Andy Siegel
Special to the Review
After a big Grizzlies win on New Years Eve the Forum seemed a bit more subdued even for a Friday night. The Revelstoke Grizzlies played Chase Heat, winning 2:0.
It was a one sided period with Revelstoke ahead 8:2 on shots at six minutes left in the opening period but the Chase Heat appeared to be a much faster skating and skilled team than Columbia Valley on NYE.
The Grizzlies were not walking all over their opponent like their previous home game. This match had the feeling it was going to be a tough battle till the final buzzer sounded. Near the end of the period Revelstoke thought they scored a goal that popped in the net after the whistle blew. This led to an argument between the Chase goalie and a Grizzly player which didn’t last long as a Heat player came charging in like a bull to pull them apart protecting his net minder.
It was a fast start to the second period. Both teams came out skating hard, determined to score that important first goal of the evening. Revelstoke had a few sloppy plays but didn’t give up any scoring chances until 15:19 in the period when Grizzlies goalie Noah Desouza made a beautiful glove save on a shot from the left face off circle. Shortly after the Grizzlies had a quick rush resulting in a sweet goal on a shot to the upper right side of the net by Matt Cadden assisted from Finn Withey and Raymond Speerbrecker.
At about the 12 minute mark Revelstoke created two solid scoring chances from opposite sides of the goal hitting the crossbar twice with hard shots but nothing to show on the scoreboard for it. Midway through the period Revelstoke had double the shots of the Heat with 21-10 displaying their effort but only a one goal lead which was not enough for the Grizzlies to relax. They needed a second puck in the net to give them a comfort zone.
With 8:20 left on the clock the Grizzlies got the opportunity they were looking for on a power play, despite a number of quality chances to score they were not able to get the puck past the Heat goalie who was on fire surviving almost 30 shots in the first two periods. The score at the end of 40 minutes was 1-0, even with Revekstoke hitting the crossbar four times in the 2nd period.
It was a very quick tight checking match at this point it felt like both teams game to win.
The 3rd period started off with the Grizzlies and Heat being more cautious neither wanting to give up the next goal, you could sense there might not be any more scoring tonight.
It was such a close game both teams were playing great hockey. With about 12:00 left Revelstoke had a power play but again came up short despite a number of excellent shots on net. The Grizzlies got a great scoring chance with a few minutes left on a partial breakaway from the left side but a Heat defense man came skating in at high speed to deliver a brutal but clean body check breaking up the play.
Shots with 1:41 to play were 49 - 26 Grizzlies, both net minders were playing terrific but the Chase goalie Vince Benedetto was on fire only letting in one goal facing almost twice as many shots.
With 5.6 seconds left on the clock and an open net at the end of the game Revekstoke’s Raymond Speerbrecker scored on a beautiful feed from Nathan Cohen-Wallis and Cody Flann to cap off the win.
The following day, Revelstoke won 9:1 against Sicamous.
The Grizzlies have the most points within the Doug Birks Division with only three games lost this season. Cahse is second with 12 games lost.
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