OLDS — The Olds Grizzlys have one last chance to get in the win column before the new year when they host the Calgary Canucks Tuesday in the Olds Sportsplex.
Game time on Dec. 17 is 7 p.m.
The junior A hockey club could use the pick-me-up that a win could provide after dropping both games of a two-game weekend road trip.
They were beaten 3-1 by the Pontiacs in Bonnyville on Friday, Dec. 13, then 8-5 by the Bobcats in Lloydminster on Saturday.
Those two losses dropped the Grizzlys’ record to 11-17-0-0 for 22 points in 28 games, last in the six-team Alberta Junior Hockey League’s south division.
However, miraculously, as of Monday, the Grizzlys remained just one point behind the Drayton Valley Thunder (9-13-3-2, 23 points in 27 games).
In the Bonnyville contest, Jonathan Doucette opened the game with the Grizzlys’ lone goal, his seventh of the season, at 11:44, assisted by Grizzlys captain Connor Seeley.
The Pontiacs scored two goals in the second – including a powerplay marker -- and one in the third to seal the win.
Ben Dardis took the loss for the Grizzlys, stopping 31 of 34 shots he faced. The Grizzlys replied with 25 shots at Pontiacs goalie Ryan Tamelin.
The Grizzlys went zero for one on the powerplay. The Pontiacs were one for four with the man advantage.
On Saturday night, the Bobcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first four minutes of the first period.
However, the Grizzlys remained undaunted and tied the score at 2-2 with goals by Antonio Bevacqua (his 12th of the season), assisted by Junshi Hideshima at 10:10 of that first frame and Braeden Veldhuizen, his seventh of the year, at 19:42, assisted by Bevacqua and Doucette.
The Bobcats scored two more goals in the second period, including one just 10 seconds in, to stake a 4-2 lead.
Seeley closed the gap at 6:06 of that middle frame with his ninth goal of the season, assisted by Jaxson Doyle.
However, the Bobcats scored another to take a 5-3 lead.
Bevacqua scored his 13th goal, assisted once again by Hideshima at 11:29 of the second period to make the score 5-4, but the bobcats got another goal to widen their lead to 6-4.
They scored two more in the third period to take an 8-4 lead before Grizzly Hunter Motley potted his third goal of the season at the 19:40 mark, assisted by Dekkam Dallas and Keil Schmalz.
Dardis went the distance in net again for the Grizzlys, stopping 36 of 44 shots on goal. Two guys tended net for the Bobcats: Gabe Otis who stopped 11 of 15 Grizzlys shots and Kaiden Kirkwood, who stopped 20 of 21 Grizzlys shots on goal.
The Grizzlys were blanked on all three powerplay opportunities they had. The Bobcats scored on one of their four powerplays.
