Alberni Valley Bulldogs goaltender Jay Deo stopped all 32 shots the Victoria Grizzlies threw at him in recording a 2-0 shutout at Weyerhaeuser Arena in Port Alberni, Saturday night. The win brings the Bulldogs even with the Grizzlies, 1-1 in their best-of-five B.C. Hockey League Coastal Conference semi-finals.
The Bulldogs' defence was the second chapter of the story tonight, as they rotated five D-men through most of the game after Kurt Gosselin was hurt early in the first period. He didn't return to the game. Tryg Strand also left the game in the third period after a hard hit.
"Our guys came prepared," Bulldogs' assistant coach Adam Hayduk said during a post-game interview with PEAK FM play-by-play commentator Evan Hammond. "Our PK (penalty killing) was unreal. We were 4-for-4 today."
The Bulldogs killed a four-minute double minor after Evan Tironese was called for spearing with less than five minutes left in the third period.
The game was scoreless through the first two periods, with shots on goal 24-23 in favour of Alberni Valley after 40 minutes.
Jared Wilson turned the tide for the Bulldogs on the power play 17 seconds into the third period, flipping the puck into the top right corner over Brady Rouleau's shoulder and giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Just out of the penalty box, Tironese passed to Chase Paylor who bagged an empty-net goal at 19:36 of the third to seal the game for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs scored twice on 39 shots on goal in the game. The Grizzlies have now gone scoreless in four periods over the two games in this series.
ICE CHIPS...Attendance at the game was 1755, another sellout...The series switches to Victoria's Bear Mountain Arena on Monday night, then returns for Game 4 in the Dawg Pound on Tuesday, March 26. Game time is 7 p.m....Defenceman Jesse Spooner from Campbell River will dress for the Bulldogs when they head to Victoria.
editor@albernivalleynews.com