After a tough 2-1 overtime loss to the Canmore Eagles on Jan. 17, the Olds Grizzlys rebounded with a 5-2 win over the Bonnyville Pontiacs the next night at the Olds Sports Complex.
After a tough 2-1 overtime loss to the Canmore Eagles on Jan. 17, the Olds Grizzlys rebounded with a 5-2 win over the Bonnyville Pontiacs the next night at the Olds Sports Complex.
As part of the victory over the Pontiacs, Spencer Dorowicz scored his Alberta Junior Hockey League-leading 33rd goal of the season. Dorowicz also added two assists during the game, giving him a league-leading 60 points, three more than Nicholas Jones of the Sherwood Park Crusaders, following games on Jan. 18.
The Grizzlys and Pontiacs were tied 1-1 after the first period, with Grizzlys defenceman Jordan Lajimodiere wristing home his first goal of the season. In the second period, Dorowicz scored the lone goal to give the Grizzlys a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. After trading power-play goals in the third period, the Grizzlys added a power-play goal by Austin Kernahan and an empty-netter by Kyle Star to put the game out of reach.
Brett Hopfe, the Grizzlys’ head coach, said following the game that the effort against the Pontiacs was much better than the previous night against the Eagles.
"We preached before the game playoff hockey. That’s what we’re trying to build towards and (Jan. 18) our whole team played a playoff-(like) hockey game. It was a rough, chippy game and for us to be able to capitalize on a couple power plays that we had and bear down at the end, I thought we did a tremendous job," he said.
Lajimodiere said while it felt good to finally get his first goal of the season, he felt even better that it contributed to a win.
"We battled well. We came into it thinking it was a playoff game. We worked hard for 60 minutes finally and luckily got the job done," he said.
Hopfe said the Grizzlys deserved a better fate against the Eagles, with Eagles goaltender Ryan Ferguson doing a tremendous job against the Grizzlys, turning aside 26 shots.
"When you look at the scoring chances we had, I think we had a lot more than they had. It was a good learning experience for the guys to go through that," he said.
Both games were one-goal contests after two periods of play, but Hopfe said unlike against the Eagles, the Grizzlys were able to play harder than the Pontiacs and come away with the victory.
"We learnt from our mistakes Friday and went out there and played a tremendous third (on Jan. 19)," Hopfe said.
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