Revelstoke Grizzlies goaltender Giovanni Sambrielaz had never earned a shutout in the playoffs before, but last night he got his first. Despite being outshot 37 to 18 by the Kimberley Dynamiters, the Grizzlies took a decisive 1 – 0 win on home-ice to even the KIJHL championship series at two.
Sambrielaz, the star of the last two games, said it was a team effort.
“The team has played incredibly well in front of me, and made my job easy,” the Grizzlies netminder said. “We hadn’t gotten the bounces in the first two, but things worked out at home.”
Head coach Ryan Parent, up for KIJHL coach of the year, said Sambrielaz played clutch to keep the club in the game.
“He gives us a chance to win every night he’s in the net, and he’s been clutch every game,” he said.
Parent chalked the win up to hard work, determination, and getting on the board.
After taking home two key victories on home ice to keep the Grizzlies championship dreams alive, he said nothing less than would have been acceptable for Grizzlies.
“The win is what we wanted, and I don’t think anything was gonna’ be acceptable except for that for us,” said Parent.
“That was our mindset going in and we got on the board. They didn’t, and Gio backstopped us. I thought we competed hard for the full 60 minutes.”
Parent said the game plan going forward will be much the same as it was over the last two games, and that the Grizzlies will be sticking to what they know works well.
“We wanna bring the same compete and elevate our game.”
The Grizzlies were outshot by 17 in the last 40.
Their lone goal was scored less than three minutes into the second period unassisted by Jacob Bourchier.
The @RevelstokeGriz1 lead 1 – 0 after two. Less than 20 left in game 4 of the #kijhl finals. #revelstoke pic.twitter.com/5p6hjARWxs
— Jake Sherman (@Jnsherman) April 4, 2018
Sambrielaz’ stellar performance on home ice was just his second shutout of the season.
The Revelstoke Grizzlies will continue to battle for the KIJHL championship in Kimberley on Thursday night when the puck drops for game five at 7:30 p.m.
The series is tied 2 – 2.
@Jnshermanjake.sherman@revelstokereview.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
