The U18 AA Olds Grizzlys will be one of 5 teams competing this week in Spruce Grove for an Alberta Elite Hockey League provincial banner.
Olds will head to the Grant Fuhr Arena for high stakes hockey against the KC Colts, Strathcona Warriors, the CBHA Rangers, and the hosts – the PAC GS Construction Saints.
The U18 AA Grizzlys booked their ticket to the provincial dance by getting past the Foothills Bisons in overtime in the third and deciding game of their South Conference championship series. 17-year-old forward Nate Smith from Innisfail walks us through the championship winning OT goal. He says “kind of came down to the wire but we got a good power play and just set up. I got the puck on the wall and found Paxton Overwater in the middle. He shot, went in, we all celebrated. It’s great. It hasn’t been done in, I think it’s 40 years for our team. So it feels good to get one.”
Most of the team has been together for about four years now since Bantam. Smith says it feels really good to do it with all the teammates he has played together with for so long and to get it done in their last year. Smith breaks down the Grizzlys expectations for the provincial tournament. He says “we’re coming in expecting a lot. We want to play good and I think we have a decent chance of winning it all.”
17-year-old forward Beau van Vlaanderen from Olds points out that the Grizzlys are heading into the provincial tourney with some extra confidence after winning the South Conference championship banner. He says “small group of us we’ve played together for about four years. Some of the other guys, we’ve been playing with for about three now, so. Oh it was super fun, great for all the guys. Especially all of us guys that have been playing together and just winning that was a great feeling especially such a good group of guys and being all super close. So it helps and puts us in good confidence for this weekend.”
van Vlaanderen explains what they need to do to be successful in the provincial tourney. He says “play how we’ve been playing like hard, physical, and get pucks in deep and with that I think we’ll all be fine. Everyone is playing really well and we’re all starting to come together as a team, so I think we’ll be just fine if we keep playing well.”
The U18 AA Olds Grizzlys will start off provincials in Spruce Grove on Thursday, March 27th when they face off with the CBHA Rangers at 1:45pm.
The rest of the round robin schedule for Olds at the Grant Fuhr Arena will include games against the Strathcona Warriors on Friday morning and the KC Colts on Friday afternoon, plus a match up on Saturday at mid-day versus the host team – the PAC GS Construction Saints.
The Alberta Elite Hockey League’s U18 AA championship game is set for 1pm on Sunday in Spruce Grove.
