COUGARS SWIPE STINGERS 9-0

By Peter Kung

(ISN) — The Victoria Cougars improved to 2-0 in preseason play following their 9-0 win over the Westshore Stingers on Monday night.

Victoria, which outshot the hometown Stingers 35-13 through two periods (shots on goal in the third period were unavailable), held period leads of 3-0 and 6-0.

Brett Clarke recorded a five point night, potting a pair of goals while assisting on three others. The towering power forward opened the scoring at 9:06 when his shot rang off the iron and in.  Clarke gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead with his second goal of the game at 3:55 of the third period.

Also scoring for Victoria were Trevor McNeil (2), Ryan Chan (2), Eric Guthrie, Jerry Vale, and Chris Bannister.

Justin Goritz and Evan Roch shared the shutout.

The Cougars conclude their preseason this Thursday against Westshore.  Game time at the Archie Browning Sports Centre, located at 1151 Esquimalt Road, is 7:15 p.m.

THREE STAR SELECTIONS:

Not announced

NOTES:

Mike Hammond, star of the Cowichan Valley Capitals and former Victoria Cougar, was in attendance.

GRIZZLIES FACE EXTINCTION TONIGHT

It’s do or die tonight for the Victoria Grizzlies as they meet the Nanaimo Clippers for game six in their best-of-seven play-off series.

It was quite a game Thursday for the Clippers who took over after the first period, easily defeating the Grizz 4-1 before 883 fans at Bear Mountain Arena.

The Clippers opened the scoring at 5:24  with a goal by Kyle Weber from Carson Schell and Cody Bremner.

The Grizzlies responded 11 minutes later with a powerplay goal by Brad

Pawlowski from Mike Tebbutt and Gregory Simpson.

The Clippers then jumped in the second period with a  goal by Schell from Joe Perry and Kyle Kramer at 8:45, and followed it up six minutes later with a powerplay goal by Teal Burns from Luc Olivier Blain and Bremner.

The Clippers’ Joe Perry scored the only goal of the third period at 8:00 on a pass from Kramer.

Perry was selected the game’s first star. Schell and Weber were the second and third stars.

In other BC Hockey League action, the Cowichan Valley Capitals were knocked out of the series by the Powell River Kings 6-0 before 532 fans in Powell River.

Scoring for the Kings were Cody Rainaldi from Ben Schmidt and Brenden Forbes; Jordan Grant from Mitch Labreche and Mat Bodie; Daniel Carr from Matt Garbowsky and Teagan Waugh; Rainaldi from Schmidt and Klay Kachur; Garbowsky from Carr and Bodie; and Garbowsky from Carr.

The Kings’ Garbowsky, goalie John Watson and Rainaldi were named the three stars.

MACMILLAN NAMED BCHL COASTAL MVP

By Jeff Dubois

A foursome of Alberni Valley Bulldogs were recognized for outstanding seasons today when the British Columbia Hockey League announced its 2009/10 Coastal Conference awards winners.

Bulldogs’ forward Mitch MacMillan was named the Coastal Conference Most Valuable Player.

MacMillan led the league in goals with 61 and paced all Coastal scorers with 93 points, while also becoming the first BCHL player since Kyle Turris to score 50 goals in 50 games or less.

Other Alberni Valley players to receive awards included Mark MacMillan, who was named the Coast’s Rookie of the Year following a season that saw the 18-year old finish ninth in BCHL scoring with 80 points.

Bulldogs’ defenceman Kevin Ross was named a co-winner of the conference’s Most Sportsmanlike Player award with Cowichan Valley Capitals forward Mike Hammond.

There was also a tie for the Coast’s Top Defenceman, as Powell River’s Mat Bodie and Victoria’s Jordan Heywood split the award.

Bodie picked up 42 points in his second BCHL season while also captaining Team Canada West to a silver medal at the 2009 World Junior A Challenge in Summerside, PEI.

Heywood finished the season with 51 points and tied for the league lead in game winning goals by a defenceman with four.

Alberni Valley Bulldogs head coach Nolan Graham picked up the conference’s Coach of the Year nod after leading his club to a 53-point improvement in the standings and a first round playoff bye. The Bulldogs went from last to first on the Coast under Graham in his first season as a head coach in the BCHL.

GRIZZLIES BLANK MILLIONAIRES 2-0

 

 

The Victoria Grizzlies blanked the Quesnel Millionaires 2-0 in a close game Sunday than ended with an empty netter at the end of the third period.

Goaltending was great in both ends and Grizz goalie Ryan Holfeld was selected the second star and Millionaires goalie Kirby Halcrow was named third star.

After a scoreless first period, first star Dustin Mowrey scored the first and winning goal on the powerplay at 1:35 of the second period on a pass from Madison Dias and Joel Lowry.

The third period was scoreless until the Millionaires pulled Halcrow in the last minute allowing Dias to score for the Grizz on a pass from Dylan Nowakowski.

In other BC Hockey League action, the Burnaby Express rolled over the Cowichan Valley Capitals 5-3 in Burnaby.

Scoring for the Express were Garrick Perry from Brodie Jamieson and Michael Mackie-Kwist;  Zac Ashdown (unassisted); Garrick Perry from Colby Kulhanek and James Bettauer; Rich Manley from Zac Ashdown and Brodie Jamieson; and Brad Reid intothe empty net from Colby Kulhanek.

Scoring for the Caps were Brendon MacDonald from Alex Halloran and Joey Massingham; Jackson Garrett from Mike Hammond and Mikael Jung; and Ryan Green from Chase Kaiser.

 

 

 

BANTAM NANAIMO CLIPPERS OFF TO PROVINCIALS

By Brent Dunlop

A two-game battle in the Bantam Tier 1 VIAHA playoffs resulted in the Nanaimo Clippers and the Cowichan Capitals providing some of the most entertaining hockey of the 09/10 season.

In game 1 of the best 2 of 3 finals between the two teams on Saturday at the Nanaimo Ice Centre the Clippers got the early jumping out to a 4-1 lead. The Capitals never gave up and battled back to 4-4.

The Clippers responded and went up 5-4, but again the Capitals answered back. With less than 2 minutes left in the game Garrett Dunlop set up Jordan Levesque in front for the eventual winner.

More theatrics took place on Sunday at the Island Saving Center in Duncan. The Capitals held onto a 2-0 lead until halfway through the third period when the Clippers started their comeback with a goal by Will McNamara from Jordan Levesque and Keelan Larson.

With 17 seconds remaining in the game Jordan Levesque tied the game and sent it into overtime. About five minutes into overtime Kyle MacDonald made a great play to get into the Capitals zone, rang a shot off the cross bar, Jordan Levesque attempted to get it out front, but the Capitals defender got a piece of it…but not enough as ended up on Garrett Dunlop’s stick, who put it off the far post and in for the win !!

Hats off to the Cowichan Capitals that put up a great battle!!

The Clippers will now compete at the Bantam Tier 1 Provincial Championships in Richmond March 7-11th.

Head Coach Glen Smith will be making his  3rd consecutive trip to the Provincial Championships. He coached the PeeWee AAA team in 07-08, last year’s and this year’s Bantam AAA!!

Congratulations to Glen and this years assistant coaches of Marshall Noir, Bill Coghlin and Mickey Willgress

In play on the Island the Clippers produced an incredible record of 26 win 3 ties and NO losses !!

The stats:

7 -5:  Goals by Gibson Doney, Brendan Taylor 2, Will McNamara, Ryan Coghlin, Jordan Levesque ( game winner), Tyson Harvey. Assists Jordan Levesque 3, Garrett Dunlop, Nick Gomerich, Tyler Beddis, Chase Lang, Ryan Coghlin and Brendan Taylor. Bradley Jenks made 30 saves.

3-2: Goal by Will McNamara from Jordan Levesque and Keelan Larson. Jordan Levesque ties game with 17 seconds left from Will McNamara and Tyler Beddis.
Garrett Dunlop scores OT winner from Will McNamara and Kyle McDonald.
Bradley Jenks was very good in net. Tyson Harvey and all the D-men played very well.

GRIZZLIES BURY TIMBERWOLVES

Justin Bardarson scores for Williams Lake –  photo by Gary Woodburn (http://pbase.com/woody)

 

Wesley Myron scored a hat trick to help the Victoria Grizzlies bury the Williams Lake Timberwolves 8-2 Friday at Bear Mountain Arena.

Myron started the scoring at 8:24 on a pass from Graeme McCormack and Brandon Fagerheim.

The Grizz followed with a goal by Dustin Mowrey from Madison Dias and Brad Pawlowski at 15:15 and  Jordan Heywood ended the first period with a powerplay goal at  17:16  on a pass from from Fagerheim and Pawlowski.

McCormack started the scoring for the Grizz in the second period at 5:47 on a pass from Dylan Nowakowski and Mike Tebbutt.

The Timberwolves responded at 11:29 with a goal by Justin Bardarson from Anthony DeLong and Keenan Bailey.

Spencer Copp then added another for Victoria at 16:08 on a pass from Myron and Pawlowski.  Williams Lake answered less than a minute later with a powerplay goal by Jake Harcoff from Clayton McEwan and Jason Diehl.

Myron got his second goal at 12:20 of the third on a pass from Fagerheim and Copp. Four minutes later Tebbutt scored on a pass from Nowakowski and Pawlowski. Myron ended the scoring with his third goal on a pass from Heywood at 17:35.

Myron was named first star. Second star was Pawlowski and third, Colin Fernandez.

In other BC Hockey League action, the Cowichan Valley Capitals defeated the Powell River Paper Kings 3-1 on goals from Brendon MacDonald from Mike Hammond and Jackson Garrett; Colten Derickson from Hammond and Ryan Green; and Garrett from Hammond and Nick Amies. Jordan Grant scored the Kings sole goal in the third on a pass from Chad Niddery and Mitch Labreche.

The Nanaimo Clippers downed the Quesnel Millionaires 3-2  in overtime with goals by Colton Cyr from Carson Schell and Victor Newell; Brayden Jaw from Mike Domsodi and Andrew Gladiuk; and Luc Olivier Blain from Nicholas McIntyre and Teal Burns

Scoring for the Millionaires were Darick Ste-Marie from Joshua Desmarais and Jacob Verheyden; and Sam Higgins from Skyler Smutek and Desmarais.

VICTORIOUS WEEKEND FOR BANTAM CLIPPERS

 

 

By Brent Dunlop

The Bantam AAA Nanaimo Clippers hockey team were presented the VIAHA Island League Championship banner  (10 wins 2 ties) on Saturday after a 9-1 first round playoff win over the Victoria Racquets Club.

In game 2 of the first round of playoffs Sunday the Clippers defeated  Cowichan Capitals  5-3 after giving up the first two goals.

Next playoff game is this Sunday vs the Comox Chiefs  4pm at NIC #1.

In the 9-2  win over the Victoria Racquets Club goals were scored by Gibson Doney 2, Garrett Dunlop 2, Jordan Levesque, Nick Gomerich, Brendan Taylor, Will McNamara and Chase Lang. Getting assists were Jordan Levesque 2, Tyler Beddis 2, Nick Gomerich 2, Chase Lang and Gibson Doney, Kyle McDonald

In the  5-3 win over Cowichan. Scoring for the Clippers were  Garrett  Dunlop 2, Ryan Coghlin 2, Jordan Levesque .   Garrett Dunlop 4, Keelan Larson 2, Quinlan Moore, Brendan Taylor provided the assists.

Keelan Larson,  Tyson Harvey, Ryan Coghlin and Quinlan Moore all had solid defensive games on the weekend

Bradley Jenks played well making   24 saves on Sunday.

Bradley Jenks and Liam Giroux shared the goalie duties in Saturday’s game  with neither seeing much action.

 

VICTORIA GRIZZLIES HAMMER BURNABY EXPRESS 8-4

 

After a slow start, the Victoria Grizzlies hammered the Burnaby Express 8-4 in BC Hockey League action Saturday at Bear Mountain Arena.

Simon Denis of the Express opened the scoring at 3:44 on a pass from Chris Van Duynhoven.

Then at 17:00 of the first period Dustin Mowrey put the Grizz on the

 

socreboard on a pass from Jordan Heywood.

This was followed by a powerplay goal by Mike Tebbutt at 19:31 from Derek Bacon and Jordan Heywood.

The second period was all Grizz with Brad Pawlowski scoring on the power play from Jordan Heywood at 11:23 followed by a goal by Nick Buchanan 11 minutes later from Derek Bacon and Joel Lowry and a powerplay goal by Spencer Copp (unassisted) seconds before the period ended.

Brandon Fagerheim started the scoring for the Griz in the third period with an unassisted powerplay goal at the 2:41 mark.

This was followed by a goal by Spencer Copp from Wesley Myron at 5:32 and another by Wesley Myron from Spencer Copp and Brandon Fagerheim at 5:48.

Last minute efforts by the Burnaby Express were too late to reverse the outcome.

Scoring powerplay goals were James Bettauer at 14:34 from Garrick Perry and Simon Denis; Zac Ashdown from Brad Reid and Simon Denis at 16:45 and James Bettauer from Simon Denis and Garrick Perry at 19:44.

Named the game stars were Spencer Copp, Brandon Fagerheim and Wesley Myron.

In other BCHL action, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs stopped the Surrey Eagles 3-1 with tweo goals by Mitch MacMillan and an unassisted goal by Tye Lewis.

And the Powell River KIings nipped the Cowichan Valley Capitals 2-1 in overtime.

Mike Hammond scored for the Caps and the Caps’ Laurent Brossoit was named the game’s first star.

Scoring for the Kings were Andrew Pettitt in the first period and Daniel Carr in the second overtime period.

 

 

GRIZZLIES EDGE CLIPPERS 1-0 IN OT

 

 

 

It took 68 minutes and 43 seconds for the Victoria Grizzlies to beat the Nanaimo Clippers 1-0 Tuesday at Bear Mountain Arena.

It was the second time in a row the Grizz clipped the Clippers.

Captain Jordan Heywood scored the winning goal on a pass from Dustin Mowrey and Jared Eng at 3:43 of the second overtime period to give the Griz the B.C. Hockey League victory.

The game was fraught with fighting with Nick Bell, Gregory Simpson, Jordan Heywood, Tyler Mah each getting five minute penalties for fighting in the first period.

Victor Newell and Dylan Nowakowski , received five minutes each in the second period and Kiefer McNaughton and Joel Lowrey, five minutes each in the third.

On Saturday the Clippers lost their first B.C. Hockey League game of 2010, falling 4-2 to the visiting Victoria Grizzlies in Nanaimo.

Scoring for Victoria were Sam Grist, Dustin Mowrey, former Clipper Brandon Fagerheim and Wesley Myron who flicked a short-handed goal into an empty net in the final seconds.

Putting the Clippers on the scoreboard were Luc Olivier Blain and Brayden Jaw.

The Grizzlies next home game is Saturday against the Burnaby Express.

The Clippers next home game is Friday against the Cowichan Valley Capitals at Frank Crane Arena.

 

 

 

COUGARS HAMMER ISLANDERS 7-3

By Peter Kung

The Victoria Cougars used the Christmas break to refine their game.

On Saturday, their hard work paid off in a big way.

Anthony Hordyk scored twice to extend his point streak to four games as

Victoria hammered the Kerry Park Islanders 7-3 at the Kerry Park Recreation Centre.

The Cougars held practices three times last week before embarking on a 7K run on New Year’s Day.

Despite a couple of lapses during the second and third periods, Victoria did not otherwise show any signs of rust after having 13 days off from competition.

Sam Rice, Jimmy Carter, Tanner Burns, Chris Savage, and Karl Hagg also scored for the Cougars, which held period leads of 2-1 and 7-2.

Kerry Park had the game’s first opportunity when they were given a two man advantage for a full two minutes following penalties to Wade Masch and Justin Sotkowy at the 2:31 mark of the opening period.  In their opponent’s zone for the majority of the powerplay, the Islanders were unable to solve goaltender Max Pelzner, who made 33 saves overall.

Ranked No. 1 in the eight-team Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, Kerry Park’s powerplay finished 0-for-4.

Then at 6:24, it was the Cougars turn at the powerplay when newcomer James Kellington was assessed a penalty for roughing after the whistle.  Kellington, who was acquired from the Peninsula Panthers in exchange for Cole Thomson, recorded zero points, two minor penalties, and a ten minute misconduct in his debut.

 

 

It only took eight seconds for Victoria to score on the powerplay, which finished 1-for-5, when Rice’s slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle whistled by starting net minder Ed Dyson.  Assisting on the play was Adam Steenbergen, who extended his point streak to four games.

 

After taking a cross ice pass from Tommy Kala, Carter, at 8:57, skated over the blue line and rifled a snap shot off the cross bar and in to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.

Then with an incredible individual effort from Trevor Gicas, the Islanders’ captain weaved through several defenders before finding the back of the net at 15:15.

The first period ended with a bizarre incident.  With 16 seconds remaining on the game clock, referee Jarrett Taylor assessed Sotkowy a ten minute misconduct and a game misconduct.

Four minutes into the second period, Pelzner made a spectacular save off of Nick Vanstone.  Back the other way, Hordyk scored his career high 19th goal.

Victoria went ahead 4-1 on a goal by Burns at 6:57.

Just over three minutes later, Hagg was awarded a penalty shot after he was

 

hauled down en route to the net.  Dyson came up huge, denying the league’s leading scorer.

But at 11:19, Savage scored unassisted to give the Cougars a 5-1 lead.  Hagg scored off a Savage rebound at 14:20 before Hordyk, at 15:20, tipped home a Carter pass.

After Hordyk’s goal, Dyson, who made 15-of-22 saves, was replaced by Taylor Pears.  The former Cowichan Valley Capitals goalie stopped all 13 shots in 24:40 of relief.

Sheldon Latham’s goal at 16:29 of the second period and 10:25 of the third would pull Kerry Park to within four but that was all the North Island Division leaders could muster.

Islanders’ Jackson Wilson and Joel Gordon each had their five game point streaks come to an end.

Playing well defensively for Victoria was Scott Mellett and Mark Meyer, who consistently and constantly blocked shots from getting through on net.

The win moved the second place Cougars (25-3-6) to within two points of the idle Peninsula Panthers.

Kerry Park (21-10-2) remained ten points ahead of the Oceanside Generals, who lost 4-3 to the Campbell River Storm.  It was the third straight loss on home ice for the Islanders.

In other action around the VIJHL, the Comox Valley Glacier Kings defeated the Westshore Stingers 5-1.

THREE STARS:  Not announced

NEXT AWAY GAME: Victoria Cougars at Westshore Stingers on Monday, January 4. Game time at Bear Mountain Arena, located at 1767 Island Hwy, is 7:30 p.m.

NEXT HOME GAME: Westshore Stingers at Victoria Cougars on Thursday, January 7. Game time at the Archie Browning Sports Centre, located at 1151 Esquimalt Road, is 7:15 p.m.

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