VICTORIA 4
ALBERNI VALLEY 2
Brayden Gelsinger is nothing if not persistent.
After having an apparent goal disallowed in the scoreless first period, the Victoria Grizzlies forward struck for two power-play goals Tuesday night in a 4-2 B.C. Hockey League victory over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (11-17-3) before an announced crowd of 797 at The Q Centre.
Victoria (13-17-4) has the worst power play in the league, but you couldn’t tell on this night as the Grizzlies struck three times on the odd man in total. It’s still the unit rated last in the BCHL with a 14.58 per-cent success rate, but it has been converting at better than 20 per cent over the last seven games to show there is enough of a glimmer to provide some optimism.
“We’ve not been the best on the power play but we’ve been working hard on it, getting more shots and more traffic in front of the net,” said Gelsinger.
“That’s why we’ve been more successful of late,” added the 20-year-old native of Regina.
And in more ways than one as Victoria moved to 4-2-1 in its last seven games.
“Our place in the standings doesn’t really show the kind of team we have,” said Gelsinger.
“We have a skilled team that works hard every night and we are surprising teams now.”
Gelsinger opened scoring at 14:43 of the second period on the power play.
The Victoria odd man struck again quickly as P.J. Conlon scored at 15:46. Tyler Welsh made it 3-0 even-handed at 17:25. Gelsinger’s second power-play goal of the night came at 1:11 of the third period. It was his 13th goal and team-leading and league top-ten 40th point of the season.
“I’ve got to credit my linemates [Dante Hahn and Jared Virtanen],” said Gelsinger.
“We work well together and it’s really coming together for us.”
Tristan Bukovec and Nathan Dingmann capped scoring at 12:05 and 18:20 for an Alberni Valley team playing its fourth game in five days.
Conlon had four points on the night while Hahn and Kevin Massy had two assists each. The game’s three-stars were Gelsinger, Conlon and Massy.
Rookie Victoria workhorse Matthew Galajda is a league top-10 goaltender with a 2.61 goals-against average. He made 22 saves in his 25th appearance of the season. Carson Schamerhorn also made 22 saves for Alberni Valley.
The first-year Wenatchee Wild make their inaugural appearance at The Q Centre on Saturday night in what is the Grizzlies’ annual Tedddy Bear Toss Night. That is followed by a Sunday home matinée for the Grizzlies against the West Kelowna Warriors, which was Gelsinger’s former team from last season, so he will be especially looking forward to that game.
Between them, Wenatchee (six) and West Kelowna (seven) have 13 players committed to U.S. collegiate NCAA teams. A total of 88 BCHL have committed to date this season. The Bulldogs have two, Paul Meyer to Colgate and Ryan Finnegan to Quinnipiac, both for 2017-18. The Grizzlies don’t have any NCAA commitments so far this season.
ICE CHIPS: Nine BCHL players have been named to the 22-player Team Canada West roster for the 2015 World Junior A Challenge beginning Sunday in Whitby, Ont. The ridiculously-talented Penticton Vees (28-2-1) lead the way with rearguard Dante Fabbro and forward Tyson Jost, both projected as potential first-round selections for the 2016 NHL draft. The two BCHL Island Division players named are forwards Kyle Betts and Nanaimo-native Carter Turnbull from the Powell River Kings . . . Dreams do come true as former Powell River forward Daniel Carr, a member of the 2010 Kings BCHL finalist team and the 2014 NCAA Frozen Four champion Union College Dutchmen, scored on his first career NHL shift Saturday for the Montreal Canadiens.
