Grizzlys play Bandits, Bamford plays Olds

While the Grizzlys were hitting the ice at the Centennial Regional Arena in Brooks Saturday night (March 18) for their second game against the Bandits in round two of the Viterra AJHL South playoffs, Lacombe native country star Gord Bamford was hitting the stage at the Olds Sportsplex.

Bamford and his crew were the main act of a shared fundraiser for the Olds Grizzlys and the Innisfail Eagles, dubbed Honky Tonk and Hockey Talk. The evening began with a "Chalk Talk" by Brian Burke, director of operations for the Calgary Flames, along with the Eagles' head coach Brian Sutter, which included questions from the crowd.

After Bamford took the stage, local musicians Devin Cooper and Dustin Farr - both former CKFM Star Search winners - kicked off an ice-side cabaret. Along with pulled pork sandwiches, a locally distilled vodka and beer sales, all variations of hockey jerseys were auctioned off, including two Team USA Burke sweaters that went for $7,500 each.

GRIZZLYS HOPE TO REBOUND IN SERIES

In Brooks, the Grizzlys dropped a second game to the Bandits, losing 7-2 on Saturday; an improvement over their punishing 9-0 defeat Friday night (March 17).

The team heads back to home ice for games 3 and 4 this week, in a bid to even out the series.

"The guys are feeling good, they are excited," said head coach Dana Lattery.

Lattery said they knew it wasn't going to be easy going the second round against the Bandits, noting they are up against the top team in the league - a team that lost only five games all season - with some of the best players in the country, including a Top 5 NHL draft pick.

"There's a lot of great things about Brooks," said Lattery. "But there's a lot of great things about us too. We just need that one win, to instill doubt in Brooks, to tell them it's not going to be that easy."

The Grizzlys play Game 4 at the Olds Sportsplex tonight (March 21) at 7 p.m, and will return to Brooks for Game 5 on March 23 if necessary.