The Revelstoke Grizzlies defeated the Kamloops Storm 3-2 in a must win game at the Forum on Friday night.
The Grizzlies came into Friday night’s match up against Kamloops one point behind the Sicamous Eagles for the last playoff spot in the Doug Birks division with two games remaining.
The first period ended with no score and was pretty evenly matched throughout. The second period saw a goal per team but was much of the same back and forth play as the first.
The third period is where things got interesting when Kamloops’ Mitch Friesen got one past Revelstoke net minder Aiden Doak with just under 12 minutes remaining in regulation.
With the life sucked out of the Forum and as post season elimination loomed closer the Grizzlies put the pressure on Kamloops resulting in Revelstoke’s Josh Pilon getting the equalizer to lift the spirits of his team and the home crowd at the 8:51 mark in the third.
With the score all knotted up at two it seemed the Grizzlies just were not getting the bounces they needed.
Less than a minute after the Pilon goal Revelstoke’s Ethan Waitzner shot on a wide open net but was burglarized as Storm goaltender Bailey De Palma as he did his best Martin Brodeur impression making a blind save with the blade of his skate in heavy traffic.
As overtime seemed inevitable the Grizzlies made one last push to save their season as forward Steven Fiust came through scoring the game winner with only 53 seconds remaining on the clock.
The Grizzlies got two huge points as a result of the win and temporarily moved into the final playoff spot in the Doug Birks.
It was an extremely short lived lead though. The Sicamous Eagles defeated the Spokane Braves 3-2 just minutes after the final horn blew at the Forum.
Long story short, the Grizzlies need to beat the Chase Heat in the final regular season game on Saturday night at home and the Eagles need to lose their final stanza against 100 Mile in order for Revy to clinch a post season birth.
Both games are Saturday night at 7pm, both Revelstoke and Sicamous are at home.
It all comes down to Saturday night.
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