Andy Siegel
Special to the Review
Friday night the Revelstoke Grizzlies played an exciting game against the Princeton Posse resulting in a double overtime 2-2 tie score.
There was a solid crowd even for “shoulder season” without the winter tourists and visitors in town which is always good to see the community out supporting their local team.
From the opening face off the Grizzlies dominated the first few minutes, getting four shots in before the 16:00 minute mark.
Revelstoke had more skilled skaters than Princeton but this did not result in any early points for their all their hard work.
The Posse picked up the pace by midway mark of first period evening the shots at 5-5 but still no points for either team.
I always look for the best skaters and noticed No. 23 Jordan Kohlman on the Grizzlies defense was the smallest kid on the ice but looked like the fastest on his blades.
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Around the 9:00 minute mark of the first period there were not many scoring chances because both teams played tight defense checking players off the puck in their own zones.
Revelstoke got a partial breakaway with about six minutes left in the period but the Princeton goalie made a great save off his goal stick shaft on the high slap shot to keep it scoreless game.
This was followed by another solid one time slap shot from No. 61 Brandon Kasdorf but again no luck getting it in the net.
The Grizzlies were leading 9-6 on shots with three minutes left and limited offensive chances, it was a good effort from the Revelstoke goaltender not giving up any rebounds.
Another opportunity came for the Grizzlies when No.15 Sam Petruch came out of the penalty box for a terrific offense rush but could not muscle his way for a good shot on goal because of the solid play from the Princeton defenceman.
The score at the end of the first period was 0-0 but you could tell that was probably not going to happen again in the second.
The Grizzlies had a 5-3 power play early in the second period which looked like their best shot to get ahead in a tight game but then they got penalty to make it a 4 on 3.
They finally opened the scoring at 16:30 with Matt Cadden putting one in the net assisted from Dalton Irvine and Cody Flann.
Soon after a big hit/trip from the Posse captain Noah Brusse led to a few scuffles and penalties but no resulting points.
At 10:53 Princeton opened their scoring with Brendan Adams, assisted by Trent Crisp and Kyle Crisp.
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The Grizzlies next goal in the second was a sweet, even strength, wrist shot from the left side near the boards that found it’s way inside the net, again by Cadden assisted by Irvine and Flann.
Not long after this, the goal of the night was scored on a great give and go play with Princeton’s Brendan Adams sweeping a low perfect pass from Justin Fodchuk into the net.
With the shots at 21-25 for the Posse, with 17 minutes left in the third period, play opened up two good scoring chances by both teams. They seemed to sense that the next goal scored would be a game winner in this close match up.
At this stage there was less focus on physical play, many more shots and harder skating–no time to save your legs for future periods.
With about 10 minutes left both teams were not on top of their game but anyone could win at this point.
There was very wide open skating and felt like overtime since goals were so hard to come by.
It was back and forth offense with no end in sight, I knew this was going to overtime halfway through the third period.
In the first four-on-four overtime it was intense play on both sides, so many scoring chances but no goals.
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Princeton had a 2-1 break but Brusse shot too early from the side. I think he should have glided into center more to give him chance on either side of the net.
The second overtime was three-on-three with Princeton launching shots from the point taking Don Cherry’s advice to “ shoot the puck at the net kids”.
The Posse seemed to dominate early in this overtime with many shots, but both teams had great scoring chances, which were unsuccessful.
Overall it was a very entertaining game with some terrific play from both goaltenders.
@RevelstokeRevue
editor@revelstoketimesreview.com
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