With a continuing trend of losing or winning by a one-point margin, Olds Grizzlys goaltender Ethan Jemieff is chalking up the squad's latest defeat at the hands of the Calgary Mustangs on Oct. 8 to chance.
“It just wasn't our night. The tying goal off the backboards right out front, two of their guys wide open, you don't even practise that, it's just luck,” he said. “We battled hard. We probably had five open nets, just we couldn't bear down.”
After playing nearly two periods of virtually deadlocked hockey, the Grizzlys almost wrapped their claws around victory with 25 seconds left in the game when Landon Kletke launched a bullet from the blue line that soared past Mustangs goaltender Ravi Dattani and put Olds up 2-1.
The crowd at the Olds Sports Complex was already rising to leave when Calgary's Connor Collett restored the stalemate with just nine seconds to go in the third period.
In overtime, Calgary took advantage of an Olds tripping penalty to score a game-winning power-play goal at the hands of Brad Forrest.
Jemieff, who stopped 22 shots from the Mustangs during the game, said the Grizzlys aren't dwelling on yet another close-game loss.
The silver lining, he added, is that the team, whether winning or losing, is keeping the games close and he believes that the reason for that is his fellow players have “bought in more” to the team mentality.
“For a few games there, everyone was just trying to do their own thing,” he said.
On Oct. 12 in Olds, after trailing the Fort McMurray Oil Barons going into the third period, Grizzlys captain Spencer Dorowicz earned a hat trick and miraculously tied the game with 34.8 seconds left.
The teams remained deadlocked through an overtime period but the Barons managed to squeak by the Grizzlys in a shootout, winning the game 4-3.
The Grizzlys were tied for sixth place in the AJHL's South Division as of Oct. 15 with a record of four wins, seven losses and three overtime losses.
The squad's next game is on Oct. 18 against Grande Prairie.
