Heading into Bonnyville to wrap up their three game in three night road trip, your Drumheller Dragons came in short some players.
With four of the Dragons competing with Team Canada West, the Dragons were at 20 players on the road trip already. Ayden Peters, Jarred Feist, and Trip Jensen all sustained injuries in the game on Friday night in Fort McMurray. The Dragons came into the game against the Pontiacs with nine forwards, six defense, and two goaltenders. The team may have been short on players but not short on effort.
Bonnyville would open the scoring 4:09 into the first period when newest addition to the Pontiacs, Brayden Gourley, scored his first of the year. Drumheller would tie up the affair when Dragons forward Nick McLennan would score his first of the year, from Easton Daneault with 5:37 left in the first. The teams would remain tied 1-1 after one period.
In the second, the only goal would come early as Pontiacs forward Christophe Lussier would score on the man advantage 2:05 in giving Bonnyville the 2-1 lead. Later in the period, Dragons forward Aiden Connell ended up dropping the gloves with Pontiacs defenseman Justin Berezniuk meaning one less forward for the Dragons for the remainder of the game.
You wouldn’t have blamed the Dragons for letting off the gas in the third, being the third game in three nights and down to eight forwards, but that would not be the case. Tate Yule would end up moving up to forward and would be beneficial as Yule would tie the game at 7:16 with his second goal in two nights. Assisting on the goal was Hudson Gainer and affiliate Rowan McDonald. Just under three minutes later, the Dragons would capitalize on the power play with Devon Winder scoring his 7th of the year, from Luca Dufor, giving the Dragons the 3-2 lead. The Pontiacs would tie the game with just over five minutes left as Brayden Gourley would score his second of the game. It looked like the game was heading to overtime but Drumheller would get a power play with 1:31 left in the game. With 59.1 seconds remaining, Jase Johnstone would score for Drumheller, his fifth of the year, from Will McLaughlin giving the Dragons the 4-3 lead. Bonnyville would pull goaltender Cody Butikis but were unable to tie the game, giving the Dragons their second win in a row.
Shots on Goal
Drumheller – 28
Bonnyville – 32
Power Play
Drumheller – 2/4
Bonnyville – 1/5
Big Country Dental 3 Stars
- Jase Johnstone DRM (GWG)
- Brayden Gourley BNY (2 G, 1 A)
- Tate Yule DRM (1 G)
Hardest Working Dragon – Matthew Kondro (29 saves on 32 shots)
Your Dragons have one more game to wrap up the 2024 portion of the 2024-2025 season. The Devon Xtreme pay their first ever visit to the Memorial Arena. It is also Alumni Night where a number of former Dragons will be in the crowd. Game time on Saturday night is at 7:00 PM. Tickets are available at tickets.drumhellerdragons.ca.
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