There was a boisterous atmosphere in the Revelstoke Grizzlies dressing room after the team overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat the Chase Heat on Saturday.
“That was amazing,” said captain Kenny Batke after the game. “That’s two wins this weekend, so what’s there not to be excited about?”
The 3-2 victory over the Chase Heat at the Forum on Saturday came on the heals of a 4-2 win over the North Okanagan Knights on Friday. The victories brought the Grizzlies to within eight poinst of the Heat for third place in the Doug Birks Division, with a game in hand.
On Friday, the Grizzlies began a stretch of mostly-home games by hosting the Knights. Brady Mende score twice, including the game winner, while Ryan Hozjan and Ullar Wiatzka also got goals to lead Revelstoke to a 4-3 win. Trevor Dilauro picked up the win for the Grizzlies.
On Saturday, the Grizzlies hosted the Chase Heat for the first time this season. The team was looking for their first win of the season against their division rivals.
Michael Fidanza started the scoring for Chase with a goal nine minutes into the first period. Mende responded for Revelstoke about 10 minutes later to even the score heading into the second.
The second period was scoreless until Alex Durbeniuk put one past Grizzlies goalie Aidan Doak to make it 2-1 Chase.
In the third, the Grizzlies put the pressure on the Heat, delivering several big hits and generating numerous scoring chances, however they were unable to get a puck past Chase netminder Daniel Toews until the second half of the period.
Finally, with the Grizzlies on a power play, Ryan Pereverzoff fired a shot home from the side of the net to tie the score with 7:30 left to play. Four minutes later, Berry knocked in a centring effort by Wyatt Gottschalk to give Revelstoke a 3-2 lead.
After that, it was a matter of shutting the door the rest of the way and skating away with the victory.
“We battled hard all game. We were all over then,” said Hozjan. “It was nice to bury those two in the last 10.”
Coach Ryan Parent said he liked the team effort the Grizzlies showed against Chase.
“It felt today like we were a complete team, and that’s what it takes to win in the playoffs,” he said. “I felt we played playoff hockey this weekend.”
He said he never doubted the team would come back against the Heat.
“Our bench is pretty good. Our leaders keep a calm bench and they know we can have success if we stick to the game plan,” he said.
The Grizzlies next game is against the Kamloops Storm at the Forum on Tuesday, Jan., 12. The Storm lead the division with 51 points.
“Kamloops is a possible matchup for playoffs, so we want to make sure we play the right way there and we come away with two points,” said Parent.
Next weekend, the Grizzlies host the Princeton Posse on Friday before heading to Sicamous to face the Eagles on Saturday.
