Wednesday night at the Bear saw two teams battle in an entertaining match up between the Grizzlies and their Island Rivals from the Alberni Valley, with both looking to keep pace in the Coastal Conference.
1st Period: Both teams would create chances with defences ruling the roost in the first 20 mins. The Grizzlies would keep Max Fenkell busy in the first frame with Fenkell being up to the task of keeping them at bay. Stefan Gonzales, who was making his home debut looked impressive and when he was on the ice, was shutting down the Bulldogs offensive with ease. Great positioning, skating and cool under pressure at the back, Gonzales looks like a welcomed addition to the Grizzlies defensive ranks.
0-0 at the end of the first.
2nd Period: Would see the Grizzlies take advantage of the powerplay when Dante Godinho got a bit of break away on the Alberni penalty killers and managed to tip the puck just out of the reach of Dogs goalie Fenkell. Fenkell, had really stopped everything the Grizzlies had thrown at him and had looked impressive throughout the first two periods. Jamie Tucker, when called upon would keep his cool especially when a potential Alberni breakaway, saw Tucker come all the way out to his blue line to clear the puck out of the Grizzlies zone.
The Grizzlies would go two up at the very end of the 2nd, when some nice work from Walchuk and Gonzales would clear a lane for Mike Sandor to score with a nice shot to make it 2-0 Grizzlies after 40mins.
3rd Period: Was a strange one. Chase Kasier was ejected from the game after a hit from behind. From the ensuing powerplay, the ever dangerous Justin Morello would score for the Dogs to make it an interesting 3rd period. With the Dogs throwing some more pressure on the Grizzlies net, Tucker would stand firm after some nice work from the Dogs via Morello, Hyland and Nowarkowski forcing him into some nice saves. Fenkell would continue to keep the Grizz at just two goals with a number of important stops.
Now here's the show stopper, with Alberni only down by one, Dogs Head Coach, Paul Elsdale would lob his water bottle in frustration towards the refs, due to "in his mind" some questionable officiating(he may have a point) and was promptly ejected by referee Ryan Benbow. Now fair enough coaches get frustarted at times, but, with his team already awarded a penalty against them, Elsdale temper tantrum would add a bench minor to the exsisting call, putting them down by two men. The Grizzlies didn't score on the two man advantage,but, what was Elsdale thinking in such a close game?
The game would go back and forth in the last 5 minutes and the Grizzlies would finally put it out of site when Coltyn Hansen scored with empty netter. The Dogs would turn round and score with a bullet of shot from Lars Hepso with 5 secs to go to make it a 3-2 Grizzlies final.
Standouts for the Grizzlies:
Stefan Gonzales - Smart hockey player, closed his opponents down well, confident approach to the game and with his sleek skating gets the puck up ice well. A real treat to watch tonight and what looks to be a great pick up for the Grizzlies.
Nolan DeJong - Growing in confidence by the game and looked like a vet out there tonight.
Mike Moran - Determined to make something happen on every shift and the Dogs had to be alert to try and contain both he and Murphy and Ten Vaanholt tonight
Jamie Tucker - Some nice saves tonight and kept the Grizzlies in the game especially in the third.
Standouts for the Bulldogs
Max Fenkell - Focused the whole game tonight and didn't take his eyes of the puck. A smaller agile goalie who made some key saves tonight. Didn't flinch under pressure and deserved his 2nd star. In my eyes was the 1st star tonight.
Justin Morello - Quick, skillful and a nose for goal. Would also drop back to help out the 'D' quite often tonight.
Walker Hyland - Laid a couple of nice hits tonight and moved the puck well. Dangerous going forward.
1st * Mike Moran 2nd * Max Fenkell 3rd * Nolan DeJong
Attendence - 794(I'm putting on a few but I don't count as two yet)
Shots on Goal - Grizzlies 38 and Bulldogs 28
Powerplays - Grizzlies 2 for 11 and Bulldogs 1 for 8
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