OLDS — Thanks to a strong Showcase tournament performance, the Olds Grizzlys are in a pretty good place as they prepare to host the Calgary Canucks and then the Carmrose Kodiaks this weekend.
They host the Canucks on Friday, Oct. 4 and the Kodiaks on Saturday, Oct. 5. The puck drops at 7 p.m. for both games in the Sportsplex.
During the Showcase tournament in Calgary, the Grizzlys shut out the Devon Xtreme 5-0 on Wednesday, Sept. 25, then followed that up with a 6-1 drubbing of the Bonnyville Pontiacs the next day.
Those two performances vaulted the Grizzlys from last to fourth in the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s six-team South Division.
Their 3-3-0-0 record in six games gives them six points, the same as the Canucks (2-1-1-1 in five games) as of Friday.
During the game against the Xtreme, Will Robinson opened the scoring with his first goal of the season, a shortie at 10:55 of the first period, assisted by Esteban Labelle, while teammate Quinn Abbott was off for interference.
Shortly afterward, at 11:37, Mitchell Patrick scored his fourth of the season, assisted by Jonathan Doucette and Keil Schmalz.
The Grizzlys then scored three unanswered power-play goals in the second and third periods to ice the win and deliver goaltender Aidan Fischer not only the win, but the shutout.
Doucette scored the first power-play marker, his second goal of the season, at 4:55 of the second period, assisted by Bailey Shortall and Abbott.
Antonio Bevacqua fired home the team’s second power-play goal, his second goal of the season, at 16:34 of the second frame, assisted by Junshi Hideshima and Patrick.
Hideshima scored the team’s third power-play marker, the final goal of the game, at 17:57 of the third period.
Fischer stopped all 38 shots he faced. The Grizzlys fired 26 shots at Xtreme goaltenders Preston Lewis and Tyler Swanson.
The Grizzlys went three for seven on the powerplay. The Xtreme were zero for three opportunities with the man advantage.
In Thursday’s game against the Pontiacs, Braeden Veldhuizen opened the scoring with his second goal of the season, unassisted, at 4:08 of the first period.
Quinn Metzger added to the lead at 6:57 of that period with his second goal of the season, assisted by Doucette.
The Grizzlys blew the doors off the game with three goals in the second period, two of which were power play markers.
Robinson scored his second goal of the season at 4:05 of that frame, assisted by Abbott and Bevacqua.
Hideshima padded the lead with the team’s first power play goal of the game, his third of the season, assisted by Bevacqua, at 8:53.
Bevacqua then scored a power play marker of his own, his third goal of the season, at 13:18, assisted by Patrick and Connor Seeley.
Kailus Green of the Pontiacs spoied Fischer’s shutout bid at 17:57 of that second period.
Robinson finished off the scoring for the Grizzlys with his third of the season at 3:07 of the third period, assisted by Shortall.
Once again, Fischer went the distance, stopping 20 of 21 shots he faced. The Grizzlys fired a total of 32 shots at Bonnyville goaltenders Connor Knorr and Cody Butikis.
The Grizzlys were two for three on the powerplay. The Pontiacs were zero for five with the man advantage.
Grizzlys head coach Brad Tobin was pleased with how his team played in those two games.
“We got contributions from all four lines with our scoring,” he said in a text. “Going five for nine on the powerplay helped in the two games as well.
“(I’m) really happy with our bounce-back from the previous weekend,” Tobin wrote. “Now we’ve got a couple of divisional matches at home this upcoming weekend.”
Tobin confirmed that Fischer is a new addition to the team, having joined the Grizzlys from the BCHL.
“(I’m) really happy with his play so far.”
Tobin said as the Grizzlys get ready to host the Canucks and Kodiaks, they have a couple areas where they can improve.
“We just need to keep working on our puck movement and using our speed through the neutral zone,” he wrote. “Everything else we were happy with.”
