The Olds Grizzlys split a pair of Alberta Junior Hockey League games on the weekend, losing 5-2 against the Okotoks Oilers on Saturday before beating the Calgary Canucks 7-2 at the Olds Sports Complex on Sunday.
The Grizzlys came out with a purpose on Sunday, opening up a 5-1 lead on the Canucks – who came into the game having lost six in a row – after the first period. Damien Kulynych, acquired the previous day in a trade with the Calgary Mustangs, opened the scoring at 22 seconds, followed 2:32 later by a goal from JC Heck. Matt Hangar made it 3-0 at 11:14 of the first before the Canucks got a goal from Ben Thomas at 18:50. The Grizzlys quickly made that up with a goal by Brandon Clowes before beating the buzzer when Dylan Hubbs scored with one second left in the period.
“We played alright. I thought the first period, once we got up by three goals, for about five minutes there we kind of sat back and maybe thought we were a goal scoring team and not a hard working team and we (coaches) challenged them in the second period to come out just as hard as they did in the first half of the first period and they definitely did. They worked extremely hard in the second period, took it to'em and finished it off in the third,” said Brett Hopfe, the Grizzlys' head coach.
Clowes got his second of the game in the second period, followed by Spencer Dorowicz scoring an unassisted tally in the third to round out the Grizzlys' scoring.
Mathew Plesa got the other goal for the Canucks.
In Okotoks, Hopfe said he felt the Grizlys played well enough to win, but couldn't capitalize on their opportunities. The Grizzlys outshot the Oilers 36-32, but went 0 for 6 on the powerplay.
“Their goalie (Jared D'Amico) played extremely well. There's no secret there, he's a good goalie and there's a reason why he's got the (fourth) best save percentage in the league right now. But the compete level was still there,” he said.
Hopfe said the team would be treating the next set of four games in seven days as a pre-cursor to the playoffs, as the Brooks Bandits were due to play the Grizzlys tonight, the Bonneville Pontiacs on Thursday, Okotoks on Friday and the Drumheller Dragons on Dec. 11. All the games will be played at the sports complex.
“We're treating it as playoff hockey. We're excited to have this challenge…. We're looking forward to that opportunity to face good teams and show off our talent,” he said.
In addition to Kulynych, the Grizzlys also got goalie Jake Tamagi from the Mustangs. The Grizzlys dealt away Mitch Owsley and goalie Talor Joseph. Owsley was then immediately traded to the Pontiacs.
