OLDS — The Olds Grizzlys won one and lost one on the weekend.
They beat the Camrose Kodiaks 1-0 in Camrose on Saturday, March 1.
That made up for Friday, Feb. 28, when they were trounced 7-1 by the Bobcats in Lloydminster.
The Grizzlys’ record now stands at 15-34-1-0 for 31 points in 50 games, last in the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s south division.
In Saturday’s game, there was no scoring in either the first or second periods.
Defenceman Brenden Thomas scored the lone goal and game-winner at the 13:18 mark of the third period, assisted by forwards Brayden Schwartz and Jonathan Doucette.
The Kodiaks fired a blizzard of pucks at Grizzlys goaltender Ben Dardis, a total of 56. He stopped them all and was named the visiting team’s star.
Kodiaks goaltender Carter Capton stopped 17 of 18 shots fired his way.
The Grizzlys took the majority of the penalties; seven compared to just four for the Kodiaks. The Grizzlys were zero for three on the power play, the Kodiaks zero for six.
"The boys played hard for the full 60 minutes," Grizzlys head coach Brad Tobin wrote to the Albertan. "They were very engaged and put in the effort. Ben Dardis played fantastic between the pipes."
On Friday night, the Bobcats scored all seven of their goals, including one power play marker and one shortie, before the Grizzlys got theirs.
Keil Schmalz got his third goal of the season just before the game ended, at 19:17 of the third period, assisted by Jack Bouck.
Dardis was the Grizzlys goaltender for this one as well, stopping 51 of 58 pucks sent his way. He was named the visiting team’s star in this game as well.
Bobcats goaltender Connor Graham stopped 19 of 20 shots on goal.
The Grizzlys were zero for four with the powerplay, the Bobcats one for three.
"Scoring has been tough to come by in the past five games," Tobin wrote. "We get Grade A scoring chances but don't convert. We need to be a little more selfish and shoot the puck more instead of passing it."
Tobin said an inexperienced D is a big factor in the deluge of pucks Grizzlys goaltenders have been facing.
"With being so inexperienced and young on the back end, we've had trouble in the defensive zone," he wrote. "We get outworked and lose the possession battle more times than not.
"It comes down to outworking the opposition."
There are four more games left in the Grizzlys’ season; three on the road and one at home.
They play the Thunder in Drayton Valley this Friday, March 7, the Canucks in Calgary on Sunday, March 9. They host the Canmore Eagles Friday March 14, then close out their season Saturday March 15 in Calgary versus the Canucks.
