Your Drumheller Dragons embarked on a three game in three night road trip, starting on Thursday night in Fort McMurray.
Heading into the weekend, the Dragons are down a number of players that are currently attending the Junior A World Challenge in Camrose, Sean Cootes, Ellis Mieyette, Allen Sherpa, and Lauchlan Kozicky. With those players missing, the Dragons were in need of affiliate players for the weekend. Joining the team is Drumheller’s own Brandon Williams as backup goaltender, forward Rowan McDonald from Stony Plain, and forward Devin Pelletier from Edmonton.
The game started well for the Dragons with a number of good scoring opportunities. Drumheller thought they had the lead early when Easton Daneault shot from a tough angle deep in the Fort McMurray zone. The puck ended up in the back of the net but the referee waived it off as they said the puck came in under the goal. Later in the period, the Oil Barons thought they had scored the opener but it hit the crossbar. Fort McMurray would score first with 3:32 left in the period on a goal from the point by Patani Mutambo. The Oil Barons would add to their lead 1:23 later as the captain Danny Akkouche scored his 11th of the year, making it 2-0 Fort McMurray after one.
In the second period, the Dragons came out looking to get back in the game. At the 7:23 mark of the period, Drumheller had a glorious chance but one of the Oil Barons defenseman, Lucas Schaefer would close his hand on the puck in the crease, giving the Dragons a penalty shot. Ayden Peters (9) would be the shooter for the Dragons and would come across and beat goaltender Vincent Filion top shelf to cut the deficit to 2-1. The Oil Barons would counter quickly as while battling to keep the puck in the Fort McMurray zone, Will McLaughlin would lose his footing and the puck. Carter Schmidt for Fort McMurray would gather the puck and have a breakaway, which he would score only 23 seconds after the Dragons, to give the Oil Barons a two goal lead once again, 3-1. Near the end of the period, a big open ice hit by Dragons defenseman Louis Nadeau would be called as a kneeing penalty. The Oil Barons would capitalize with Ryan Arnold scoring with less than 40 seconds left in the period, making it 4-1 Fort McMurray, heading into the third.
Early in the period, the Oil Barons would increase their lead when Danny Akkouche scored his second of the game making it 5-1. The Dragons would get one back with 5:51 remaining as Jarred Feist potted his first goal as a Dragon, fifth of the year, from Nick McLennan and Bradley Gallo, making it 5-2, and that’s how the game would end.
Shots on Goal
Drumheller – 31
Fort McMurray – 40
Power Play
Drumheller – 0/5
Fort McMurray – 1/3
3 Stars
- Danny Akkouche FTM (2 G)
- Jarred Feist DRM (1st goal as a Dragon)
- Ryan Arnold FTM (1 G, 1 A)
These two teams will do it all again on Friday night as they meet at Centrefire Place. We will have the game for you on the “Home of the Dragons”, New Country 92.5 with Jason Blanke starting with the Western GM Pregame show at 7:20 PM.
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