This week, the Grizzlys see a bit of a different week than the last few. No Wednesday games this week, and a Sunday afternoon matinee instead of seeing the Friday night lights.
November 15th Vs. Drumheller Dragons: For the first time this regular season, the Drumheller Dragons visit the Olds Sportsplex. Shocking its taken this long for a division rival to make the short trip north, but it will be the first of 3 matchups on the latter half of november. These two faced off for back-to-back preseason games where they split a weekend between the two. The first game saw Drumheller winning 6-2, while the second game saw Olds win 7-3 with Connor Johnson making 48 saves on 51 shots, and recent star performer Sam Giangualano with 4 assists. The Grizzlys are coming off of an extremely strong last two games, beating the Calgary Canucks 5-3 before taking the reigning AJHL finalists the Grande Prairie Storm to OT in a 6-5 OT loss bringing home 3 of the 4 possible points from the weekend. Hungry for more wins, and hopeful this leads to a turn around, the Grizzlys are ready to bring war to the Drumheller Dragons and do anything to win. Players to watch for for the Grizzlys will be the line of David Hoy, Sam Giangualano, and Sean Richards who were vital to the teams success this past weekend. Between the 3 games of this past week the line combined for 16 points! Richards was a vital playmaker to the weekend with 1 goal, 6 assists for 7 points across the 3 games, with big assists to the goal scoring offensive catalyst Sam Giangualano who had 6 goals with back-to-back hattricks against the Canucks and the Storm, proving that Sammy G is a top player in the league. Finishing that line off is David Hoy with 3 assists over the week starting plays and being the cherry on top to the success of the line. As the Grizzlys heat up, the Dragons fire has cooled down, as they have been 3-7-0 in their last 10 games. Players to watch for the Dragons are Bradley Gallo and Matthew Hilderman. Bradley Gallo, last seasons leading goal scorer. Gallo, who has been a goal scoring phenom, has since slowed down over the season from his early season dominance after bing named Septembers Player of the Month, holding 10 goals and 10 assists over 18 games, with the same amount of goals and only one more assist than Giangualano. Despite being on a cold streak, Gallo is dangerous and someone to be aware of. Next is rookie sensation Matthew Hilderman, the 2009-born rookie with 7 goals and 8 assists in 16 games and was named Player of the Week in October.
November 16th Vs. Camrose Kodiaks: The Battle of the Bears takes place once again, just at the Encana Arena for the first time this season. This will be the 3rd meeting of the season between the 2 teams, where the Kodiaks have won both games. The Grizzlys will be wokring off of the success of this past weekend, and energy from the night before to capitilize against the Kodiaks who will be playing the Dragons on Friday, wearing down both teams for the Grizzlys. Homegrown Talent Rhett Miller will be a player to watch for the Grizzlys with his success against Camrose as well as the whole season. The last time these two teams faced off the 20 year old Olds talent had 2 goals and 1 assist to go with his relentless forechecking and pesky two-way play. So far in his final year of juniors, Miller has 3 goals and 9 assists in 17 games while being one of the most vital players to the Grizzlys on and off the ice. Liam Payne will be a thorn in the Grizzlys side as he looks to continue his strong play against the Grizzlys as he matched Rhett Millers statline with 2 goals and 1 assist against the Grizzlys in their last matchup. Besides against Olds, the Kodiaks have a 9-8-0 record which places them tied for 3rd in the South Division with whoelse but the Drumheller Dragons.
The Grizzlys will be keeping the energy going from this last successful weekend, and hoping to be well rested from this week off of hockey as they look to stay in the win column. If you can’t make it to the games watch here: FloHockey
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