FRIDAY - GRIZZ UP 3-1

THE CHOKE HOLD

The Grizzlys took a firm grip of their Best of Seven Second Round AJHL series with the Okotoks Oilers last night.

After a "run and gun" 6-5 victory on Wednesday, the Grizzlys clamped down defensively and took care of home base - beating the Oilers 3-2 - and taking a 3 games to 1 series lead.

The Oilers would draw first blood at 11:17 of the 1st period as John McInnis would score on a 5-3 Man Advantage but not five minutes later Mitch Maxwell of the Olds Grizzlys would score to tie the game on the Power Play.

In the 2nd Jordan Kwas would give Olds it's first lead of the game - scoring at 14:32, putting the Grizzly up 2 to 1 - but with just 46 seconds left Corbin Knight would catch a bizarre "pop-fly" behind the Grizzlys' net, drop the puck and immediately dish to Chris Duszynski - who'd catch Marc Boulanger by surprise and pot his 2nd of the post season, tieing the game heading into the 3rd.

Both teams would exchange Power Play chances in the final frame - the Oilers, who'd get the first chance a man up, could not beat Boulanger, while the Grizzlys would need only 46 seconds to take advantage of their P-P when Jordan Kwas would score an unassisted beauty - giving Olds a 3-2 lead and a 3-1 edge in the best of seven affair.

After the game Cale Wright, who drew into the line-up to replace an injured Carey Koruluk, talked about his suddenly surging team-mate Jordan Kwas.

"He's a completely different player." said Wright, who's grind it out style of play was as important a role as that of Kwas' on Thursday.

"He played great for us in the regular season but now he's just a totally different player - it's been awesome."

Kwas, Wright, and the rest of the Olds Grizzlys will have to continue to be just that, awesome, if they hope to role into Okotoks and advance to the 3rd round of the AJHL's playoffs on Saturday with a win.

Listen to Live Coverage of Saturday's Game in Okotoks on 96.5 CKfm, starting at 7:00 PM.

SCORING SUMMARY

PERIOD 1 Okotoks Oilers at 11:17 (PP) - John McInnis from Dave Lamouche and Justin Daigle Olds Grizzlys at 15:26 (PP) - Mitchell Maxwell from Shadoe Stoodley and Wade Bergman PERIOD 2 Olds Grizzlys at 14:32 - Jordan Kwas from Mitchell Maxwell and Ben Wilson Okotoks Oilers at 19:14 - Chris Duszynski from Kyle Reynolds and Corban Knight PERIOD 3 Olds Grizzlys at 11:48 (PP) - Jordan Kwas (unassisted)

GAME NOTES
At post time Jordan Kwas lead the league with 16 points in 9 games after game 4; Marc Boulanger played a fantastic game making 22 saves on 24 shots and earning a .916% in net; Steve Papciak earned a .918% making 34 saves on 37 shots; Olds' Carey Koruluk missed his second game of the series with a lower body injury; Ryan Cornforth was a healthy scratch for Olds - putting Corbin Karl back on the Blue-line; Olds went 2 for 6 with the PP (33.3%); Okotoks went 1 for 6 (16.6%).
INTERESTING TO NOTE
The Olds Grizzlys haven't lost 3 back to back games since November, when from the 18th to the 22nd they lost 3 road games in Camrose, Fort McMurray and Saint Albert in a row. That's what it'll take for the Okotoks Oilers to win this 2nd round series at this point - 3 back to back loses from the Olds Grizzlys.
IN THE BLOGGERS OPINION
Safe to say that this series is now firmly planted in the paws of the Olds Grizzlys. Don't let up, don't release any of the pressure in your choke hold and don't let a desperate team hang around. I think the Grizzlys need to come out with their best effort on Saturday and shut this down as soon as possible. We've seen the Grizzly have trouble closing out their opponents in this post-season, whether its when leading after two periods or failing to close out Drumheller in Game 4 and we've all heard the old saying, "Don't Kick a Guy When He's Down" - well I say Kick, Punch, Drag . . .do whatever it takes to end this now!