The Glenwood Springs Youth Hockey Association Pee Wee A hockey team celebrated its first season win by smashing the Denver Junior Eagles in the second of two games last weekend.

The first game progressed slowly.

“We were disappointed with a 1-1 tie,” Glenwood Grizzly Gavin Olson said. “We realized we had to execute. We stooped to their level and we had to step it up more.”

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That’s exactly what the Grizzlies did a few hours later during the second game.

From the moment the puck was dropped, the Grizzlies maintained control and fired off several shots in the first few minutes of the game.

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Five minutes into the first period, Glenwood’s Cole Shavalier shot a goal to set the Grizzlies into motion.

Less than two minutes later, the Grizzlies were up 4-0 with goals by John Jensen, Joel Rothman and Andrew Kollar. Gavin Olson, Sam Liotta, Erich Albrecht and Rothman assisted the goals.

Four minutes later, Kollar scored again with a pass from Rothman to end the period with a five-goal lead.

During the second period, Glenwood’s Shavalier, Rothman and Olson scored three more goals, one of which was assisted by Liotta.

Denver pulled its goalie the entire third period, but the Junior Eagles still couldn’t push the puck through Glenwood defensive players Zac Mencimer, Matthew Heim and Travis Leahy.

Goalie Josh Cook stopped all 17 of Denver’s shots.

Glenwood was able to rack up four more empty-net goals – two from Olson and one each from Rothman and Shavalier, with assists from Shavalier, Jensen and Mencimer, to finish the game with a 12-0 victory.

Next week, the Grizzlies will travel to Denver for two more games against the Junior Eagles.

“We need to make cross passes so we can get the puck to the other side and into their zone faster – not just one man stick handling,” says Olson, who not only scored his first goal of the season but got a hat trick as well.

When asked what he likes about hockey, the youngster replied: “We get to work and play with friends. It feels so good to high-five after a goal. You feel like you’re on top of the world!”