The Olds Grizzlys lost a pair of tight games in Alberta Junior Hockey League action last week, dropping a 3-2 decision on Friday to the Canmore Eagles and a 2-1 contest to the Drumheller Dragons on Jan. 30 at the Olds Sports Complex.
Brett Hopfe, the team's head coach, said the Grizzlys worked hard on Friday against the Eagles – outshooting them 58-24 – but several mental errors led to the game slipping away.
“I thought that game we worked extremely hard, we just didn't work smart and that was probably the key to the game. We had a lot of mental lapses in that game,” he said, noting the team should have won both the games.
On Jan. 30, Hopfe said several “suspect” calls by officials led to the Grizzlys playing short-handed.
“When you're trying to kill off a five-on-three power play for about eight minutes, it's not something that's ideal and when you look at the stats, they scored two power-play goals in the 10 chances they had, so that was the difference in that game,” he said.
With only one game remaining at home (Wednesday vs. the Calgary Canucks), Hopfe said it's important to play well on the road and string together a few wins in the four games remaining after Wednesday as the team heads into the playoffs.
“It's obviously very important … even just confidence-wise for the guys. It will be a big challenge for us. We need to win games on the road if we want to win in playoffs … and we're going to take it as a playoff series,” he said.
Hopfe said since the team's turnaround after Christmas, the players are confident that they can give every team ahead of them in the south division a challenge if they meet up in the playoffs.
“We're not really too worried right now who we're going to face, we're just worried about how we're going to play on a consistent basis. These last few games are going to be important for us to get on a roll,” he said.
"I thought that game we worked extremely hard, we just didn't work smart and that was probably the key to the game."Brett Hopfe, head coach, Olds Grizzlys
