OLDS — The Olds Grizzlys are now in the middle of their five-game homestand.
On Friday, Oct. 11 they host the Bonnyville Pontiacs, then the Drayton Valley Thunder on Saturday night. Puck drop for both games is 7 p.m. at the Sportsplex.
The Grizzlys had mixed results this past weekend.
On Friday Oct. 4, the Calgary Canucks, the reigning Alberta Junior Hockey League champions, beat the Grizzlys 7-2. The next night though, the Grizzys edged the Camrose Kodiaks 5-4 in a shootout.
In Friday’s game, the Grizzlys looked OK in the first period, despite being outshot. They got the only goal of the period, when Antonio Bevacqua scored his fourth goal of the season, a powerplay marker, assisted by Junshi Hideshima at that 15:40 mark.
The Canucks evened the score at 1:16 of the second period.
Yibin Yoo made it 2-1 for the Grizzlys several seconds later at 1:43 of that period, unassisted.
But that was it for Grizzlys scoring.
The Canucks scored six unanswered goals during the remainder of the game, two of which came on the man advantage.
The Grizzlys were penalized six times, including a double minor to Braeden Veldhuizen for checking from behind. The Canucks were penalized three times.
Aidan Fischer, an Alberta Junior Hockey League player of the week last week, stayed in net the entire game, facing a whopping 48 shots on goal. He managed to stop 41 of them.
The Grizzlys fired a total of 25 shots at Canucks goaltender Cruz Chase.
The Grizzlys were one for three on the power play. The Canucks were two for six with the man advantage.
On Saturday night, the Grizzlys found themselves down 3-0 to the Kodiaks after two goals in the first period and another at 13:12 of the second period.
However, at 17:23 of that frame, Bevacqua got the team on the board with his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Veldhuizen and Gavin Bartha.
Late in the second period, the Kodiaks expanded their lead to 4-1.
However, the Grizzlys scored three goals in the third period to knot the score at 4-4 after regulation time.
Veldhuizen got his third goal of the season at 13:07 of that period, assisted by Bevacqua and new acquisition Tristan Taylor, acquired from Kindersley of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
Bevacqua scored his fifth goal of the season at 16:47, assisted by Taylor and Mitchell Patrick.
Then, at 19:03, Taylor scored a goal himself, his first of the season, on the powerplay, assisted by Patrick and Bevacqua.
There was no scoring during overtime.
That led to the shootout. Bevacqua and Justin Vandermeer were the heroes for the Grizzlys. One Kodiak, Garrett Thom, managed to get the puck by Grizzlys goaltender Ben Dardis.
In total, Dardis stopped 26 of 30 shots on goal. The Grizzlys fired 34 at Kodiaks netminder Carter Capton.
Each team was one for four with the man advantage.
“Great comeback, the boys dug down and battled back,” head coach Brad Tobin wrote in a text in reference to the Kodiak game.
“Bevacqua and Dardis both played good, especially in the third. Our Captain Connor Seeley played well in the third, as well as newcomer Tristan Taylor.”
Given the shots on goal in the Calgary game, Tobin was asked if team defence is a problem.
"Calgary likes to shoot the puck a lot," he wrote. "We only gave up 21 against Bonnyville and 34 against Camrose, so we’re working on it."
Tobin was asked if there’s a good chance the Grizzlys could vault upward in the South Division, given that the Kodiaks, Thunder and Grizzlys were all just a couple of points apart in the standings.
“Our division is going to be a battle all season long, we just need to keep pace and get results against the teams that we need to,” he wrote.
Tobin said the team needs to “work on our consistency and playing a full 60 minutes, winning more puck battles.”
The team has roughly a dozen rookies. Tobin was asked if that's an issue; with team defence for example.
"We’ve got a young team, they’ll take time to figure out how they have to play at this level," he wrote.
There are some aspects of the Grizzlys' play so far that Tobin has really liked.
"(I) liked our power play so far this season, running at 30 per cent," he wrote "and our PK is in the top half as well."
