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Defence will be Caps' first priority

Kevin Rothbauer - Cowichan Valley Citizen
March 6, 2009

To say that the Cowichan Valley Capitals and Victoria Grizzlies are well-acquainted with each other would be the understatement of the 2008/09 British Columbia Hockey League season.

Of the 12 regular-season meetings between the two Vancouver Island clubs, six have gone down in the last two months, giving the players and coaches plenty of chances to get to know each other prior to the teams' best-of-seven second-round playoff series that will begin this Friday.

"It should be one heck of a series," said Cowichan coach Scott Robinson. "If the games we played after Christmas are any indication, it should be great hockey. There is certainly no love lost between these teams."

In those 12 regular-season games, Victoria won seven and Cowichan won five, with each team getting one of their victories in overtime. Cowichan has been dominant down the stretch, however, winning four in a row from Dec. 27-Jan. 23 before suffering two losses and one overtime defeat in the teams' final three meetings.

By sweeping the Nanaimo Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, the Caps gave themselves the better part of a week to get ready for the Grizzlies. After a day of rest on Tuesday, preparations began in earnest on Wednesday.

"We'll get talking about things that we can do to be effective against them," said Robinson. "We'll formulate a game plan over the next few days."

Robinson sees team defence as the key to defeating the Grizzlies.

"It certainly starts with defence when you play against this team," he related. "They have a ton of firepower, so we can't be giving up a lot of offensive situations. We have to be disciplined in our own end and with one-on-one play."

If the Caps take care of things defensively, the scoring will take care of itself, the coach believes.

"We're not so much concerned about that," he said. "We've got guys who can score when the opportunities present themselves. We've got to concentrate on the defensive end."