The Olds Grizzlys lost a pair of tight Alberta Junior Hockey League games last week, including a 6-5 decision to the Calgary Mustangs Thursday and a 3-2 contest Friday to the defending champion Brooks Bandits.
“I thought we played very well in the Brooks game. I thought we deserved to win both of those games for sure,” Brett Hopfe, the Grizzlys' head coach, said, adding that the Grizzlys outshot the Mustangs by more than a two-to-one margin.
Hopfe said he has no problem with the team's work ethic to this point. It's just not getting the bounces.
“(Against the Mustangs) we got down early 3-0 and had a chance to tie it up late in the third period and just couldn't finish off the comeback, but the guys played hard in both games and … we deserved to win both of them,” he said.
Hopfe said while it is still early in the season and a lot of newcomers are trying to get familiar with the Grizzlys' special teams, he is happy with where they are at currently. The power play scored a couple of goals in the week's games.
“I thought our penalty-killing was phenomenal in both games. Brooks is a very offensively-talented team and I think they ended up getting two power-play goals in the game. That being said, we had a few more power plays that we killed off. We even dominated Brooks at times on the pk. Right now, I'm happy with the way things are going,” he said.
Hopfe said he thinks the Grizzlys have played well enough to be undefeated. As it is, the team is 1-3.
“I feel that we've outplayed every team that we've played against and lost to thus far in the season. I think we're going to be doing some minor tweaking to try and get us in the right direction here, but … I'm happy with the way the players are playing,” he said.
The Grizzlys will extend their road trip with three more games this week, before returning home September 24 for a game against the Camrose Kodiaks.
