The Olds Grizzlys beat the Bonnyville Pontiacs 3-2 in a shoot-out Thursday evening at the Olds Sportsplex. With the win, the Grizzlys move to 15-16-2 and 32 points – good for 4th place in the South Division. They now sit one point ahead of Drumheller and three points behind Camrose.
Olds opened the scoring halfway through the first period with the hot hands of Matthew Marcinew. Assists went to linemates Brandon Clowes and Damien Kulynych. Two minutes later, the Grizzlys struck again as defenceman Taylor Bilyk jumped into the rush and fired a great pass from Bart Moran into the net. Dylan Hubbs was credited with the second assist. Before the period ended, Bonnyville got one of their own on the powperplay (Dusyk from Dubeau and Carey). The period would end 2-1 for the Grizz.
The Grizzlys did not have a desirable second period and goaltender Ethan Jemieff kept them in the game. He could not stop everything however and once again while on the powerplay, the Pontiacs struck to tie the game at two (Dubeau from Kohler and Foo). The remainder of the game would be tight-checking with no other goals exchanged.
Overtime would not solve anything so for the second game in a row, Olds headed to a shoot-out. Fate was on the home team’s side this time around as Jemieff had stopped all three Pontiacs shooters and newly acquired forward, Kulynych came down as the third shooter and sniped a goal post and in.
Special teams woes continued for the Grizz as they went 0 for 6 with the man advantage while Bonnyville went 2 for 6. Goaltender Ethan Jemieff had a spectacular game stopping 39 of 41 shots, which earned him Player of the Game for Olds.
The homestand continues for the Grizzlys as they are back in action Friday against division rivals Okotoks Oilers. The Grizz will hope to reconcile a 5-2 loss to the Oilers last week in Okotoks. Puck drop is 7:30pm.