January 2nd @ Canmore Eagles:
For the second time this season, the Grizzlys will take on the Canmore Eagles, and for the first time this season, at the Canmore Recreation Centre. The last time these two South Division teams faced off was in the Grizzlys third game of the season when Canmore outscored the home team 9-4 to take two points over the Grizz. The Grizzlys side of things in this game was led by a 3-point performance by Sean Richards, who netted a goal and two assists. Since then, Richards has become the team’s leading scorer, leading the way with 7 goals and 21 assists for 28 points in 31 games. This game also saw the first career junior hockey goals by defenceman Brody Martin and rookie forward Hubert Larose. Throughout this season Martin has become an integral part to the back end as the teams highest scoring defenceman with 3 goals and 13 assists for 16 points in 31 games while playing a physical and solid defensive game on a night to night basis, while Hubert Larose has since scored 4 goals and 7 assists for 11 points in 30 games as the rookies become a key piece to the Grizzlys success with his effort and two-way play. The Eagles were led to the big win by Will Lutic, who had a 5-point night, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists, and has since had a trip to play for Team Canada West at the World Jr. A Challenge. Bryson Insinger was also in on the action, scoring 2 goals and an assist for a 3-point night. While game one of these two teams facing off didn’t go in the Grizzlys favour, the Boys in Black & Gold will look for a big retribution game in the mountains.
January 4th Vs. Drumheller Dragons:
For the first game of the new year back in the Olds Sportsplex, our South Division rival Drumheller Dragons are in town for a Sunday afternoon matchup. These two teams have faced each other 3 times this season, when they faced off 3 times in 4 games back in the latter half of November, and the Grizzlys have a 3-0 record so far against the Dragons, all coming in a shootout or overtime. The results of the 3 games went, in order, 5-4 overtime win, 4-3 shootout win, 2-1 shootout win. These wins were led by the Grizzlys’ rookie sensation Ryder Riedel, who had a combined 1 goal and 4 assists across those 4 games, where his 1 goal scored was the overtime winner, and had a goal in each of the shootouts, where one of those was the shootout winner, showing the local talent has the clutch gene in him. Riedel now has 5 goals and 13 assists for 18 points in 17 games in his rookie season, along with 3 rookie of the week awards by the AJHL. And the boys couldn’t have gotten it down without the solid backend play by our two goalies. Corbin Sanderman started for 2 of the 3 games, where he made 42 saves on 46 shots for a big first win, followed by making 34 saves on 37 shots the next game for another win. Connor Johnson started in the 3rd and final game of that series, where he made a staggering 50 saves on 51 shots for a huge shootout win. The Dragons had success from Lauchlan Kozicky and Rowan McDonald, who both had 3 points throughout the series, and those two will look to have success in a revenge game. But Brandon Williams will be someone the Boys in Black & Gold will have to watch for as the rookie goaltender took part in all 3 games, starting in two and coming in for relief in one, where he had a huge part in sending all 3 games to extra frames. The Grizz will look to extend the season series to 4-0 against this division rival in their first game of 2026 in the Olds Sportsplex!
January 6th Vs. Devon Xtreme:
For a Tuesday night faceoff, the Devon Xtreme will play the Grizzlys for the 4th and final faceoff of the season between the two. So far this season, the Xtreme have led the season series 3-0, where they came ahead over the Grizzlys 4-1, 4-1, and 7-3, with the most recent game being on December 12th. In these past meetings, Sean Richards and Ryder Riedel have been the highest scoring Grizzlys against this North Division team. Richards, the only Grizzly with points in every single game so far, has put up 2 goals and 2 assists across the 3 games played, while Riedel has had 1 goal and 2 assists across the 3 games. Richards and Riedel will look to continue their strong play as they look to get the two points in this final matchup. The Xtreme players that the Grizz will have to watch for are Lucas Knorr and Jason Huang. Knorr has been dominant against the Grizzlys, putting up 2 goals and 5 assists across all 3 games played, while Huang has had success with 1 goal and 4 assists across 2 of the 3 games played. In the last meeting between these two, we saw two fights with Brendan Thomas and Calder Hutt dropping the gloves, so expect some fireworks between the two in the final meeting until next season, as the Boys in Black & Gold look to send Devon packing without any points.
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