What can the Revelstoke Grizzlies do wrong? Not much it seems this year. All week long, the Grizzlies had been battling to take first place overall and hoped to move ahead of the equally surging Spokane Braves. So, when Spokane came to town Saturday, Oct. 24, it promised to be the match up of the year.

Prior to that game, the Grizzlies played the North Okanagan Knights last Wednesday. The Knights are one of the worst teams statistically in the KIJHL but they always seem to give the Grizzlies a good challenge. The Grizzlies would come out on top by a close score of 4-3. They had 47 shots on beleaguered Knights’ goalie, Chris Hurry who is hurriedly becoming a star in the league due to his mammoth size and play. Stars of the game included Bruce Silvera who scored two even-strength goals and recorded an assist on the power play. Another was Riley Spraggs, who was awarded the second star of the game. Continued delivery comes from veteran assistant captain Caleb Roy who scored the game winner at 8:53 of the third. Congrats to Justin Goritz for getting the win.

The Grizzlies headed off to Princeton on Friday to face the team that handed them their only loss so far this year. The Posse had an 8-4-0 record going into the game and were looking to gain some ground on the Grizzlies.

Instead, the Grizzlies punished the Posse by a score of 6-1.

A four-point night from diligent Faiz Khan, a hat trick for Riley Spraggs and two more points for Lucas Blinkhorn were some of the highlights of the night. One sour note was Josh McKissock sustaining a foot injury and having to be helped off the ice. His power-play attributes will be missed until possibly January 2010 as he was also scoring at a point-per game pace.

Finally, the game the huge crowd had been waiting for; the two top teams in the KIJHL was the real match of the week with first place overall up for grabs.

Luke Richardson was absent from the match for ‘personal reasons’, along with Brendan Burge and injured McKissock and Krolik. The buzz had been the shortened bench had been fighting the flu. But let down the hometown crowd? No way! The first period was by far the best of the game with both teams checking out each others’ speed, passing and attack skills. Speaking of speed, Khan scored a beautiful short-handed goal barely two minutes into the game, easily deposited top-side right on Cash Ulrich, the Braves’ stymied goalie.

Caleb Roy scored the eventual game-winner a few minutes later. He did his patented cycle around the net, came out to the right side and slid it perfectly under Ulrich’s pads.

Lucas Blinkhorn put on a skills show next as he went end to end and undressed Brave’s goalie Ulrich and about four other Braves on his rush; capping it off with an easy backhand. Blinkhorn showed a lot of mettle this night when the team needed a lift. He played hard and was abused quite a few times, but showed this town how much he cares about wearing the jersey and the ‘C’.

Bruce Silvera also stood out on the attack and even more so on the penalty kills. The Braves would not go out without a fight though and were able to break Andrew Parent’s armour on some lazy coverage by the Grizz. No one picked up Dylan Tappe, and he was able to waltz in and score short handed.

The second period was pretty sloppy, individualistic hockey but both teams were having poor luck burying any chances. The Braves seemed to work a bit harder than the Grizz in this period, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances either. Brad Irving got a double HOG in one shift as he dropped the Braves’ Ryan Hadley-Schall twice. Dayton Martens had a nice hit on the Brave’s Guisseppe Dippolito in the first. No scoring occurred in the second.

The Grizzlies played a more determined third period with Spokane matching that intensity. Andrew Parent kept his team in this game throughout the evening with some good rebound control and passing, along with 31 saves. The fourth Grizzlies’ goal was a treat for fans that may not have seen just how well these young men fluidly move the puck. Veteran Caleb Roy played an amazing game, chocking up three points and he’s the definitive quarterback of the power play. He was calling for the puck and Kyle Ceretzke fed it to him -- Roy drilled a hard feed over to Khan. Khan made no mistake going top shelf to put the final nail in the coffin. Khan had just missed a glorious chance earlier, but redeemed himself. The Grizz took it 4-1 in the end. They had a bit of a challenge against an equally fast and skilled but not overly big Brave’s pack.

Grizzlies Coach Troy Mick now has a 14-1-1 record with the club, says they were happy with the road wins. “We played as a resilient bunch, overcame adversity, and a horribly long road trip,” said Mick. “When you come out of a week of play like that on top, you’re one happy coach. It was definitely gratifying to see how well our team played against Spokane. With a shortened bench and chasing Spokane in the standings, we came out on top.”

With the Spokane Braves beating the Knights on Sunday, they are now again tied for first with the Grizzlies with 29 points each. The Grizzlies still have four games in hand though. The next Grizzlies’ home game is Oct. 30. Prizes are available for the best costume, so come dressed up and show some spirit! Let’s go Grizzlies!