Kuchaslo backstops Grizzlies to Cyclone Taylor Cup championship
Jozef Kuchaslo was named the Player of the Game for the Revelstoke Grizzlies as he backstopped them to a 4-1 victory over the Kimberley Dynamiters to win the Cyclone Taylor Cup. Kuchaslo finished with 26 saves.
“We all came focused, we all came ready to go tonight, we knew we had a great team over there (Kimberley), we were all dialed in and ready to go,” said Kuchaslo. “We wanted to prove everyone wrong, we know we came in as the host team, a little bit of an underdog, people doubted us being there. We just wanted to prove to everyone how much it meant to us, how much it meant to the city and how much it meant to each and every guy on our team.”
The Grizzlies opened the scoring at 4:50 of the first on a power-play goal by Carter Bettenson. The Grizzlies then added two more goals in the first period, all on the power-play, by Will McPhee and Brady Schwab. In the second period, the Dynamiters hit the scoresheet with an Ethan Bloomquist power-play goal. Just over five minutes later, David Coyle scored the Grizzlies’ fourth power-play tally to secure the win. Coyle finished with three points. Dynamiters goalie Trystan Self finished with 36 saves.
Bettenson, who netted the winner, was named the Cyclone Taylor Cup MVP. In four games, Bettenson had five goals and six points.
“I kind of found that role late in the tournament, just burying a couple goals on the power-play, helping the boys get the wins,” he said. “Late in the game I thought I played really well defensively to get pucks out. Just chipping simply on the wall, especially in Game 2 and 3 as well. It makes it easy to get offence when you are not giving up anything in the defensive zone.”
April 15, 2023
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| Coyle leads Revelstoke to victory against Delta
Trailing 2-1 in the second period, David Coyle set up Will McPhee’s long point shot that beat Ice Hawks goalie Merik Erickson to put the Grizzlies even at two with 37 seconds left. Erickson finished with 41 saves on the night, including several impressive stops. Coyle then gave the Grizzlies a 3-2 lead 1:17 into the third period and they wouldn’t look back getting two more goals by Carter Bettenson and Jake Wallace on the power-play for a 5-2 victory. The Grizzlies power-play went 2-for-5. Jozef Kuchaslo made 36 saves for the win. Bettenson led the Grizzlies with three points, while Wallace had two. The Grizzlies will now play the KIJHL champion Kimberley Dynamiters in the gold medal game for the Cyclone Taylor Cup. |
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| Miller nets winner for Kimberley to advance to CTC Gold Medal game
The Kimberley Dynamiters punched their ticket to the Cyclone Taylor Cup Gold Medal game thanks to five unanswered goals for a 5-3 victory against the Oceanside Generals, the VIJHL champs. The Generals built a 3-0 lead on goals by Carter Johnson, Tyson Pauze and Evan Dyce, then the Dynamiters began to chip away at that lead and struck for their first with 8:49 remaining in the second period on a goal by Christian Mealey, his second of the tournament. The Dynamiters then scored two more late goals by Ethan Bloomquist on the power-play, and Isaac Sommer with 21 seconds remaining in the second to tie it at 3-3. The Dynamiters took advantage of a four-minute power-play in the third as Miller scored with a blast at 8:29 to give them a 4-3 lead. Campbell McLean sealed the victory with an open net goal. The Dynamiters power-play went 2-for-5 and Trystan Self made 35 saves for the win. Miller was named the Dynamiters Player of the Game and collected an assist on the 3-2 goal. Cash Regan and Kade Leskosky had two assists each. Leskosky assisted on Miller’s winner. The Dynamiters will now play at 5 p.m. on Sunday. |
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April 14, 2023
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| Bettenson leads Revelstoke over Kimberley
The Revelstoke Grizzlies built a 3-0 lead after the first period to earn a 4-1 victory over the Kimberley Dynamiters in Day 2 of Cyclone Taylor Cup action at the Revelstoke Forum. Carter Bettenson was named the Player of the Game for the Grizzlies thanks to his two-goal effort as he opened the scoring then scored the Grizzlies’ 3-0 goal, on the power-play, with seven seconds remaining. Ethan Mattern also had two points for the Grizzlies as he set up Bettenson on his first goal, then scored to give the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead. Daniel Wittenberg scored 2:15 into the third period, beating Trystan Self who stopped 28 of 29 shots after coming in relief for Matt Fleet who allowed three goals on 12 shots. Jozef Kuchaslo made his first start for the Grizzlies in goal and stopped 21 shots. |
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| Grizzlies lose opening game to Generals
Brady Schwab scored the Revelstoke Grizzlies’ lone goal in a 5-1 loss to the Oceanside Generals (VIJHL champs). Schwab’s first of the Cyclone Taylor Cup came on the power-play as Will McPhee and Luke Aston earned the assists. Generals goalie Matthew Hutchison finished with 27 saves. The Generals scored the winning goal with a second remaining when Ethan Hawes got his stick on a Brendan Carlson point shot on the power-play. The Generals added three more goals by Carter Johnson, Carlson and Dante Paziuk. Grizzlies goalie Owen Albers stopped 16 of 19 shots and Jozef Kuchalso four of six shots in 20 minutes of action. |
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| Mealey nets OT winner for Kimberley against Delta Ice Hawks
Christian Mealey scored the 2-1 overtime winner for the Dynamiters with 1:12 remaining in the extra period against the Ice Hawks. Mealey was set up by Cash Regan and Cam Reid. The Dynamiters struck first and early, 17 seconds into the game as Tristan Weill finished off a Jake Watson pass with Kasey Miller starting the play. The game was forced into overtime when Caelan Mander beat Matt Fleet, who stopped 22 shots, while short-handed with 6:30 remaining in the third period. The Dynamiters went 0-for-7 on the power-play, and were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. |
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