Fitting it was retro Salsa night at The Q Centre on Friday because it was a spicy affair between two B.C. Hockey League heavyweights.
The Victoria Grizzlies, sporting their red Victoria Salsa jerseys to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the club, used three second-period goals to roll over the Chilliwack Chiefs 5-2 in a game that saw 12 penalties and three video reviews in the opening 20 minutes.
The victory moved the Grizzlies (14-5-3-0) to within one point of the Chiefs (15-5-4-2) and two points of the conference-leading Alberni Valley Bulldogs (16-6-1-0) atop the conference standings. Victoria has a game in hand on Alberni Valley.
After Seamus Latta opened the scoring for the Grizzlies midway through the first period, just after Victoria went goal-less for a full two-minute, two-man advantage, the Grizzlies blew it open in the middle period with goals from Tobias Pitka, Alex Hebblethwaite and team-leading goal-getter Chase Pirtle who potted his 14th of the season.
Pirtle’s marker chased Chiefs starting netminder Sebastian Gatto from the net, but his replacement, Kevin Jones, was quickly met by a Finn Kallay goal just 2:50 into the third period that put the Grizzlies up 5-1.
Reegan Hiscock chipped in two assists for the Grizzlies.
Tucker Shedd in the second period, and Dakota MacIntosh in the third, had the Chilliwack goals.
Grizzlies’ goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, named this week to the BCHL all-star tournament along with Pirtle, pushed his record to 8-0 while making 40 saves. Gatto made 22 saves over two periods, while Jones finished with eight.
The Grizzlies now get ready to head to Duncan tonight to face the Cowichan Valley Capitals. The Capitals lost 4-3 in overtime to Alberni Valley on Friday night at the Cowichan Community Centre.
