By Cassandra Federico, special to the Times Review
The Grizzlies continued their playoff run last weekend with a loss at home, and a win on the road.
Friday night the Castlegar Rebels were in town, with a packed house and rowdy beer garden there to greet them. After a fast-paced and physical game, the Rebels came out on top and beat the Grizzlies 4-2.
Castlegar were first to get on the board at 14:16 in the second period. Only a minute later, they added a second to give themselves a two goal lead. Revelstoke found their way onto the board at 7:22, when the team’s newest player, Michael Roberts put one past the Castlegar goalie.
The Rebels scored at 9:23 in the third to restore their two goal lead. Then with less than a minute left in the game, Steven Fiust scored to make it 3-2 on a power play. The Rebels responded with their fourth goal only 10 seconds later after a miscue behind the Grizzlies net. The Grizzlies couldn’t close the gap in the dying seconds, and lost to the Rebels 4-2.
Coach Ryan Parent was content with the Grizzlies’ play on Friday, despite the loss. “I thought we played hard enough to win, but we just needed to make a few adjustments,” he said.
The Grizzlies were back on the road on Saturday when they travelled to Sicamous to face off against the Eagles. The Grizzlies played a solid game, and beat the Eagles 6-3.
Sicamous opened the scoring at 5:23 in the first period, with an unassisted goal from Devyn Myck.
The Grizzlies dominated the second period scoring five consecutive goals. Fiust was first to put one on the board at 18:16, with help from Tyler Chavez Leech, and Zach Paxman. Roberts added another for the grizzlies at 13:36, with help from Paxman and Chavez Leech. A minute later, Ethan Waitzner scored to make it 3-1; assists went to Roberts and Jackson Fulton. At 11:25, Kenny Batke put one in on a power play. Then with seven minutes to go, Fiust scored his second of the night on a power play to make it 5-1 in favour of the Grizzlies going into the third.
Roberts added to the Grizzlies lead with his second goal of the game at 15:54 of the third with the Grizzlies a man up; assists went to Zach Morey and Brady Mende.
Sicamous would score twice in the third to prevent a complete blowout. Darien Blight put a second on the board for the Eagles at 14:25 and Justin Wilde made it 6-3 with 2:34 left in the game. It wasn’t nearly enough to close the gap on the Grizzlies and the game ended with a final score of 6-3 for Revelstoke.
Parent was happy to pick up a win against Sicamous on Saturday night, and he liked the way the Grizzlies played.
“I thought we outplayed Sicamous. We generated thorough offense, along with strong defense,” he said.
Michael Roberts, who played for the Grizzlies in 2011-12 as a 16-year-old returned to the team after 2.5 seasons bouncing around the BCHL. He made his mark with six points in his first two games with the team. Parent is happy to have Roberts on the team, and thinks he’s going to be an asset as they move forward.
“He slid right in this weekend, which surprised me because he hasn’t played for a while,” he said. “I can tell that he’s going to be a great addition to the team not only on the ice, but he’s also a nice guy to have around off the ice.”
With the split, the Grizzlies remain in last place in the Doug Birks division, sixs point back of 100 Mile House for the final playoff spot and seven points back of Sicamous and Chase. Revelstoke holds two games in hand on each of those teams.
The Grizzlies have back-to-back home games this weekend against the Chase Heat on Friday, and the Sicamous Eagles on Saturday night. This will be an important weekend for the Grizzlies as they are facing off against two division rivals.
