Grizzlys take out Mustangs

The Olds Grizzlys advanced to the second round of the Alberta Junior Hockey League playoffs on Feb. 28 with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Mustangs at the Olds Sports Complex.

The Grizzlys came out with a sustained attack in the first period, outshooting the Mustangs 16-10. Bart Moran got the Grizzlys on the scoreboard when he deflected a power-play shot from the point off the stick of Clay Howe to give the home side a 1-0 lead. Chase Paylor made it 2-0 before the period was out when he knocked the puck home near the crease with a spinning backhand shot past Mustangs goaltender Jay Deo. The goal proved to be the eventual series winner.

“Scottie (Antonsen) went in the corner there and threw it out front and everything just kind of panned out,” Paylor said following the game. “I skated to the far side of the net and just kept waiting until the goalie went down and I could slide it in there. It just kind of all worked out,” he said.

In the second with the play a little more even, Simon Skrudland got the visitors on the board with a power-play goal past Brandon Thiessen. Mitch Owsley replied for the Grizzlys knocking a rebound in off the stick of Dylan Hubbs.

Tanner Dunkle closed out the scoring for the Grizzlys in the third period when he deflected a shot from Casey Rogers.

Thiessen stopped 35 of 36 shots in getting the victory.

Paylor said everybody worked hard during the game to finish off the series and avenge last yeaar's playoff defeat.

“I think everybody really wanted to win ‘cause we definitely last year struggled with this team in the first round. Everybody really wanted to take them down and I think we knew this was our opportunity, so we did that,” he said.

Brett Hopfe, the Grizzlys' head coach, said the team responded with a good pushback in the first period to the challenge posed by the Mustangs. He said similar to every game in the series, special teams proved to be key, with the Grizzlys capitalizing on two of their seven power-play chances.

“They were a desperate hockey team … they came out … really banging and crashing, trying to set the tone and I think our players responded well to that so we just built off that,” he said, noting that in the third, the team wanted to finish off the series. “We didn't want to sit back on our heels at all. We wanted to go full bore at ‘em so I think (the players) did that quite well and we didn't really give them a whole lot to build off of in the third period and that was our goal,” he said.

The series victory was set up by a solid work ethic the previous night, when the Grizzlys came out with a 3-2 victory.

“We finished off the game very well and I really think we broke them in the third period on (February 27). I don't think they had a lot of confidence coming into (Game 4),” he said.

The series victory was satisfying for Hopfe in light of the team's up-and-down season.

“I'm very proud of how hard the guys have worked to get to this point. The way that we've played in playoffs is a product of how hard we've worked all year,” he said.

The Grizzlys were due to take on the Okotoks Oilers in round 2 beginning tonight in Okotoks.