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Victoria Grizzlies miss goalie as Powell River Kings net 12

If Craig Didmon wanted to know what life was like without a proven number one goalie, the Victoria Grizzlies general manager and head coach got a glimpse of it Saturday, October 20, and it wasn’t pretty.
Powell River Kings

If Craig Didmon wanted to know what life was like without a proven number one goalie, the Victoria Grizzlies general manager and head coach got a glimpse of it Saturday, October 20, and it wasn’t pretty.

With Kurtis Chapman injured in practice this week and unable to play Saturday and Zack Rose not due back until December after off-season shoulder surgery, Grizzlies backup Keenan Rancier made just his third BC Hockey League start and his first at the Q Centre. And it was a short one. Rancier gave up six goals on 13 shots in the first period as the visiting Powell River Kings pounded the Grizzlies 12-5.

Rancier gave way to emergency call-up Charles LePage to start the second, but LePage, who plays for the Kerry Park Islanders of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, didn’t fare any better, letting in six goals on 20 shots as the Kings (8-6) snapped a two-game losing skid.

“There’s three parts [offence, defence, goaltending] to a hockey game and, unfortunately tonight, we only got one of them,” said Didmon, whose club outshot Powell River 37-33.

Grizzlies captain Alex Newhook opened the scoring four minutes into the game, but then the Kings scored six goals in the final 15 minutes of the period. Rowan Miller, Mitch Williams and Matt Fawcett all had two goals for Powell River, who took a 12-2 lead into the third. Newhook added his second of the night on a second-period power play. Riley Hughes, Carter Berger and Henri Schreifels added third-period goals for Victoria.

The Grizzlies (10-6) picked the wrong night to have a stinker, with scouts from four NHL teams in attendance, including Thomas Gradin of the Vancouver Canucks. They liked what they saw on the Newhook goal that opened the scoring. The Grizzlies captain, projected to go in the first round of the 2019 NHL draft, undressed a Kings defenceman at the blue line, then fired a high wrister over the shoulder of Powell River goaltender Mitch Adamyk.

It was the lone highlight for Victoria, but they have little time to dwell on it as they host the Surrey Eagles on Sunday, October 21.

Kings face Nanaimo at 2 pm on Sunday to complete a three-game weekend road trip, which started with a 3-1 loss to Cowichan on Friday, October 19.