OLDS — The Olds Grizzlys had the remainder of the week to work on ways to decrease their goals-against after being shellacked again last weekend.
The Grizzlys scored four goals but gave up 14 in back-to-back games against the Lloydminster Bobcats and Calgary Canucks Friday, Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1.
The team's next game is Saturday, Feb. 8 when members travel to Camrose to take on the Kodiaks.
Last Friday night’s matchup against the Bobcats was held at the Olds Sportsplex.
The Bobcats scored first, at the 5:17 mark of the first period, but the Grizzys responded seconds later when newcomer Lucas Schaefer scored his third goal at 5:48, assisted by Jonathan Doucette and Esteban Labelle.
Then, at 10:23 of the first period, fellow newcomer Johnny Maruna scored his third goal, assisted by Labelle and Michael Albert.
Unfortunately, that was all the scoring the Grizzlys could muster.
The Bobcats scored four unanswered goals to win it; three in the second period and the lone goal of the third period.
Ben Dardis went the distance in net for the Grizzlys, stopping 30 of 35 shots he faced. Bobcats goaltender Connor Graham stopped 17 of 19 shots sent his way.
The Grizzlys were 0/5 on the powerplay, the Bobcats 2/5.
Schaefer was named the game star for the Grizzlys.
On Saturday, the Grizzlys travelled to the Siksika Deerfoot Sportsplex, southeast of Calgary, for a matchup with the Calgary Canucks.
The Canucks jumped out to a two-goal lead at 9:14 and 14:36 of the first period.
The Grizzlys replied at 15:08 when Maruna scored his fourth goal, assisted by Albert and Easton LaPlante.
However, the Canucks scored again, seconds later at 15:32 to take a 3-1 lead.
Doucette narrowed the margin to 3-2 at 2:33 of the second period, assisted by Keeghan Dunn and another newcomer, Jack Bouck.
But that was it for Olds offence.
The Canucks scored five goals in the remainder of the second period and one more in the third for good measure to seal the win.
Connor Johnson started in goal for the Grizzlys, stopping 18 of 25 shots before he was replaced by Dardis at 15:55 of the second period. Dardis stopped 15 of 17 shots he faced.
In total, Grizzlys goaltenders were peppered with 42 shots on net. The Grizzlys fired 25 at Canucks goalie Cruz Chase.
The Grizzlys were 0/4 with the powerplay. The Canucks went 3/7 with the man advantage.
Maruna was named the game star for the visiting team.
“Friday I thought we played really well, competed hard and were engaged for the full 60 minutes,” Grizzlys head coach Brad Tobin said in a text.
“We just lost the special teams battle,” he added. “They went 2/5, we went 0/5."
“Saturday night we played tight for a period, then saw why the Canucks are leading the league in goals for.
“We have to play strong defensively to get results. We aren’t going to win a high-scoring game. We need to score a few goals and win a tight, low-scoring affair.”
