Cole Pickup, missed the second game of a four-game suspension for a hit from behind in the Nov. 5 game against the Vernon Vipers.
Getting behind at the drop didn’t help the Grizzlies last night.
“We lost a little juice early,” Didmon said.
“But we scored twice in the third period [through Marty Westhaver’s goals] to show we have lots of depth,”
The Grizzlies host the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Friday at the Q Centre.
