You win some and you lose some: everyone learns that early on in sports and the Grizzlies had a taste of that in Princeton this weekend when they lost their first away game against the Posse 6-4 on Friday and then returned the next night to win 4-3.
Lucas Blinkhorn put the Grizzlies on the board at 3:46 in the first period in the team’s first game in Princeton this season with a little help from Josh McKissock and Trevor Esau. Princeton scored at 18:10 in the second but Caleb Roy tied it up on a power play with Faiz Khan and McKissock at 13:13. That must have looked good, but the Posse scored twice more in that period before the buzzer went. The Grizzlies opened the scoring at 18:22 in the third period with another goal by Blinkhorn off of Khan, but the Posse replied with two in rapid succession. The Grizzlies fourth and final goal of that game came from Cody Abbey from Roy and Kyle Ceretzke. The Posse scored one more time, just to gild the lily. The Grizzlies out-shot the Posse 43 to 23. There were 21 penalties, 10 of them against the boys from Revelstoke. Caleb Roy was the Third Star of that game.
Saturday’s match had an uneasy start but a very different ending. The Posse scored the only two goals in the first period, but the second and third periods belonged to the Grizzlies. Luke Richardson scored both of Revelstoke’s first two goals, both times with assists from Caleb Roy and Lucas Blinkhorn. Blinkhorn scored the third with assists from Richardson and Josh McKissock. Princeton scored its third and final goal on a power play with 2:16 remaining in the second and the Grizzlies wrapped it all up with the last goal of the game at 13:32 in the third from Faiz Khan off of Richardson and Blinkhorn.
There were only 11 penalties in the game, six of them against the Grizzlies. Lucas Blinkhorn was awarded both the First and Third Stars. The Second Star went to Princeton Goalie Weston Joseph who made 32 saves out of 36 shots on goal. Grizzly Goalie Justin Goritz made 27 saves during 30 shots on goal.
The Grizzlies’ next game is this Friday, Oct. 16, when the North Okanagan Knights come to the Forum. the game begins at 7:30 p.m. They play in Sicamous against the Eagles in the Sicamous and District Recreation Centre on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m.
Here are the current standings in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League:
| DIVISION: Okanagan/Shuswap Conference: Okanagan Division |
| TEAM | GP | W | L | T | OTL | PTS | GF | AVG | GA | AVG | PCT | L10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revelstoke Grizzlies | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 43 | 4.30 | 25 | 2.50 | 0.850 | 8-1-1-0 |
| Kamloops Storm | 11 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 40 | 3.60 | 35 | 3.20 | 0.727 | 6-2-0-2 |
| Chase Chiefs | 12 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 36 | 3.00 | 27 | 2.30 | 0.667 | 7-2-0-1 |
| Sicamous Eagles | 11 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 44 | 4.00 | 33 | 3.00 | 0.682 | 6-3-0-1 |
| Princeton Posse | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 49 | 4.90 | 36 | 3.60 | 0.700 | 7-3-0-0 |
| Penticton Lakers | 15 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 43 | 2.90 | 69 | 4.60 | 0.233 | 2-8-0-0 |
| North Okanagan Knights | 12 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 40 | 3.30 | 59 | 4.90 | 0.167 | 2-8-0-0 |
