Rome feeling right at home with Grizzlies
With all his recent successes, the Christmas break almost appears to be coming at an inopportune time for Jamie Rome.
The 18-year-old rookie Victoria Grizzlies forward scored three goals and added an assist Sunday afternoon to power the B.C. Hockey League club to a 6-2 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings. The performance, in front of a crowd of 1,035 at The Q Centre, was the third time the Calgary native has recorded a multi-point game in his last seven outings. It was also the last Grizzlies game until post-Christmas, when the locals travel to Duncan to face the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Dec. 30.
“Hopefully, it doesn’t cool me off going back home for Christmas,” said Rome, who now has 14 goals on the season, including eight in his last eight appearances.
“I’m just trying to get more shots on net and the line has been playing great. We’re all sharing the puck and it’s been working well,” added Rome.
Along with linemates Cam Thompson (one goal and one assist) and Lucas Clark (two helpers), the unit struck for eight points in the win, which improves Victoria’s record to 23-6-3-4 for 53 points, 10 up on Powell River in the Island Division and third overall.
“So far I’ve been very pleased,” said Rome, who has 24 points in 36 games. “I love the team, the coaching and it’s a great city. Everything has gone exactly how I had hoped, so far.”
It’s especially good since he missed an entire season two years ago in which he broke his jaw and in the first game back, broke his wrist, wiping out the entire year. He played last season and is starting to find his stride again and has talked to some NCAA schools of late.
“He’s getting a lot of attention from both the NHL and NCAA and you’re seeing why,” Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon said of Rome. “He’s a player who had a few injuries so he slipped through the cracks. We felt fortunate that he was available this year and he just keeps getting better.
“He’s extremely strong. He’s a big kid and he shoots on the fly well and he can skate like the wind. That line has been together all year and they wore down [Prince George’s] best player [Greg] Mennear. I can’t say enough of Jamie Rome, or Clark and Thompson, for that matter.”
Cole Pickup also scored and added an assist to record his third multi-point game in his last six games and leads the team with 43 points. He is currently on a sixgame point streak in which he has amassed three goals and six helpers.
Marty Westhaver also scored for Victoria while goalie Tony Rehm made 44 stops as he was kept busy throughout.
Travis Schneider and Ben Poisson replied for the Spruce Kings, who were tied 1-1 midway through the first period, but trailed 3-1 and 3-2 at the intermissions. They had a great chance to tie it 3-3 on a 1:35 two-man advantage late in the second, but the Grizzlies killed that off.
A double-minor to Rome also gave P.G. a chance just 2:50 into the third. Instead, Victoria killed that off and Rome collected an assist on Thompson’s goal at 7:20 and then scored twice in a 4:55 gap.
The team was again without No. 1 goalie Matthew Galajda, who just finished playing in the World Junior A Challenge, and injured players, captain Cody Van Lierop, Tyler Welsh and Keyvan Mokhtari.
“This is a battered and bruised group and to come in and have a big third period like they did, I thought they showed [character],” said Didmon. “The penalty kills made me happy.
“We kept our composure. There were some tough calls and we got ourselves into tough positions with the 5-on-3 and the fourminute 5-on-4. The guys worked hard and then we get a goal against the flow. I was happy with the performance.”
The Grizzlies will not play at home again until Jan. 12, two days after the BCHL trade deadline.