Dylan McNeil scored twice as the Revelstoke Grizzlies beat the Sicamous Eagles 7-4 Tuesday night at the Forum.
McNeil opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game, with the assist going to Lee Christensen, a reserve player in his second game as a Grizzly.
Sicamous and Revelstoke traded goals in the first period.
After McNeil got Revelstoke on the board, Jordan Sheasgreen got Sicamous their first. Christensen then got his first goal in the KIJHL and Dallas Stewart tied things up 2-2 to end the first frame.
Sicamous jumped ahead in the second with Breckin Erichuk scoring a power play goal. Revelstoke’s Joel Scrimbit tied the game up 3-3 to end the second period.
Sicamous scored again as Aaron Plessis got the puck past Liam McGarva to put the Eagles up 4-3. It would be their last goal of the night.
Twenty-six seconds later, David Lenzin scored, getting a shot past goalie Koltin Dodge.
Josh Irvine got the next goal, a power play number and Clark Nelson picked up an unassisted shorthanded goal with 7:57 left in the game.
The door closed at 6:04 in the third when McNeil scored his second, once again with the assist going to Christensen.
“Good for Dylan,” said Revelstoke coach Ryan Parent. “It’s nice to see a guy who’s been working hard be rewarded as far as points go.”
Parent said he thought the team played well, but that they could tighten up a bit on the defensive end.
“I think it really wasn’t until the third period that we clued in and played the right way,” he said.
The Grizzlies outshot the Eagles 71-25.
The Grizzlies face the Osoyoos Coyotes on Friday at 7 p.m. an warp up the regular season against the Summerland Steam on Saturday at 7 p.m.
A look at the playoffs picture
The Revelstoke Grizzlies have clinched the top spot in the Doug Birks Division.
With five games left in the regular season, the Grizzlies are charging towards playoffs.
Right now, it looks like Revelstoke will be taking on the Kamloops Storm in the first round.
With 67 points following their win over the Sicamous Eagles Tuesday night, it’s mathematically impossible for the Grizzlies to be unseated at the top of the division. The Chase Heat are also guaranteed second place.
The only placing that might change is third and fourth. The 100 Mile Wranglers are currently in third with 45 points. They have six games remaining and if they win them all, they’d secure third with 57 points. The Kamloops Storm are in fourth right now with 38 points. If they won their next five games, they’d have 48 points.
Coach Ryan Parent said that right now it’s looking like the Grizzlies will be hosting Kamloops for the first two games of the first round series at the Forum in Revelstoke on Feb. 23 and 24. The next two games would be in Kamloops on Feb. 26 and 27. Then the games would bounce between Revelstoke (March 1 and March 3) and Kamloops (March 2) if needed for the remainder of the best-of-seven series.
It will take two rounds to get out of the Doug Birks Division, with the winner of the first vs. fourth game taking on the winner of the second vs. third game.
Then, the winner of the Doug Birks Division will take on the winner of the Okanagan Division. The winner of that series will face the winner of the Kootenay Conference in the KIJHL final.
The winner of the KIJHL then goes on to play in the Cyclone Taylor Cup, the B.C. Junior B Provincial Championships.
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