Back on home ice after the longest road trip of the season the Black & Gold outlasted the Yaks 2-1 in a shootout on Friday, February 13th.
800 fans were on hand to watch a thriller between Olds and the Bonnyville Pontiacs on Variety Children Charity Valentine’s Day presented by Just Jacks and Pomeroy Inn & Suites Olds. In addition to a thrilling Alberta Junior Hockey League contest, there were also autograph sessions before it and at the intermissions with Stanley Cup winners Jay Beagle and Cory Sarich.
A back and forth first period eventually saw forward Jordin St. Louis (2009) open the scoring at 16:51 from forward Ryder Riedel (2007) from Didsbury and defenceman Koray Bozkaya (2008) from Maple Ridge, B.C. The 16-year-old from Airdrie now has 16 goals and 35 points in 40 games to rank second among active AJHL rookies in both categories behind only Pontiacs forward Gavin Harrison (2009) from Cold Lake. Harrison’s stat line is 19 goals and 39 points in 42 games.
Bonnyville would tie the game off of a clean faceoff win in the offensive zone and then d-man Liam Reed (2009) from Edmonton would let go a point shot that found its way through a screen at 18:29. Former Grizzly forward Riley Pederson (2007) from Smithers, B.C. picked up an assist on Reed’s third tally of the season.
65 minutes of action wasn’t enough to decide a winner, so breakaways would be needed. In the shootout, Harrison struck first in the bottom of the first round to put the Yaks up by one. Riedel would tie it up in the top of the third before forward David Hoy (2007) from Fort St. James, B.C. would notch the game winning goal in round four. Goaltender Cole Prelusky (2008) from Calgary made three straight saves to close out the shootout. Hoy says “it was pretty cool. Felt nice to get a win, you know, good to team win. Probably most complete game we’ve played all year and, yeah, just felt good and we’ll keep rolling. He looked up at the crowd after celebrating the win. Hoy says “yeah it was nice. It was really cool to see Olds come out and support us. If we get that every game, you know, like that would be pretty special. We have a pretty special thing here in Olds.” Hoy was recently named one of the team’s alternate captains. He says “yeah, it is really special. It’s the first letter I think I’ve gotten in my life but I’ve kind of wanted to step up as a leader in the room no matter what team I was on. I’m just proud to support the boys here, more of a support for them and help them succeed.”
Prelusky earned his third win in the AJHL and first star honours for the night. He finished with 46 saves and now all three of his wins this season have included more than 40 stops (48 in Drayton Valley on January 30th, 43 in Drayton Valley on February 8th). Defenceman Owen Hutzul (2006) from Edmonton says “he is an unreal person, unreal goalie. He makes our job so easy. He is really good at communicating. As a d-man, I mean yeah honestly, I can’t say enough good things about him.” Prelusky has a propensity to help out his blueliners with strong puck-playing abilities. Hutzul says “yeah I mean, it’s a game changer. It’s like having a third d-man out there. So I mean, we really appreciate it and he is doing an amazing job.”
It was the first game at the Sportsplex since January 11th. Olds went 3-4-1 on the lengthy 8-game road trek. Hutzul says “it was an unreal game. Perfect finish. The fans they came out, they supported. It really kind of energized us, and just pushed us through and ended up getting the ‘W’ for them, so yeah, it was awesome.”
The fifth place Grizzlys (14-27-2-2) will visit Camrose (25-17-2-0) on Sunday, February 15th. Including that contest, the OGs have 10 remaining in the regular season and they are 9 points back of the South Division’s fourth and final playoff spot which is currently occupied by the Calgary Canucks (19-20-2-1). The Canucks have played three fewer games than Olds, so making the postseason may be a stretch at this point. Hoy says “we just kind of wanted to set a goal for ourselves. Let’s be a .500 team for the second half of this year and I think we are probably one game under, maybe .500. So yeah, we have a goal set in mind and that is what we are aiming for.” The Grizzlys are now just one win back of last season’s total of 15 (15-38-1-0 in a 54 game season).
After going to Camrose, Olds will then rattle off the final five home games of the regular season all in a row between February 20th and March 3rd. The Canucks will come to the Town of Olds on Friday at 7pm, followed by a visit from the Drayton Valley Thunder (12-26-3-2) on Sunday, February 22nd at 3pm.
Listen to 96.5 The Ranch’s post-win conversation with David Hoy.
Hear more post-win audio with Owen Hutzul.
96.5 The Ranch spoke with AJHL Rookie of the Month for January, Jordin St. Louis.
The Ranch also caught up with Ryder Riedel after practice on February 12th. He has now been named AJHL Rookie of the Week five times this season.
Check out The Ranch’s first chance to chat with Cole Prelusky from after practice on February 12th. He has posted a save percentage better than .920 in each of his last six appearances for Olds.
