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Revelstoke Grizzlies loss to undermanned Kamloops Storm spoils weekend

Revelstoke Grizzlies beat Sicamous 4-3 in OT on Friday, but lose to 12-man Kamloops Storm 2-1 on Saturday
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David Lenzin

The Revelstoke Grizzlies had a chance to string two wins in a row together for the second time since Christmas on Saturday.

Tied 1-1 with the Kamloops Storm and on the power play with less than three minutes left in the game, they had a golden chance to take the lead. Instead, a giveaway at the offensive blue line resulted in the Storm's Brett Olstad flying down the ice on a breakaway. He was taken down from behind and given a penalty shot.

Olstad made no mistakes. He skated in, made a quick move and slid the puck through Giovanni Sambrielaz' pads, giving his team a 2-1 lead that they would hold on to for a big win.

"They played simple hockey and we had to over complicate the game," said coach Ryan Parent afterwards. "That's what happens, we paid the price for that."

The Grizzlies started their week on Friday when they hosted the Sicamous Eagles, who have been putting together some impressive wins after an abysmal start to the season.

After a scoreless first period, the Eagles jumped ahead 42 seconds into the second when Matthias Urbanski scored. Jace Woodley scored 39 seconds later on a power play to put Sicamous up 2-0.

Jon Vandermolen got Revelstoke back within one before the halfway point of the period, but Woodley restored Sicamous' two goal lead with 1:10 left in the frame.

The Grizzlies pushed hard in the third period to tie the game. Tyler Chavez Leech scored his 18th goal of the season with just over seven minutes left to get Revelstoke within one. That set the stage for David Lenzin to play the hero.

Lenzin, who was acquired earlier in the week from the Nelson Leafs in exchange for Michael Lenoury, scored the tying goal with 4:45 left in the third and added the overtime winner to give Revelstoke a much needed 4-3 win.

"He's a fast player with good vision, sees the ice well. He's a well rounded player," said coach Ryan Parent. "We're very happy with the transaction."

Lenoury left the team during the Christmas holidays and there were reports he was contacted by another team before being traded.

"Mike was slightly tampered with him," said Parent. "We wanted to make sure our player went to an organization that we could deal with appropriately."

On Saturday, the Grizzlies hosted the Kamloops Storm, who started the game four points ahead of Revelstoke in the standings.

Kamloops showed up with only 12 skaters dressed and played a very conservative game, doing their best to lull the crowd to sleep.

Bradley Newans scored the game's first goal 50 seconds into the third period when he snapped a shot high blocker side into the Kamloops net. Revelstoke held the lead for almost 12 minutes until Tre Sales managed to tie the game for the Storm.

Sales was in the penalty box when Brett Olstad played the hero with the winner on a penalty shot.

"It was a tough loss," said Grizzlies' captain Tyler Chavez Leech following the loss.

He said the team needed to focus on playing a full 60 minutes.

"This is playoff hockey now and it's going to be 2-1 games every night, so we have to fight through it," he said.

The Grizzlies have three games this week. On Tuesday, they head to the Shuswap to face the Chase Heat. This weekend they're back home for two games against the 100 Mile House Wranglers.

The Grizzlies will get reinforcement in the form of Raphael Bassot, who has been out with an injury since Christmas. He was the team's leading scorer with 26 points in 27 games before getting hurt.