OLDS — The Olds Grizzlys ended the fall part of their schedule on a promising note.
They came tantalizingly close to beating the best team in the Alberta Junior League when they were edged 3-2 by the Brooks Bandits on Dec. 17. As of Dec. 13, the Bandits were still ranked the top team in Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings.
One bitter pill though is that former Grizzly Noah Hackett scored two goals in that game.
That was the first game that he and fellow former Grizzly Josh Zinger, both 20 years old, had been back in the Olds Sportsplex since their trade to the Bandits was announced on Dec. 2.
The Grizzlys received forward Liam Hughes, goalie Jared Whale and future considerations in the deal.
Whale played in net and stopped 33 of 36 shots on goal. He was pulled for the extra attacker in the hope Olds could get the equalizer but that didn’t happen.
According to the AJHL schedule, the Grizzlys now don’t face league action now until Jan. 4.
The Grizzlys go into that layoff with a record of five wins, 29 losses and three overtime losses for 13 points in 37 games.
That leaves them in last place in the eight-team AJHL Viterra South Division.
