Two teams struggling through their January blues hooked up in a Thursday night matchup in B.C. Hockey League play before an announced crowd of 1,006 at The Q Centre — and it was the Victoria Grizzlies who solved their problems.
It took 63 minutes and 10 seconds, but the Grizzlies managed to get it done as Cole Pickup notched the overtime winner in a 5-4 result over the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
The Capitals are now 1-5-1-0 for the month, while the Grizzlies snapped a two-game losing streak to even their record in the new year to 4-4.
“I’m glad we responded from a tough weekend,” said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon, referring to a pair of losses to hard-charging Powell River. “We got two points, let’s go get the next two.”
These same two teams meet again tonight at 7 in Duncan.
Victoria tied the game at 4-4 as Brett Stirling walked in from the point on a power play at 13:15 of the third period.
It came after Ayden MacDonald, a former Grizzly, walked through a pair of Victoria defencemen at 18:41 of the second period to give the visitors a 4-3 advantage heading into the final frame.
Capitals netminder Lane Michasiw faced 52 shots.
The Grizzlies dug themselves another hole early as Cowichan struck early, just 2:44 in on a power play as John Sladic swiped the puck through goalie Matthew Galajda’s legs as he returned to the net in his first start since battling a flu bug.
Nick Guiney was tagged with a double-minor for high sticking just 34 seconds into the Island Division matchup.
Guiney got the goal back with his own power-play marker at 11:44 to tie it, but Jared Domin gave the Caps a 2-1 lead with 42.9 seconds left in the opening frame.
Mitch Skapski for Cowichan and Victoria’s Nathan Looysen traded power-play goals 1:33 apart early in the second period and Guiney tied it at 3-3 at 8:38 with his second of the night.
Grizzlies’ captain Cody Van Lierop remained out of the lineup and is not expected back until next week. Nico Somerville did return to the Victoria blue line.
