The weekend for your Drumheller Dragons didn’t start the way they wanted but it sure finished off with a substantial offensive performance.
The weekend started in Camrose against the Camrose Kodiaks on Friday night. The Dragons were looking to continue their winning streak and played a strong game in the effort to continue the streak. Camrose would open the scoring at 6:49 of the first period on a goal by Luka Taylor. The Dragons would tie the affair with two minutes left in the first period, with Jase Johnstone scoring his 6th of the year, from Nathan Hawkins and Trip Jensen on the powerplay.
The Dragons would take their first lead of the game 35 seconds into the second period when Ellis Mieyette tallied his 10th of the year, from Bradley Gallo and Nathan Hawkins. Camrose would tie the game 2-2 with a goal by Owen Dewitt, a new acquisition by the Kodiaks, scoring his first for the team. Then with 5:41 left in the period, Bradley Gallo would have a milestone goal, scoring his 30th of the year, from Tate Yule and Easton Daneault, making it 3-2 Dragons.
Drumheller did what they could to hold the one goal lead but at 7:02 Camrose would tie the game with Owen Dewitt scoring his second of the game. The game would remain tied 3-3 and would need overtime.
With just over two minutes left in OT, the Dragons would take an interference penalty and it would cost them. With only 30 seconds left, Kodiaks forward Spencer Master would score the game winning goal on the powerplay, making the final 4-3 Camrose.
Saturday, the Dragons would be back on home ice to face the AJHL South leading Canmore Eagles. This would be the final time the two teams will meet in the regular season, although if the standings stay the same, they would meet in the first round of the playoffs in late March.
The Eagles would open the scoring in the first period when Owen Jones scored at 10:04, making it 1-0 Canmore. The Eagles would increase their lead only 2:27 later when Rhett Dekowny scored his 24th of the year, giving Canmore the 2-0 lead after one period.
Drumheller would get on the board with 7:12 left in the second period when Allen Sherpa scored his 9th of the season, from Will McLaughlin and Bradley Gallo. The Eagles would regain their two goal lead four minutes later with Aidan Tkachuk scoring his 8th of the year, making it 3-1 Canmore.
Tkachuk would add another in the third at 8:25, giving the Eagles the 4-1 lead. Just over a minute later, the Dragons Nick McLennan scored his 4th of the season, from Aiden Connell and Logan Peskett, cutting the deficit to 4-2. The Dragons would pull goaltender Sean Cootes and would score with the extra attacker. Ellis Mieyette would tally his 11th of the year with 54 seconds left to make it 4-3 Canmore. Drumheller would have a couple of great opportunities to tie the game but could not, falling 4-3.
Monday, Family Day, the Dragons would have an afternoon affair against the Olds Grizzlys. Coming into the game, the Grizzlys were down a couple of players and had a few affiliate players in their lineup. The Dragons would take advantage with a flurry of offence. It would start early with Drumheller’s Tristan Payne scoring his 2nd of the year from Easton Daneault and Bradley Gallo at 2:11. Then at 4:05, Tate Yule would score his 4th of the year for the Dragons, from Jase Johnstone and Nick McLennan, making it 2-0 Drumheller. The Dragons would add another at 8:52 when Jase Johnstone scored his 7th of the year, from Nathan Hawkins and Lauchlan Kozicky. They weren’t done there as Bradley Gallo tallied his 31st of the year at 9:49, from Cameron Johnsen. Olds would get on the board at 12:33 with a goal by Jonathan Doucette short-handed, making it 4-1 Dragons. Drumheller would add one more before the end of the first period, when Jase Johnstone scored his second of the game (8), from Kai Matthew and Allen Sherpa on the powerplay.
The Dragons would add more early in the second with Will McLaughlin scoring his 2nd of the season, from Easton Daneault and Bradley Gallo 54 seconds in. Then, only 30 seconds later, Logan Peskett scored his 3rd of the year, from Ayden Peters, giving Drumheller the 7-1 lead. At 10:43, Olds Grizzlys player Keeghan Dunn scored to cut the deficit to 7-2 Dragons. Drumheller would add to their lead at 12:44, when Jase Johnstone scored his hat-trick goal of the game (9), from Lauchlan Kozicky and Allen Sherpa. Then on the powerplay, Ellis Mieyette would increase the Dragons lead with his 12th of the year, from Logan Peskett and Bradley Gallo. The Dragons would take the 9-2 lead into the dressing room after two periods.
Only 52 seconds into the third period, Jase Johnstone would do something only four other Dragons players had ever done before, score his fourth of the game, from Lauchlan Kozicky and Allen Sherpa, making it 10-2 Drumheller. At 8:02, Bradley Gallo added his second of the game (32), from Easton Daneault and Tristan Payne, making it 11-2. The Dragons would try to get their 12th goal but it was not to be. They tied a team record with 11 goals in a game, only happening on two other occasions, on January 10, 2010 against the Drayton Valley Thunder, and September 14, 2018 against the Brooks Bandits (thanks to Ron Bell for this historical information).
The Dragons now have the week to prepare for a double header at home this weekend against the Grande Prairie Storm. The Storm will be at the Memorial Arena Saturday night at 7 PM, and then again on Sunday afternoon at 2 PM. Tickets for both games can be found at https://tickets.drumhellerdragons.ca.
The Dragons are also participating in Hockey Day in Drumheller at the Rosedale Outdoor Rink on Thursday from 11 AM until 2 PM. There will be a number of items to bid on for fundraising for the Rosedale Recreation Society, including a pair of tickets to see Shania Twain in Calgary during Stampede on July 5th.
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