OLDS — The road was not kind to the Olds Grizzlys this past weekend.
They lost both games of a two-game road trip Friday, Jan. 10 and Saturday, Jan. 11.
On Friday, the Grizzlys were edged 2-1 by the Xtreme in Devon. On Saturday, they were pounded 7-1 by the Wolverines in Whitecourt.
In Devon, the Xtreme got the first and only goal of the first period at 11:31 to go up 1-0.
There was no scoring in the second period.
In the third period, the Xtreme widened their lead to 2-0 at 8:35, before Aiden Knutson of the Grizzlys responded at 12:41 of that period, with his second goal of the season on the powerplay, assisted by Jonathan Doucette and Braeden Veldhuizen.
Ben Dardis was in net the entire game. He stopped 24 of 26 shots he faced and was named the visiting team’s star.
The Grizzlys sent 32 shots at Xtreme goaltender Preston Lewis, who was named the home team’s star.
The Grizzlys were one for five on the powerplay. The Xtreme were zero for four.
On Saturday night, the wheels fell off for the Grizzlys almost right away, as they allowed three Whitecourt Wolverine goals in the first approximately 7.5 minutes of the first period.
Doucette got the Grizzlys on the board with a powerplay goal at 13:58 of that first period, assisted by Bailey Shortall and newcomer Johnny Maruna.
But that’s the only goal the Grizzlys could get in this game.
The Wolverines scored two more goals in the first period, one in the second and one in the third to finish the game off.
Conner Johnson was between the pipes for the Grizzlys this time and was peppered with 45 shots. He managed to stop 38 of them. Whitecourt goaltender Elliott Pratt stopped 19 of 20 Grizzlys shots fired his way.
Doucette was named the visiting team’s star.
The Grizzlys were one for five with the man advantage. The Xtreme were two for six on the powerplay.
"In Devon we had our chances to score but couldn't convert when we needed to," Grizzlys head coach Brad Tobin said in a text. "In Whitecourt they showed why they're one of the top teams in the league and kept us on our heels for most of the game."
The Grizzlys’ next game is this Friday when they host the Drumheller Dragons. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. in the Sportsplex.
Then the Grizzlys are back on the road to take on the Thunder Saturday night in Drayton Valley.
"With the amount of new faces in our lineup post-(trading) deadline, we have to get everyone on the same page and find a way to play consistently for a full 60 minutes," Tobin wrote.
