Andy Siegel
Special to the Review
The Grizzlies returned to the Revelstoke Forum Friday night (Feb. 3), falling 3–2 to their division rivals, the Kamloops Storm.
Kamloops snapped the Grizzlies’ seven game win streak last night. The Grizzlies are sitting comfortably atop the Doug Birks Division of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL), with 61 points. Having already clinched a spot in the playoffs, the closest team to the Grizzlies in the division is the Storm, who now have 52 points after last night’s game. The loss puts the Grizzlies third in the league behind the Princeton Posse and the Columbia Valley Rockets. Ryan Larsen for the Kamloops Storm opened the scoring midway through the first period.
In the first period Revelstoke looked flat, giving up two goals to the Storm’s Ryan Larsen and Ty Horner. In the scrappy period that saw five power plays, four of which against Revelstoke, the Grizzlies went scoreless in the frame.
At 5:18 of the second period, the Grizzlies got on the score sheet when forward ,Kessler Fyfe, found a bouncing puck, slamming it into the net at close range. Assists went to Owen Chamberland and David Coyle.
As the home crowd was still celebrating the initial Revelstoke goal, at 5:36 Brandon Gallo launched a wrist shot from the centre high slot for the tying goal. The packed Forum was sent into a frenzy after Gallo’s finish. Assists were awarded to Logan McCloud and Carter Bettenson.
It was a tight checking affair by both squads for the third period until the visitors went ahead at 11:34. On the left side, the Storm’s Jacob Hufty snapped in a shot to give Kamloops a 3–2 lead.
Despite Revelstoke’s effort to tie the game, they couldn’t find the back of the net for the equalizer.
Grizzlies’ goaltender, Jozef Kuchaslo, stopped 32 of the 35 shots he faced in the game.
Tonight (Feb. 4) they travel to Kamloops with a chance to split the weekend series. The puck drops at 8 p.m. in the McArthur Park Arena.