After taking a day off from practice while fighting a bug, Tyler Welsh bounced back strong with a goal and an assist Friday to pace the Victoria Grizzlies to a 4-2 win over the visiting Langley Rivermen at The Q Centre.
Welsh, who is off to join the Yale University Bulldogs next season, was a spark all night long for the Grizzlies, who now have points in nine of their last 10 games and improve to 8-2-2-3 in the B.C. Hockey League standings. The Rivermen sink to 4-8-2-1.
Linemate Cole Pickup, who is off to the University of Nebraska-Omaha, also had a goal and an assist for the Grizzlies, but it was goalie Matthew Galajda who shone brightest with 38 saves, including 15 in each of the last two periods.
“They had a lot of chances, but fortunately we cleared a lot of the rebounds from in front to make my job easier,” said Galajda, who was a lot more generous to his teammates than he was to Langley. “That was probably the most shots I’ve had this year in regulation.
“We played hard, certainly gave up some chances, but they weren’t able to capitalize on them, which is nice. I’m happy with that performance. I wasn’t too happy with my last seven or so starts, but I felt really good out there tonight,” added Galajda.
It was a scoreless first period. The visitors outshot the Grizzlies 7-6 and also recorded a puck off the crossbar in the last minute in what was a bit of a sluggish start.
The game came alive in the second as Welsh and Langley’s Brendan Budy exchanged goals 1:11 apart midway through and Nick Guiney made it 2-1 Grizzlies at 11:19 of the middle frame.
Guiney was left alone in front of Langley netminder Bo Didur and buried it shortly after he had a similar opportunity after a Justin Michaelian wrap-around attempt nearly snuck in. Pickup gave the Grizzlies a two-goal advantage with just 1:18 to go in the second.
Max Kaufman collected a power-play goal for Langley with six minutes to go before Jamie Rome added an empty-netter with 6.3 seconds remaining.
As for Welsh, he continues to shine.
“He’s been very good offensively, over a point a game,” said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon. “He kills penalties, plays the power play and is a 200-foot centreman. He’s very good defensively and he’s intelligent.
“He understands the game. He’s a real student of the game. He’s not the biggest kid, but he makes up for it by battling. He works hard, like a pro.”
The game marked the return of defenceman Brett Stirling after he suffered a leg injury in Game 5 of the season against Cowichan on Sept. 17. Stirling had an assist in the win for the Grizzlies, who are back at home tonight at 7 against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. The Bulldogs fell 5-4 in double overtime Friday to the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
