The Revelstoke Grizzlies split their weekend games, losing to the Chase Heat 5-3 on Friday and beating the Kamloops Storm 2-1 on Sunday.
On Friday the Grizzlies limped into Chase to take on the last place Heat with several key players injured, leaving coach Kevin Kraus with a short bench.
It was the duo of Kurtis Johnson and Shelby Kotsyshen that led Chase to victory, with the former picking up three goals and an assists and the latter two goals and two assists.
Revelstoke found itself trailing for most of the game, with Chase scoring first at 11:26. Jordan Holloway equalled the score for Revelstoke with 4:41 to go, but Chase regained the lead with 90 seconds left in the period.
The Heat added to its lead early in the second, when Johnson scored his second of the night. Riley Creighton brought Revelstoke back within one later in the frame, with local minior hockey product Chevy Hantula picking up his first point of the season on the play.
In the third period, Kotsyshen restored Chase’s two-goal lead with just under six minutes left in the period. Darnel St. Pierre brought Revelstoke back with one goal only 47 seconds later, but an empty net goal iced the win for Chase with only three seconds left.
The final shots on goal were 42-41 for Revelstoke.
On Sunday, Revelstoke headed to Kamloops, who began the day in second place in the Doug Birks Division, six points ahead of Revelstoke. It was an opportunity for Revelstoke to gain some ground on its division rivals, and move further ahead of the Heat in the standings.
Kamloops dominated the first period, outshooting the Grizzlies 16-3, but strong play by goaltender Aaron Brandoli kept Revelstoke in the game. In the second, Spencer Samuel scored two goals, which proved to be enough as Revelstoke held on in the third period for the win.
The weekend split leaves the Grizzlies in fourth place in the division with a 9-7-1 record. The team is six points up on Chase, two points back of Sicamous for third, and only seven points behind the league-leading North Okanagan Knights.
The team has a chance to make up some ground when they host the Knights this Saturday, Nov. 10. First, thought, they travel to Penticton on Friday for a match against the Posse.
