The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday: Grizzlies Visit The Navy's Elite Divers

           It is not every day that a Canadian Junior hockey team is able to experience the excitement of a day in the life of a Navy Clearance Diver. In fact, one could wager that if you were to ask the average player in the BCHL what they know about Navy diving, most wouldn’t be able to tell you what a Clearance Diver was in the first place. But you won’t find that this week if you were to visit The Q Centre in Colwood BC, home of the Victoria Grizzlies Junior A Hockey Club. No, if you walked in there this week and asked your average Grizzlies player, they would be able to tell you quite a bit of interesting detail about the elite cadre of Royal Canadian Navy Clearance Divers who work literally only a kilometre from where the team plays and practices nearly every day of the hockey season.

            The reason for this is because the Victoria Grizzlies were the recent guests of the Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) this past Tuesday for a day of professional exchange and some good old fashioned team building. The concept of team building was probably likely not on the minds of the players that morning as they were “ordered at high volume” into the FDU(P) Student Change Room and treated like raw Clearance Diver recruits in the middle of a highly intensive dress parade. Dress parade, for those not in the know, is the high speed training drill designed to teach the young divers both teamwork along with the technical procedure for getting dressed at pace in order to be ready to enter the water at the order of their instructor.  Its like Boot Camp for "Diver Want To Be's".

            “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?!  ITS ONE MINUTE THIRTY, YOU MAGGOTS SHOULD BE ALL DRESSED BY NOW!  MOVE!”, yelled the Drill Sergeant like FDU(P) instructors as the 22 players, complete with dive bags, wet suits and fins, rapidly attempted to dress in time to meet the day’s first timing, the dreaded “Morning Swim”. This would be a swim around the 1.5 km Esquimalt Harbour FDU(P) Jackstay. More than once you could hear the players laughing quietly under their breath as they attempted to don wet suits, boots and fins at high speed with comments like: “Holly crap, these guys are crazy!”

            But in just over five minutes, the entire Victoria Grizzlies Hockey Club were assembled at the end of Golf Jetty, right alongside their twelve Clearance Diver Student mentors, each indicating thumbs up and ready to hit the water. And hit the water they soon did with only the occasional “OMG its frigin cold!” Soon they were all swimming the course and likely wondering secretly to themselves what they had each gotten themselves into on a day which on paper said on the team’s training sheet back at the rink: Professional Development. 

 

            Throughout the next half hour, comments during the swim from the players ranged from: “Are my ankles supposed to hurt this much?” or “What do I do if I lost a fin?”, to “There can’t be any salt water left in this ocean, I think I drank it all!”.  But those all too common lines were also met with many: “Come on PJ, you can do it man, let's go!”, or “Let’s go Sads, you’ve got this bud!”

            After a tough morning swim, the team joined the CD Course on the Rope Tower Confidence Course as they attempted to pull themselves out of the ocean and over the various challenging obstacles. There was plenty of fun factor during this part of the day’s activities as various players dove into the water yelling the famous battle cry of the CD Course student: “I WANT TO BE A CLEARANCE DIVER!”, all to the rousing applause of his fellow teammates and newly bonded Clearance Diver Student buddies.

            After the swim and rope climbing exercise, the team showered off and carried on with a full unit tour which included a visit to EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) to don the various Tech 9 EOD Bomb Suits, handle various (free of ammo) small arms weapons and play with the Telerob EOD robot. A final visit to FDU(P)'s Recompression Chamber and RCC facilities garnered many questions about decompression sickness (The Bends) and the use of Hyperbaric Treatments in the support of athletic injuries, to name but a few.

            The afternoon portion of the event was an opportunity for the Grizzlies to get back a bit at the divers with a fun filled shinny hockey game played at the Q Centre. And the hosts this time did not disappoint as they did what they always do best while in their own environment. They played hockey at the highest level and showed their lesser hockey playing new diver buddies a thing or two about playing puck. After the two groups, divers and Grizzlies were evenly split up into two roughly even teams, the FDU(P) divers were in for a treat. Highly precise, tape to tape, high speed passes and stick dangles along with World Junior level speed were the order of the day as many helpless divers, all fairly good hockey players in their own right attempted to keep pace with the honed skills of the Grizzlies.

            Interestingly, the conversation on the benches continued to involve the theme of the day which was professional development, excellence and team building. Questions revolved around diving, deployed operations in Afghanistan and hockey all afternoon. After the game, both respective groups shook hands at Centre Ice for a short “Photo Op” with the Grizzlies players each receiving an FDU(P) Gold Coin from their diver counterparts in a handshake ceremony to commemorate the occasion as a symbol of thanks and gratitude for the day.

            This marked only the second time in recent years that FDU(P) has been able to offer this community outreach piece to the Grizzlies, but all indications by both organizations are that this will become an annual event.  So if you see any of the Grizzlies around town later this week, don’t bother asking any of them if they have tired or sore bodies. They will likely point out the equally sore Clearance Divers who work just a short walk past the DND gates down the road from The Q Centre. -CC

Check out what it was like for the boys at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS8UVsHTFvw&list=UUT2PN1sXOb91xy_nlUF69Fg

Grizzlies vs Alberni Valley: The Drama Kings Strike Again in a 5-2 Win

     A lot of people come up to me at The Q Centre on game nights and ask me why I call this year's version of the Victoria Grizzlies, The Drama Kings. "Isn't that kind of mean Clay?", the fan will often ask me. "Isn't that kind of disrespectful, I thought you liked them?".  I do like them, in fact, if you listen closely, you will understand as I explain the huge difference between the terms "Drama Queen" and "Drama Kings". Trust me, there is a massive difference and Drama Kings is a term of endearment.

     Anytime your team wins a game in which you never trailed, especially on the road, you rarely leave the rink saying "Phewf, that was a close one, that one was full of drama."  But that very well may have been the thoughts of a number of the Grizzlies players, coaches and Booster Bus fans who were on that long bus ride home to the Q Centre late last night. I suspect that many people on those two Victoria bound buses were likely thinking that very thing while most of us other Grizzlies fans who failed to make the long trip to the Dog Pound were probably only thinking about bed and that extra hour of sleep we were all going to get.

     But I was in that group who were feeling very fortunate to be returning from the team's only game over this Halloween Weekend with a big fat road win for the good guys. So why would you feel fortunate for a 5-2 road win, how could that possibly have been full of drama?  Well I watched the game and I saw a tied contest late in the 3rd period with a buzzing and dangerous Bulldogs team which, had they scored and they nearly did (if not for some fine Micheal Stiliadis late saves), the Grizzlies may not have been so fortunate.

     Yet, the Bulldogs failed to score in those final minutes and instead gave up a number of empty net goals, thus creating the misleading score line at the end of a hockey game which on paper looked vanilla. But this game was hardly devoid of high drama.

     A rough affair it was, complete with an uber rare BCHL fight.  Yes you heard me right, there was a fight in a BCHL game last night. Storm Wahlrab v Zak Bowles, with the decision to big #27 who started the bout with three hard connections to the head of Bowles before the Bulldog fell on Wahlrab to save his dignity. This was early in the first period in a game which oddly enough didn't feature a whole lot of penalties. In front of 1,089 fans, right on the league average for attendance, the Grizzlies took an early lead on a beautiful Matthew Kennedy goal. It was set up by a clever backhand pass by Dane Gibson after a faceoff win by Jay Mackie deep in the Alberni end. The goal set the tone of the hockey game and forced the Bulldogs into chasing the game all evening.

     Alberni Valley would answer early in the 2nd period on a bad giveaway in the identical spot on the ice as the earlier Matt Kennedy goal and a quick wrister by the Bulldog Mitch Makin would make it 1-1. Then things got a little testy. Late in the period, Grizzlies defenseman Cody Van Lierop would somehow become entangled near centre ice with Bulldogs forward and leading scorer Evan Tironese. That would be the night for the stalwart Victoria defenseman as Van Lierop would receive a 5 minute major for slashing plus a Game Misconduct. With Tironese rolling around in pain at centre ice and unable to put any weight on the left leg as he went straight to the dressing room, there likely was something to the call. This was even though few in the building actually witnessed the slash it as it was well away from the play, so much so that the call was made by one of the two linesmen in fact. But the Bulldogs would fail to score on the ensuing five minute Power Play and each team retired at the end of the 2nd period with the score tied at 1-1.

     Though the play of the game, for this sports writer occurred half-way through the final frame and few will remember it later in the year but it was largely due to what I often refer to as an "Assist to the Dreaded Discarded Stick". Why the officials never pick up dropped sticks is quite beyond my ability to understand, however that stick helped lead to the eventual Victoria go ahead goal. And Cole Pickup didn't mind as he gloved down a pinching Kevin Massy shot which had caromed off the glass and ended up in front of the Grizzlies hottest scorer as of late. Pickup made no mistake, quickly firing a wrist shot at the net and finding the twine with his 4th goal of the season and sixth point in three games, a goal which made it a 2-1 Grizzlies lead.

     It looked like the game would end that way until Victoria finally committed the one mistake they have managed to avoid all year, giving up a Short Handed Goal. After a neutral zone give away, Bulldogs forward Darian Henry stole the puck and took a long, hard slap shot from the right point just as he entered the offensive zone. I know Micheal Stiliadis would have wanted that one back. The puck somehow managed to get through his equipment and then trickled ever so slowly over the goal line. This occurred before the sprawling Grizzlies goalie could dive on the puck and avert the goal light flashing with the famous "Dog Pound Train Horn" informing every living soul all the way to Ucluelet that the Bulldogs had indeed scored. After a short conversation with the Goal Judge, Referee Mike Christians, who was injured in the wrist earlier in the game, wisely awarded the goal. While the puck did appear to just cross the line, he likely allowed the goal to stand if for nothing else to avert a certain riot at the Weyerhaeuser Arena. And after pointing to the centre ice circle, off went the old Hudson Bay Rail train whistle for the third time on a two goal night and even the townsfolk in Bamfield probably knew that the Bulldogs had levelled the score. At that moment most people in the building, not to mention the population of Barclay Sound likely thought we were headed to OT.

     But just seconds later, Matt Kennedy would silence that crowd, along with that annoying train whistle with what would eventually be the game winner after deflecting a beautiful backhanded pass from the left half wall by Dane Gibson. By virtue of that pass, Kennedy would score his second personal tally of the evening. It was Victoria's third goal of the night from the exact same location on the ice as the previous two Grizzlies markers. 

     Thus it would prove the Zamboni End was a tough section of the ice to defend for both goalies on the night, but you can't blame Bulldogs net minder Billy Christopoulos for the final two at the far end of the rink. Both final Victoria goals came via the empty net for both Mitchell Barker and Kevin Massy. Interestingly, new signee, #26 Ayden MacDonald would pick up a helper on Barker's empty netter, his first point in a Grizzlies uniform for the former Richmond Sockeye.

     So that is how the game would end, 5-2 for the Grizzlies, now 2-1 vs Alberni Valley this season.  It was a night full of big hits, an actual hockey fight (I am still in shock), an ejection, an injured referee along with a banged up Bulldog or two, a strange goal line leaker which went to review and lots of late drama for a team which can even find tension in a 5-2 win. Only the Drama Kings could manage that. Remember that Kings, without exception always rule their land and these 2014-2015 Victoria Grizzlies rule the "Kingdom of Drama."

     The Grizzlies host the BCHL league leaders, Penticton Vees at the Q Centre this coming Friday 7 Nov, 2014 at 7:00 pm. And folks, if you suffer from any heart ailments, please consult your doctor before attending, LOL! See you Friday night. -CC

Grizzlies vs Warriors 26 Oct 2014: Can You Handle The Truth?

     Well I for one had some mixed feelings after calling the game yesterday afternoon at the Q Centre.  Sure, you could look at the 6-5 loss after that huge three goal outburst by the Grizzlies in the first five minutes of the game, and say: "Well that's a shame, they had it won."  But that's not how I felt as I took off my headset and loosened my tie after the final horn.  And its not how I felt as I drove off the JDF property and up the steep approaches surrounding the rink at about 4:30pm yesterday.  No, not me.  I kept thinking about what that game would have been like if it were played four months from now.  What would that game have been like if it were February 2015?

     Call me a "Homer", call me a "Glass Half Full Kinda Guy", call me all those things if you must, but just remember, I have been watching and studying this league for almost 25 years.  And if there is one thing I have noticed over my time enjoying the BCHL it is this simple fact: teams change over the course of the season.  Some grow strong while others experience atrophy and fail, but few stay the same.  So how much and at what rate do they usually morph?  Well that's always up to the players and coaches to decide.  And while they might not feel like it on Monday morning, this Grizzlies team has a choice.  They can let that loss on Sunday afternoon drive them nuts and allow it to own them the rest of the season.  Or they can look at the film, get back on the ice and figure out what they could have done differently.  That would have been my message in the dressing room anyway.  Well, most of my message.

     You see I saw a 3-0 first period lead yesterday, where it was pretty clear to me that "The October 2014 Grizzlies" were not yet entirely capable of holding that lead down for 55 more minutes.  You could almost conjure up an image of West Kelowna Warriors Head Coach Rylan Ferster, standing in a US Marine Corps dress uniform, just like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men.  You could almost see him looking up at that scoreboard with a minute to go in Period #1, starring menacingly over at the Grizzlies bench.  At that moment you could almost imagine him yelling at the Grizzlies home bench with that iconic line from that great 1992 Rob Reiner film:  "YOU WANT THE TRUTH?  YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

     And that is the sad truth about yesterday's loss in front of a somewhat sparse Sunday matinee crowd of only 634 fans at the Q Centre.  Sorry folks, but the team at this stage of the season, is not quite prepared to handle that kind of truth.  The truth that you can indeed score a quick 3 goals on an offensively gifted team like West Kelowna, a team with obvious bus legs and still win the hockey game.  You can, if you set your collective minds to the task, actually hold them off for another 55 minutes.  That is the truth.  But Rylan Ferster knew it, heck he has coached this Victoria team before, way back in the old 05/06 Salsa days with Tyler Bozak and Jordie Benn.  He knew that a young team like Victoria, only 13 games into a fresh new season, missing major pieces of their offence from last year, were maybe, just maybe, not entirely ready to hold off the likes of Liam Blackburn and the high flying forwards of West Kelowna.  Yes Blackburn, with his BCHL league leading 26 points coming into the contest.

     So there he stood, Coach Rylan Ferster and just like Jack Nicholson, he tried to intimidate and get in the head of his opponent.  And with only :49 seconds left to go in the First Period, he did just that.  Ferster unleashed his Captain and former WHL player, Andrew Johnson on the Grizzlies.  At that moment, the former Swift Current Bronco scored his second goal in only five games since joining his team and donning the "C" for the Warriors.  Sure it was only a single goal.  But on the Grizzlies bench it must have felt like "The Shot Heard Around The World."  That is of course, if you have trouble handling the truth.

     You could just sort of feel it at that moment.  The nearly silent building actually got a little quieter for a second or two, with maybe the odd gasp in the crowd.  3-1 Grizzlies at the first intermission. 

     So I won't labour you with the rest, we all know how it ended.  Yes it was a tough and painful loss for the Grizzlies.  But what will not be remembered so well was how hard the Grizzlies fought at times.  Most will forget how Cole Pickup scored two beautiful 2nd period goals, not only restoring the Grizzlies' two goal leads on both occasions, but rekindling the young forward's confidence in a season which has been a bit of a slow start for #14, let's be honest.  Remember we are talking about the truth you know?  And I don't care what any other sports writer wants to say about that last minute and a half in the game, with the Grizzlies net empty and the crowd on its feet.  Well I was on my feet anyway.

     Here is the truth:  Meirs Moore, Brett Gruber, Garrett Forster, Dane Gibson and that whole batch of players swarming around the Warriors net put on one heck of a performance as they almost pulled of a miraculous tying goal on no less than five or six separate occasions in those dying seconds.  So my hat is off to all you Grizzlies. You showed the heart of a lion, right till the end.

     And there ends the lesson.  The Grizzlies do have and will have in the months ahead all the skill, compete level, energy and willpower to hold off teams like the Warriors, whether they are off to a quick three goal lead, or trailing.  The Grizzlies have what it takes.  The Grizzlies can indeed "handle the truth."  And come next February, when those sorts of games turn into victories, maybe you'll remember that rambling article you read one day in October 2014 about........ wait what was that again?  Rylan Ferster was an actor in A Few Good Men?

     Oh and by the way:  you want to know how that movie ends?  Colonel Jessup, (Jack Nicholson's character) ends up admitting that he ordered the Code Red.  He loses his cool in court and perjures himself and then goes to jail.  And why?  All because a smart young lawyer, played by Tom Cruise stands his ground by trusting himself, trusting his skill and remaining confident in his abilities as an attorney ultimately proving to everyone that he can indeed "handle the truth."  Roll credits.

     And that's the Grizzlies team in February of 2015 which I can't wait to see.  A team that can handle the truth. -CC

        

    

    

Grizzlies Edge Eagles in Saturday Night Showdown

     It seems like the Victoria Grizzlies never fail to produce dramatic hockey games, and Saturday night's contest against the Surrey Eagles was no different. The Grizzlies entered the game riding a three game losing skid, while the Eagles were coming off only a night's rest, losing 5-2 to the Coquitlam Express on Friday night on home ice. For the Grizzlies, they were still without head coach Brad Knight behind the bench, serving the second game of his three game suspension from altercations in Merritt.

     Early on, it looked as if the Grizzlies were going to run away with this hockey game. While it took a few minutes for the Grizzlies to get into gear, once they got going, they didn't look back. Dane Gibson and Jay Mackie would work some magic shorthanded, as the duo played hot potato across the blue line before Mackie slotted the centering feed past Eagles' sixteen year-old netminder Daniel Davidson to give the Grizz an early 1-0 lead. The Grizzlies kept the goals coming, as Cole Pickup would go to the backhand in front to beat Davidson just two minutes after the Mackie marker to make it 2-0 Victoria. The Grizzlies offence continued to strike early and often, as Jay Mackie would pick up his 2nd goal of the period with another nice assist from Dane Gibson to give Victoria a 3-0 lead just halfway into the first period. Then, a costly turnover in the Eagles end near the end of the frame would give Spencer Hunter a break and he would make no mistake, potting his first career BCHL goal on the defensive lapse to give the Grizzlies a commanding 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Not only was this the best period the Grizzlies have had so far this season, but it could go down as the best period the Grizzlies will play this season, as they passed the puck at will and created countless scoring chances, and outshot the Eagles 12-1 as the end of the period approached.

     However, the Grizzlies would take their foot off the gas pedal in the second period, and the Surrey squad began to claw back into the hockey game. It would be the Eagles top line that would get Surrey on the board, as Spencer Unger finished off the nice play to cut the Grizzlies lead down to three. Later in the period, it would be Spencer Meyer cashing in to cut the Victoria lead to 4-2. If it weren't for some lucky bounces and some nice stops from Grizzlies goalie Sean Cleary, the game could've been ripped right open for the Eagles to exploit. The Grizzlies couldn't handle the Surrey offence and were often on the ropes in their own end for stretched periods of time, and the Victoria crowd sat in silence and awe for the majority of the second period.

     The Eagles rushed out of the gates to start the third period, as a Lucas Stratford shot ricocheted off the end boards straight on the tape of Darius Davidson who made no mistake on the yawning cage to continue the Eagles comeback and mark three unanswered goals to make it 4-3 Victoria just two minutes into the final frame. The Grizzlies only had two power play opportunities in the hockey game, but they cashed in when they needed it most, as Cole Pickup capped a strong game with a beautiful centering pass for the veteran Garrett Forster who snapped the one-timer past Davidson to restore the Grizzlies two goal lead halfway through the period. The Eagles refused to quit, as Liam Fordy streaked down the left wing and snapped a wrist shot blocker side on Cleary to cut the lead in half with seven minutes to play in the contest. The Eagles would pull their goalie late, but couldn't capitalize on the extra man, as the Grizzlies secured their second home win of the season, defeating the Eagles 5-4 in a very tight affair. 

     Although it was a win, as a Grizzlies fan, it felt like a loss. The Grizzlies allowed the Eagles to come back from an early 4-0 deficit and nearly allowed the road team to escape with a victory in a contest that should've been a blowout. Give credit where credit is due, the Eagles made a game out of it, but the Grizzlies will need much better sixty minute efforts if they want to become serious contenders in the Island Division. At the end of the day, two points is two points and the Grizzlies will prepare for a matinee game tomorrow afternoon against another Mainland opponent, the West Kelowna Warriors. It wasn't pretty, but the Grizzlies got it done on home ice. -TB