League-leading Victoria Grizzlies head home after tough road trip

Mario Annicchiarico / Times Colonist
February 10, 2013

Victoria Royals Brandon Magee and Seattle Thunderbirds Shea Theodore chase the puck in WHL action at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre last week.

The Victoria Grizzlies are limping home after a tough three-games-in-three-days road trip.

A 3-2 loss in Vernon on Sunday afternoon marks just the second time this season that the Grizzlies lost a weekend series in which they played more than one game.

The road trip started on Friday with a 6-3 loss in Langley, followed by a 6-3 victory in Salmon Arm on Saturday.

On Sunday, the Grizzlies staked Vernon to a 3-0 lead as Dallas Calvin, Craig Martin and Colton Sparrow all tallied within 3:47 by the 14:56 mark of the opening period.

The first and third goals came via the power play as the Vipers out-shot the visiting Grizzlies 12-4 after 20 minutes at Wesbild Centre.

Turner Lawson and Pearce Eviston, both former Vipers, replied for Victoria to cut it to 3-2 after two periods of play, but the Grizzlies failed to come up with the equalizer as Mike Stiliadis suffered the loss in goal.

Victoria, now 32-11-0-6, out-shot Vernon 34-27.

The Grizzlies played without Myles Fitzgerald, who was injured Saturday night, and Blake Thompson, who went down on Friday evening.

Victoria returns home to face Alberni Valey on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. at Bear Mountain Arena.

mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com

Twitter/tc_vicsports