You can’t get any better than free. Wait, you can. How about a $5 gift certificate to the food concession thrown in?
That’s the deal the Langley Rivermen were offering to fans Saturday night for their B.C. Hockey League contest against the Victoria Grizzlies — no-charge admission to the game and a bit of help buying that hot dog, popcorn and pop. Actually, the Rivermen have offered the same for the final three home games before the Christmas break as part of a promotion they billed as RIVMAS.
It might not be the racy X-rated game, with admission only to those over 18, that the ECHL minor-pro Las Vegas Wranglers once hosted at the Orleans Casino.
But in its own more wholesome way, it’s certainly one of the brassier promotions people have seen in the junior-hockey business in Canada.
A crowd of 1,211 showed up for the freebie at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday, only to see the visiting Grizzlies edge the Rivermen 3-2.
Second-period goals by Dane Gibson, on a two-point night, and Cole Pickup gave Victoria a 2-0 lead. Ryan Coulter, committed next season to Bowling Green of the U.S. collegiate NCAA, pulled one back for Langley before the second break. Brett Gruber recorded the winner for the Grizzlies at 9:41 of the third period before Gage Torrel of the Rivermen, headed next fall to Lake Superior State of the NCAA, closed out scoring.
The Grizzlies (15-10-7) now have four wins, a tie and overtime loss in the six games since Craig Didmon took over as head coach from Brad Knight.
“It’s been consistency. We haven’t had a bad period in six games,” Didmon said.
Victoria pelted Darren Martin in the Langley net with 42 shots while a pretty good Rivermen squad (19-13-5) could muster only 24 on Sean Cleary in the Grizzlies goal.
“We have a system that throws a lot of rubber on the net,” Didmon said.
“We have a lot of offensive weapons … a lot of moving parts on offence … including mobility from the back end [defence], and have been putting up 40-plus shots.
“We are stressing being strong on defence too. This group has a goal of being second in the Island Division at the break [behind Nanaimo], and that’s where we are now [tied with Powell River, but with Victoria holding two games in hand].”
In the lone BCHL game today, and the final one before the break, the Grizzlies play in Surrey against the BCHL-worst Eagles (5-25-3) before returning to host Powell River on Dec. 29 at the Q Centre.
