Your Drumheller Dragons kicked off their three game road trip on Friday night in Grande Prairie.
Drumheller has had its difficulties in the Bonnets Energy Centre over the years and unfortunately that would be the case Friday night. The Dragons would take an early tripping penalty in the first period and Grande Prairie would capitalize when Alex Hall scored his fourth of the year. The Storm would make it 2-0 at 8:09 when Max Leduc scored his fourth of the season. Before the end of the period, Drumheller would get a power play opportunity. Drumheller’s top goal scorer, Bradley Gallo scored his 9th of the year, from Easton Daneault and Jase Johnstone, to cut the deficit to 2-1 with just under 40 seconds left in the period.
Grande Prairie would regain their two goal lead early in the second when Chase Laurie would score a power play marker at 4:35. Drumheller would again make it close just over two minutes later, when Luca Dufour scored his third of the year from Bradley Gallo wand Easton Daneault. You could tell these two teams were not liking each other and Dragons captain Tate Yule laid out Max Leduc hard into the boards. The hit was a clean hip check but Grande Prairie didn’t appreciate the hit. Yule would drop the gloves with Damian Palmieri and it would be a very even fight, with both players getting their shots in. Little did everyone know that this was just the start of the physicality. Before the end of the second, Grande Prairie would take the 4-2 lead on a goal by Kayden Clarke.
In the third, the Dragons would have opportunities but Grande Prairie would score at 3:42 on a goal by Chase Christensen, making it 5-2 Storm. Then, the craziness continued as Aiden Connell would drop the gloves with Kaiden Bugera after Bugera got after Dragons forward Easton Daneault. With 6:49 left in the third, we saw something that rarely happens as we believed we were going to see a full out line brawl. That didn’t happen but the two goaltenders squared up at centre ice. To see the video of the fight, visit the Drumheller Dragons Facebook page. After the goalie fight, both goalies were ejected from the game and Grande Prairie’s Keagin Kelln, Drumheller’s Matthew Kondro, had to come into the game. The Storm would capitalize early after the goaltending change as Jared Feist scored with 2:50 remaining, making it 6-2 Grande Prairie. Only 40 seconds later, Grande Prairie’s Zachary Wilson would finish off the Dragons with a goal that Matthew Kondro would like to have back. The final would be 7-2 Storm
Shots on Goal
Grande Prairie – 47
Drumheller – 31
Power plays
Grande Prairie – 2/7
Drumheller – 2/6
Big Country Dental 3 Stars
- Alec Hall GPS (1G, 2A)
- Chayse Laurie GPS (1G,2A)
- Sean Coates DRM (37 saves on 42 shots and a goalie fight)
Hardest Working Dragon – Luca Dufour (1G)
We will see if the fireworks continue in game two of this mini-series between the Storm and Dragons. The puck drops on Saturday night at 6 PM from the Bonnets Energy Centre in Grande Prairie. Tune in to all the action with the Western GM Pregame Show kicking things off with Jason Blanke and Boedy Shields starting at 5:45 PM on New Country 92.5.
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