Above Photo: Sophiesphotographys
Duncan, BC ~ Second time’s the charm? The Victoria Grizzlies hope that is the case tonight as they look to close out their series with the Cowichan Valley Capitals tonight at 7:00 p.m. from the Cowichan Community Arena in Duncan.
Somehow three games to one feels much closer than three games to none seeing as that is the best-of-seven series score after Cowichan kept their season alive on Wednesday night at the Q Centre with a narrow 6-5 victory. It certainly wasn’t Victoria’s cleanest game however it didn’t help that they were in the penalty box five times in the first half of the game. Cowichan took advantage and scored three times on those power plays making for quite the turn of the tide that Victoria was almost able to steal back in their third. They will need to be on their best behavior tonight to stay away from the sin bin with the bar seeming to be slightly lower for the smaller sized Capitals who have had 14 man advantages to Victoria’s seven through four games.
The fourth game is always the hardest to win and to make matters worse Victoria needs to do that tonight on enemy territory. A Cowichan win tonight would force a game six tomorrow night at the Q Centre with a chance to tie the series up. You can hang your hat on the fact that the Grizzlies would like to avoid that scenario and cut the head off the snake this evening.
It is hard to not imagine that their line of Tom Molson, Tobias Pitka and Will Schumacher won’t be the game changing one. That trio has combined for 15 goals in the playoffs so far and had all five of the Grizzlies goal in game four. Molson now has 11 points in his last six games (six in his last two), Schumacher has seven points in his last three, and Pitka has six goals and 10 points in his last six games.
Victoria will also need to bear down defensively this evening against a Cowichan team that was finally able to break through offensively last time out. They may have gotten some help but they still put up six and that kind of defensive effort certainly isn’t one that will lead to much success for the Grizzlies.
Puck drop goes at 7:00 p.m. with Victoria hoping to head to their first Conference Final at the end of the night since the Alex Newhook lead 2019 team did so. You can listen live for free with Tom Wilke on the Grizzlies Radio Network on mixLR.
2024-25 Team Ranks (Post Season)
| Victoria | Cowichan | |
| Goals For Per Game | 4.20 (3rd) | 3.67 (4th) |
| Goals Against Per Game | 3.10 (6th) | 3.89 (13th) |
| Power Play Percentage | 27.3% (4th) | 31.3% (2nd) |
| Penalty Kill Percentage | 75.8% (11th) | 75.0% (12th) |
| Penalty Minutes Per Game | 9.20 (8th) | 8.33 (6th) |
| Home Record | 4-1 (T-4th) | 3-2 (7th) |
| Away Record | 3-2 (T-3rd) | 2-2 (T-5th) |
| Playoff Record Last Five Post Seasons | 22-27 (.449) | 16-19 (.457) |
| Team Leader | Victoria | Cowichan |
| Goals | Tom Molson (8) | Camden Bajzer (7) |
| Assists | Will Schumacher (9) | Jordan Bax (10) |
| Points | Tom Molson (13) | Camden Bajzer (12) |
| Penalty Minutes | Easton Kovacs (12) | Gavin Giesbrecht (17) |
