Victoria Grizzlies Colton Kitchen gets around Naniamo Clippers Kyler Kovich in BCHL action at The Q Centre on Saturday.
Photograph By DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST
Brian Drewry / Times Colonist
DECEMBER 21, 2019 10:07 PM
After going 0-for-7 on the power play, the Victoria Grizzlies needed a Christmas miracle to pull out a victory over the Island Division-leading Nanaimo Clippers on Saturday night at The Q Centre, and their star rookie delivered it.
After having his 10-game point streak snapped by the Clippers the night before at Frank Crane Arena, Cody Monds set up one goal in regulation and then picked off a pass at centre ice with a minute left in overtime and went in and blasted a wrist shot past Jordan Naylor to give the Grizzlies a 5-4 victory.
It was Victoria’s third win over Nanaimo in 10 days.
The 18-year-old Monds, who has an NCAA scholarship to Providence College for the fall of 2021, now has 38 points, tops among all B.C. Hockey League rookies and 10th overall in the league.
Grizzlies defenceman Isack Bandu sent an early message to the Clippers that Saturday night’s game wasn’t going to be a repeat of Friday night’s 5-0 Clippers’ win.
Midway through the first period, Bandu had enough of Clippers forward Brandon Dent’s hacking and whacking, and dropped the gloves and got in a couple of punches before the linesmen broke it up.
Surprisingly Bandu collected seven minutes in penalties and West just skated to bench unpenalized.
And even though the Clippers (24-10-4) tallied twice on the power play, broken up by a shorthanded goal from Grizzlies blue-liner Jake Veilleux, Bandu’s teammates grinded out the victory despite being outshot 49-26.
It took the Clippers just 14 seconds into Bandu’s original minor to open the scoring as Steven Agriogianis beat Joe Howe in close.
After Grizzlies blue-liner Jake Veilleux tallied shorthanded to even it up at 1-1, Agriogianis struck again in the late stages of Bandu’s major penalty to put the Clippers up after one period.
The Grizzlies (15-24-0) came to life in the second, getting early goals from Alex Dipaolo and Marty Westhaver that chased Clippers netminder Zachary Bennett, who was replaced by Naylor after giving three goals on 10 shots.
Travis Walton got the Clippers even midway through the second, but it took James Davenport just two minutes into the third to restore the Grizzlies lead. And just when the 1,430 fans at The Q thought the Grizzlies were going to skate away with a regulation-time win, Kyler Kovich banged home a rebound with 3:24 left in the third to send the game to extra time.
When the Grizzlies return from the Christmas break they will head right out on the road. Victoria travels to Wenatchee on Jan. 3, Penticton on Jan. 4 and Surrey on Jan. 5.
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