Mariners, Clan set to battle for second during two-game weekend series

Vancouver Island University will look to strengthen their hold on second place in the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League standings this weekend when they travel to the Lower Mainland for a pair of road games against Simon Fraser University.

The Mariners currently sit at 4-4-0-2 through 10 regular season games, good for a one-point lead on SFU and Selkirk College but with two additional games played compared to the Clan and Saints, who have matching 4-3-0-1 records.

VIU is coming off a bye weekend and haven't played since November 9th, when they topped SFU by a 5-2 score at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. A pair of Garretts -- Murray and Dunlop -- led the way that night with two goals and two assists respectively, while Jeremy Balyk made 26 saves in a game where the Mariners outshot the Clan by a 45-28 margin.

Simon Fraser rebounded nicely from that defeat, skating to a decisive 7-0 victory over the University of Victoria on home ice last Saturday. Mitch Ledyard scored twice and added an assist to earn BCIHL Player of the Week honours and former BCHL sniper Trevor Ayre matched his three points in the win.

Ayre trails Mac Colasimone (6G, 6A) by two points for the Clan scoring lead, while former PJHL standouts Ledyard and Eric Callegari have seven points each.

The Mariners have averaged four goals per game and have received consistent offence from the forward trio of Brett Witala, Garrett Dunlop and team captain Gage Colpron. The three have combined for 20 goals, which is good for 50% of VIU's total output, as well and 24 assists. Veteran blueliners Seth Schmidt and Garrett Murray have added 18 points from the back end.

Balyk has been the go-to guy in goal for VIU, having accounted for all four of the team's wins along with a 3.44 goals-against average and .900 save-percentage. His 454 minutes between the pipes lead all BCIHL goaltenders.

The Clan have taken a different approach with three netminders -- Patrick Zubick, Andrew Henderson and Michael Lenko -- splitting time. Zubick, an offseason transfer from Selkirk, has played the most of the group and picked up his second win and first shutout of the season in the Clan's 7-0 victory over UVic. Henderson's 2.33 GAA and .936 SV% both sit second amongst all league goaltenders.

The weekend series between VIU and SFU begins with a 7:00 PM start on Friday and wraps up with a 3:00 PM matinee on Saturday. Both games will be played at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre and can be viewed live on Hockey TV.