Westside captain Alex Grieve scored and assisted on four other tallies to lead the Warriors to a lopsided 9-1 home ice victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters on Saturday evening. Grieve and six teammates notched multi-point games for the hosts in outshooting Trail by a 44-18 margin. Travis St. Denis was the lone Smokie to beat Cam Gorchynski on the evening, as the Westside netminder made 17 saves in the win.
In Quesnel, the Salmon Arm SilverBacks continued their hot start to the regular season with a 5-1 road win over the Millionaires. Cody Michelle scored twice for the visitors and Devin Gannon, Morgan Zulinick and Jarryd Ten Vaanholt also tallied, while Kris Moore was strong once again with a 32-save effort. Devin Balness scored the lone goal on the night for the Mills.
In Prince George, the Surrey Eagles received goals from eight different shooters in a 9-5 victory over the Spruce Kings. Surrey burst out to a 5- lead in the first and held off a second period rally on the strength of three-point nights from Mike Krgovich and Daniel Gentzler. Jujhar Khaira, Jeff Earnest and Faiz Khan each replied with a trio of points for the hosts, who outshot the Eagles by a 48-37 margin on the night.
In Alberni Valley, the Bulldogs built a 2-0 series lead in their battle for the 'Rival Hammer', topping the Nanaimo Clippers on home ice by a 5-4 margin. Casey Bailey capped off a goal-heavy third period by scoring the game winner on a power-play with 2:01 left in regulation, while Trent Dorais and Sam Mitchell joined Bailey with multi-point nights. Brayden Jaw, Mike Domsodi and Graeme McCormack each scored and assisted in a losing cause for the Clippers.
In Coquitlam, Matt Ius scored the eventual game winner on a second period power-play to pace the Langley Chiefs to a 4-2 victory over the Express. Josh Myers and Trevor Gerling also scored man-advantage goals for the visitors, while blueliner Tim Daly added three assists. Garrick Perry and Jason Grecica replied for the Express, beating first star Wyatt Galley on two of 26 shots on goal.
In Victoria, the Powell River Kings netted a trio of third period goals en route to a 4-1 win over the Grizzlies at Bear Mountain Arena. Michael Colantone and Mike Sones had traded goals in the opening frame, but Craig Dalrymple, Carter Shinkaruk and Chad Niddery all beat Matt Ginn in the final 20 minutes to ice the win. Michael Garteig faced 23 shots in the Powell River nets for the win.
In Vernon, Mike Hammond and Troy Paterson each scored to break a third period deadlock and lead Cowichan Valley to a 4-2 victory over the Vipers. The Caps had taken control of the game early in the second on goals from Austin Evans and Chase Kaiser, but back-to-back power-play efforts from John Knisely and Adam Thompson knotted the game heading into the third. Derek Dun stopped 39 of the 41 shots he faced for the win.
