The Victoria Grizzlies served notice they can be counted on as one of the top teams in the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Hockey League as the playoffs fast approach.
Six days after knocking off the league-leading Penticon Vees, the Grizzlies struck early and often on Friday night in Surrey to defeat the Coastal Conference second-place Eagles 6-2.
Jack Gorton, bound for NCAA Div. 1 Boston University next fall, got things started for the Grizzlies, scoring on a breakaway just two minutes into the game. That was followed by a shorthanded marker from Grizzlies leading scorer Olivier Picard, and then rookie Anthony Carone tallied with three minutes left in the period to put Victoria up 3-0 at the break.
Luc Pelletier, with his first of two on the night, scored on the power play midway through the second period to put the Grizzlies up 4-0.
The only blemish on Grizzlies netminder Oliver Auyeung-Ashton’s night was two power-play goals 30 seconds apart early in the third by Eagles leading scorer Jacob Bonkowski that cut the Grizzlies lead to 4-2. Picard added a late power-play goal to round out the scoring.
The victory moved the Grizzlies to 19-13-4-2 on the season, good for fifth place in the conference, two points back of third-place Alberni Valley. The Eagles fall to 24-11-2-1.
The Grizzlies now head to Langley to face the Riverment tonight at 7:15.
