November brings no relief to Grizzlies
Second time in three outings team blanked at home
Oh my, that was definitely not what the doctor ordered.
In fact, it was completely opposite, sort of like having a flu shot and getting sick the very next day.
Looking to strengthen their position on home ice, the Victoria Grizzlies laid down a stinker on Friday night, falling behind 4-0 after one period.
The team was shredded 6-0 at the final whistle by the Merritt Centennials in B.C. Hockey League play.
It was the second time in three straight home losses the Grizzlies have been blanked at The Q Centre — a brutal statistic.
It came in their third-jersey blues to support men’s health in the month of November.
The local side looked beaten early, almost as if they have tuned out general manager and head coach Craig Didmon.
But that’s not the case, said captain Lucas Clark, who is playing injured.
“Craig is the one guy you can never tune out. He’s one of the smartest coaches I’ve ever had and it’s up to us to take whatever it is he’s saying.
“Sometimes I think we get away from his game plan, but his game plan is not wrong, it’s right,” Clark said. “It’s us, and when we decide to go against his system is when things start to fall apart.
“We’re 0-3 at home now with two shutouts, and I think we have some big egos to check at the door, coming into home games and every game,” Clark added with passion.
“We have to start respecting other teams and stop looking at teams’ records and think it’s going to be a cake walk. We’re not a top team right now, we’re mid-pack, and we have to start respecting teams more,” Clark said.
Matthieu Gosselin opened the scoring at 8:25 of the first period for the Centennials, who travelled through the day to get to the Island.
Zach Court, Matthew Kopperud and Henry Cleghorn then all tallied within a 30-second span as the deflated Grizzlies stood around confused.
Starting Grizzlies netminder Zack Rose came out of the net after the fourth goal, with affiliated call-up Bryce Scheibel replacing him for the final 2:38 of the period.
Rose came out to start the second period and lasted just 1:44 as Rylan Van Unen upped the lead to 5-0, which brought out Scheibel yet again.
Scheibel, of the Peninsula Panthers of the VIJHL, stood tall until he gave up a power-play goal to Zach Zorn at 13:22 of the third.
Meanwhile, Centennials goaltender Jacob Berger stopped all 32 shots he faced.
The Centennials improve to 7-10-2-0 on the season while the Grizzlies fall to 10-8-2-0.
The two teams had scored an identical 55 goals for entering the game.
Victoria had surrendered 56 goals against coming into the game, while Merritt had allowed 59.
The Grizzlies are back at home on Sunday at 2 p.m. to face a powerful Trail Smoke Eaters club that edged the Nanaimo Clippers 4-3 in overtime on Friday.
The Smoke Eaters are in Duncan tonight to face the Cowichan Valley Capitals while Victoria is idle.