OLDS — The Olds Grizzlys remain in last place in the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s South Division standings after dropping two games in a row on the weekend.
As of Monday, Dec. 9, the Grizzlys’ record stood at 10-15-0-0, for 20 points in 25 games.
The good news is that also as of Monday, the Drayton Valley Thunder, currently in second-last place in the division, sat only three points higher than the Grizzlys as of Monday, so not out of reach.
On Friday, Dec. 6, the Grizzlys were beaten 4-1 by the Drumheller Dragons in the Olds Sportsplex.
The next day, they were routed 7-2 by the Eagles in Canmore.
In Friday night’s contest, Junshi Hideshima scored his ninth goal of the season, assisted by Antonio Bevacqua and Bailey Shortall at 11:11 of the first period to tie the game at 1-1.
Unfortunately, that was all the Grizzlys could muster against a solid Dragons team defence.
Ben Dardis tended goal for the Grizzlys, stopping 29 of 33 shots on goal.
The Grizzlys were zero for three on the powerplay, but were hit with seven penalties.
The Dragons capitalized on that, scoring on three of those man-advantage opportunities.
In Canmore on Saturday, captain Connor Seeley tied the game at 1-1 at 12:28 of the first period on a powerplay, his eighth goal of the season, assisted by Jonathan Doucette and Tristan Taylor.
The Eagles took the lead again only 42 seconds into the second period.
Mitch Patrick tied the score once again for the Grizzlys at 9:51 of that frame, scoring his eighth goal of the season, also with the man advantage, assisted by Hideshima and Doucette.
Once again, that was it for Grizzlys offence.
The Eagles scored five unanswered goals to seal the win.
Connor Johnson and Dardis split the goaltending duties for the Grizzlys.
Johnson stopped 28 of 33 shots he faced. Dardis stopped 14 of 16 fired his way.
The Grizzlys went two for three on the powerplay. Their penalty kill did not allow a single goal on the five opportunities the Eagles had.
Defenceman released
The Grizzlys announced Monday afternoon that they have released 2004-born defenceman Justin Vandermeer.
Vandermeer scored three goals and picked up eight assists for a total of 11 points in 24 games with the team this season.
"The Black and Gold would like to wish all the best to Justin in his future endeavours," Grizzlys manager of business operations Kevin Watson wrote in a news release regarding the move.
