By Cassandra Federico, Special to the Times Review
The Revelstoke Grizzlies continued to fight for their spot in the playoffs over the past week. They brought themselves one step closer, sweeping six out of six points in three exciting home games.
The Grizzlies started their week strong, with a 3-0 win against the Sicamous Eagles.
Louie Federico scored Revelstoke’s first goal at 1:17 in the first. Brady Mende added a second at 2:22 in the second period, with help from Michael Roberts. At 7:41 in the third, Carter Huber scored the Grizzlies’ third of the game, with an assist from Josh Pilon.
The Kamloops Storm were in town on Friday to take on the Grizzlies. After an exciting, back-and- forth game in front of the biggest home crowd of the season, the Grizzlies claimed victory, beating the Storm 9-7.
Revelstoke opened the scoring at 12:18 in the first with a powerplay goal from Levi Morin. Kamloops was quick to tie it up but Nii Noi Tetteh and Mende gave Revelstoke a 3-1 lead with goals 16 seconds apart midway through the period. The wild first period continued with Kamloops scoring twice in 36 seconds in the final minutes of the frame.
Kamloops pulled ahead in the second with two back-to-back powerplay goals at 16:47, and 12:44. The Grizzlies responded quickly with a goal from Federico at 12:33, then evened the score 2.5 minutes later when Ethan Waitzner notched a goal to tie it up at five at the halfway mark of the game.
The Storm took the lead back early in the third period. Once again, the Grizzlies tied it up when Tetteh scored his second of the game almost halfway through the period. Steven Fiust added another the Grizzlies at 7:11 on a powerplay. Tyler Chavez-Leech gave the Grizzlies a two goal lead on a powerplay at 5:57. Kamloops kept it interesting with a seventh goal at 2:28, but Chavez-Leech scored an empty netter with 1:20 left to go to cement the win for the Grizzlies.
Saturday the Grizzlies took on the North Okanagan Knights at the forum. They dominated the board with a 6-0 win.
Chavez-Leech was the star of the game, scoring four times, with Huber and Morin also getting goals.
Michael Lenko made 28 saves for the shutout.
The Grizzlies are currently sitting in last place in their division, but only one point back from Sicamous, and two points back from 100 Mile House. Winning their last three games will secure the Grizzlies their spot in the playoffs.
Fiust shared some comments about the last couple weeks, and the team`s playoff run.
“I think we’ve had confidence in ourselves and the team,” he said. “We just need to keep working hard, and focus on one game at a time to secure our spot in the playoffs.”
The Grizzlies have a huge game against 100 Mile House Monday afternoon. They are back at home on Friday to take on the Kamloops Storm. On Saturday the Chase Heat will be in town for to close out the season.