COLWOOD — The Clippers put in a hardworking effort and got great goaltending to upend the Victoria Grizzlies 4-1.
Shane Shelest made 46 saves and was named the first star in the contest.
Nanaimo scored 1:02 into the game and were up 2-0 by half way through the opening period.
Jake Hewitt and Jeremie Payant had the goals, both set up by Willyam Gendron.
Hoyt Stanley picked up the only marker for the Grizzlies on an attempted goal mouth pass in the middle frame.
Ben Brant cashed in on a redirection to give the Clippers a two goal cushion in the third period before Kai Daniells put the game out of reach with an empty net goal.
Shelest got the win over Victoria’s Oliver Auyeung-Ashton despite Nanaimo being outshot 47-32.
The Clippers were 0/3 on the man advantage and 2/2 on the penalty kill.
Nanaimo had to play the second half of the game without captain Michael Craig.
He was injured in the middle frame and left the ice for the remainder of the period.
Craig was on the bench the entire third period and coach Colin Birkas confirmed after the game he has been medically cleared to return to action.
Nanaimo takes a seven point lead for first place in the Coastal Division standings into their game with the Chilliwack Chiefs on March 12 at 2 p.m.
It’s the Clippers final home game of the regular season with the team looking to break a BCHL attendance record by selling more than 5008 game and virtual tickets.
Details on purchasing tickets are available at nanaimoclippers.com.
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