OLDS — The Olds Grizzlys are back on the road on Tuesday, Feb. 7 when they face off against the Spruce Grove Saints.
That's a daunting task.
As of Monday, Feb. 6, the Saints were perched atop the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s north division standings with a 38-7-2-2 record for 80 points in 49 games.
The Grizzlys remained in last place in the eight-team south division with a 14-33-3-0 record for 31 points in 50 games, nine points back of seventh-place Calgary Canucks.
The Grizzlys are coming off a split decision where they got their 14th win of the season on Friday night, downing the Okotoks Oilers 3-2 at home, but were then hammered 4-0 by the Eagles in Canmore on Saturday night.
On Friday night, the Grizzlys thrilled the crowd by scoring s;; three of their goals in the first period.
Their first came just nine seconds into the game, when Connor Michaud got his eighth of the season, assisted by Tristan Baumung (his 10th assist).
Just four minutes later, at 4:49, Blake (Daniel) Matheson scored his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Cade Moxham (his 17th).
Moxham scored the Grizzlys’ final goal of the game at 13:44 of the first period, his 12th of the season, assisted by Ryder Many Grey Horses (his 11th), and Avery Trotter (his sixth).
The Oilers finally got on the scoreboard at 19:30 of the second period and scored another at 5:03 of the third, but that was as close as they could get. The Grizzlys hung on for the win.
Jayden Watson of the Grizzlys and Nolan Flint of the Oilers got the crowd going by getting into a fight at the 17:24 mark of the first period. Both were given five-minute fighting majors and 10-minute game misconducts.
The Oilers were 0/3 on the power play; the Grizzlys didn't get a power play opportunity.
Noah Nelson went the entire distance in net for the Grizzlys and was named a game star.
Saturday night’s game in Canmore remained scoreless after one period.
The Eagles went up 1-0 at 13:20 of the second period on a power play, but then scored three more in the third at 1:43, 15:54 (also via a power play) and 17:28 to put the game away.
The Grizzlys were 0/8 with the man advantage. The Eagles were 2/6.
Marcus Cumberworth went the distance in net for the Grizzlys.
Avery Trotter was named the Grizzlys’ game star.
