Fresh off a three in three road trip to the Interior Conference, the Dogs are right back it on Tuesday night as they visit the Victoria Grizzlies. They will then get some much needed time to rest and recover before they return home to host the Coquitlam Express on Saturday and the Surrey Eagles on Sunday afternoon.
The Grizzlies enter play Tuesday night with a record of 29-23-0 and 3, good for 61 points and fourth place in the Coastal Conference. The Grizz are three points back of the third placed Chiefs with two games in hand. They are tied with the Nanaimo Clippers in points as well, but the Grizzlies also have a game in hand on them. They were last in action Saturday night in Coquitlam where they lost 4-3 to the Express. Coquitlam got off to a great start, taking a 1-0 lead just 95 seconds into the game before the Grizzlies answered back at the five minute mark with a Joel Lowry goal to tie the game at 1-1. It was 2-1 Grizzlies less than two minutes later on a Mitch Labreche goal as the Grizzlies took that lead to the locker room. The Express came out in the second and tied it at 2-2 just over two minutes in on the power play, before taking the lead at 3-2 with less than five to play in the frame. The Grizzlies would battle back to tie it at 3-3 with Lowry?s second of the game with just over a minute to play in the second as the teams headed to the room deadlocked at three after 40 minutes. The Express went ahead 4-3 with nine minutes to go and that stood up as the winner as the Grizz couldn?t find the tying goal.
Shots favoured the Express 32-29 with Cam Gorchynski taking the loss in goal. The Grizzlies went 0 for 3 on the power play while the Express went 1 for 4.
Tuesday?s game marks the eight meeting between the teams this season, with the Grizzlies winning 6 of 7. The first six games were all tight contests with a single goal separating the clubs down to the wire, while the last meeting was one to forget as the Grizzlies skated to a 7-2 win at the Dog Pound on January 28th. The Dogs have yet to win at the Bear Mountain Arena this season. As it is a possible playoff match up for the Dogs, it?s important that they put forth a good effort in this one.
Catch the pregame show from the Bear Mountain Arena at 7:00 with the play-by-play to follow at 7:15pm on 93.3 The Peak FM and our website at www.933thepeak.com
The Express enter play Tuesday night with a record of 19-24-1 and 9, good for 48 points and last place in the Coastal Conference. They have the same amount of points as the Cowichan Valley Capitals, but the Caps have one more win. The Express record and position in the standings could be vastly different before they roll into the Dog Pound on Saturday as they have a very busy week ahead of them as they also play on Tuesday night when they host the Langley Chiefs. They then head to Victoria on Friday before visiting the Dog Pound Saturday and then finishing their week in Powell River on Sunday.
This is the fourth and final meeting between the teams with the first three being an even split ? the teams tied the first one in Coquitlam at 3-3 before the Express topped the Dogs 4-2 at the Pound in early December. The Dogs would return the favour with a 4-2 win in Coquitlam at the end of the month.
The pregame show gets underway Saturday night from the Dog at 6:45 with the play-by-play to follow at 7:00. Get it all on 93.3 The Peak FM, www.933thepeak.com or the BCHL website at www.bchl.ca
The week finishes off on Sunday afternoon with the fourth and final meeting between the Dogs and Eagles. The Eagles enter play Tuesday night with a record of 33-18-1 and 2, good for 69 points and 2nd place in the Coastal Conference, well behind the Powell River Kings. The Eagles have a five point lead on the Chiefs, and they have also played three less games.
Like the Express, the Eagles have a busy week before they roll into town on Sunday afternoon as they open their weekend Friday night in Powell River before getting over to the Island to visit the Grizzlies on Saturday before making way to the Dog Pound for Sunday afternoon.
The Eagles have won all three of the previous meetings this season, including most recently at the Dog Pound on January 22nd where they topped the Dogs 4-2.
Catch the pregame show Sunday afternoon from the Dog Pound at 2:15 with the play-by-play to follow on 93.3 The Peak and www.bchl.ca at 2:30pm.
