OLDS — Head coach Scott Atkinson says the Olds Grizzlys have the talent and work ethic to be at least a .500 team, and he’s confident they can get there.
However, results on the weekend don't seem to bear that out -- at least yet.
last Friday night and Saturday, the Grizzlys lost back-to-back games against the Bonnyville Pontiacs at home and the Blackfalds Bulldogs on the road. As a result, the Grizzlys are in last place in the 16-team league with three wins, 15 losses and two overtime losses for eight points in 20 games. The Pontiacs beat the Grizzlys 6-1 and the Bulldogs thrashed them 11-3.
However, Atkinson says that’s a function of being a very young team.
Just a handful of players are 20-year-olds. Most of the rest were born in 2004 or 2005. A couple were born in 2006.
On top of that, back in October, the team undertook quite a turnover, bringing in several new forwards and a couple of defencemen.
“I think we’ve made a lot of changes. We’re extremely young, but I think we’re getting a lot better. We play a lot tighter game now and I expect us to start winning more regularly,” Atkinson said during an interview with the Albertan.
“We’re just better. We have a good attitude and lots of good kids,” he added. “They work harder, and they compete harder for one, and then they’re better players. They’re more skilled, so that helps.”
Atkinson noted that rookie Mitch Patrick, born in 2006, scored a hat trick during a game the Grizzlys won, 5-2 at home over the Fort McMurray Oil Barons.
“Name me other O6s who got a hat trick in this league; not many of them, right?
“So, we feel like there’s a bright future. And that’s just an example; we’ve got lots of players that are similar,” he said.
Atkinson is also high on the team’s goaltending duo of Aidan Comeau and Thomas Samborski.
“Since I’ve been here, I thought we improved the goaltending last year a lot, but this year, we feel like our goaltending’s better than anybody else’s,” Atkinson said.
He admitted it’s “frustrating” for the team to be off to the start it has.
“I feel like at worst we should be a .500 team,” Atkinson said. “But you pay a little bit of a price for being young. We still make some young guy mistakes.”
For example, he noted that the Grizzlys played “a great game” against the Oil Barons but “we found a way to take 10 minutes of penalties in the third period.
And so, to me, like, you deal with youth and they’re dealing with a lot of pressure and that kind of thing, so we don’t have a veteran presence, but we have a very good attitude and a very good compete and work ethic, so I think the future’s bright.”
He cited the line of Cade Moxham, Greye Rampton and Ryder Many Grey Horses line as one that can provide the offence and work ethic the team needs.
"Rampton in the middle there does a lot of the kind of grinding work and Moxham and Many Grey Horses can fly and they’re both offensively gifted players, so we think that’s something to build around,” he said.
“That’s another reason why we think the future’s brighter. They’ll be around for another year as 20-year-olds and I think will be legitimate top-line guys. I think they already are legitimate top-line, and give them another year, they’ll be even better.”
