A week after shutting out the Grizzlies in Victoria to ruin the Teddy Bear Toss night in Victoria, it’s the complete opposite tonight as it’s Teddy Bear toss night in Powell River, and the Grizzlies will look to “return the favour”. Here’s the rundown:
The Vitals
Game: Victoria Grizzlies vs Powell River Kings
Arena: Hap Parker Arena
Puck Drop: 7:30pm
Broadcast: Starting at 7:15pm live on 95.7 SunFM
The Numbers
Kings This Season vs Grizzlies: 1-0-0-0
Last Meeting: Kings won 4-0 (December 3rd in Victoria)
Kings at Home: 10-2-1
Kings on the Road: 6-7-1-1
What’s What for the Kings
It’s Teddy Bear Toss night for the Kings at Hap Parker Arena! Fans are encouraged to bring teddy bears, but also hats and toques and gloves and mittens and all other winter wear to throw on the ice at the first Kings goal. Following a weekend where the Kings played spoiler on 2 teddy bear toss nights, it’s a return leg tonight. The Kings have had a quiet week and got a chance to have a little fun last night with the 1st Annual Christmas Bowl-a-thon, but have been busy preparing for a Grizzlies side which can take over a game quickly.
The Kings were given a bit boost mid-week with the return of Jordan Paddock. While he’s still maybe a week away from game action, he looked very good in practice. Steve Schmidt was still wearing red during a mid-week practice session and his status is questionable, while Brendan Forbes appears good to go following his foot injury. Jamie Phillips will get the start tonight I believe, as Sean Maguire took a knock in practice this week.
What’s What for the Grizzlies
Despite trying, the Grizzlies weren’t able to get their style of game going last Saturday night. The run and gun, pond hockey style setup that has been successful for the side this season was held scoreless through 60 minutes by a stingey Kings defence. It’s a style though that can suck you in, so that will be the goal for Victoria tonight, dictate the pace of the game and open up the middle for stretch passes for partial breaks. They’ll again rely heavily on their top line of Myron, Murphy and Moran to get the team on the board, with Ten Vaanholt leading a secondary charge.
What’s on the Broadcast tonight?
In our 1st intermission, we’ll get an update on the BC Major Midget League from Head Coach of the Cariboo Cougars, Trevor Sprague. He’ll also have an update on Kings AP Eli Jarvis. In the 2nd intermission, our alumni series continues with UBC Thunderbird forward Ben Schmidt. Geoff Grimwood will be in for the post-game show and our trivia contest too!
