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Victoria Grizzlies spoil party with overtime win

Chilliwack Sports Hall of Famers Harvey Smyl and Lara Mussell Savage were honoured at a game the hometown Chilliwack Chiefs lost 4-3.
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With the puck at his feet along the boards

With longtime coach Harvey Smyl in the building Saturday night to celebrate his induction into the Chilliwack Sports Hall of Fame, his former team dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Victoria Grizzlies at Prospera Centre.The Chiefs twice spotted Victoria a two-goal lead before roaring back.But Cody Van Lierop’s snipe with one second left in the first OT period ended it, dropping Chilliwack’s record to 10-5-3-0.The visitors owned play in period one, out-shooting the Chiefs 21-9 and out-scoring them 1-0.Keyvan Mokhtari did the damage on a rush down the right wing, beating Mark Sinclair on a sharp-angle shot that had the Chilliwack netminder shaking his head.The Grizzlies doubled their lead with a power play 1:12 into period two. Mokhtarki collected his second of the game off a cross-ice pass from Cody Van Lierop, putting the Chiefs in a two-goal hole.The last active player in the Chilliwack lineup recruited by Harvey Smyl gave the Chiefs a spark with a well-earned assist on their first goal, scored with 8:04 to go in period two. Jordan Kawaguchi battled off the board, fighting off three Victoria defenders as he worked his way into the slot. The Grizzlies poked the puck away from captain K, but linemate Kohen Olischefski found the puck and snapped it over the glove of Victoria keeper Matthew Galajda.  Cameron Thompson sucked the air out of that balloon with 2:50 to go in the middle frame, lazering a shot past Sinclair from the left faceoff dot — a bullet that send Sinclair’s water bottle flying.But a Jake Smith power play tally with 20.7 seconds left had Chilliwack back within one heading to period three.Josh Borynec got the home team even 5:42 into the final frame.The Alberta native benefited from a hometown bounce when Victoria’s Carter Berger tried to ring the puck around the boards from behind his own net. The puck took a wild carom out of the left corner, right into the goal mouth.Justin Dixson grabbed it and shot. Camped to the left of the Grizzly net, Borynec collected Dixson’s rebound and popped it past Galajda for his first goal as a Chief.Sinclair made a huge save moments earlier that loomed large.The stopper stretched post to post to thwart Tyler Welsh on a shorthanded two-on-one and was at his best in the third period, getting his team to overtime.But he came up one save short in the end as Van Lierop won the game. The speedy D-man flew down the right wing, and had Olischefski stumbling as he pulled the puck inside on the back-checking forward, finishing with a glove side shot.There was just one second on the clock when he lit the lamp.The three stars were Mokhtari (first), Olischefski (second) and Van Lierop (third).The Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game was Borynec.Announced attendance was 2,395.



Eric Welsh

About the Author: Eric Welsh

I joined the Chilliwack Progress in 2007, originally hired as a sports reporter.
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