Your Drumheller Dragons had to make one final trip to Canmore in the first round of the AJHL Playoffs for Game 7 of their series with the Canmore Eagles.
The whole series was a back and forth battle with both teams having success in the other teams home arena. Going into the game, two of Drumheller’s three wins in the series were in Canmore, 11-2 in game one, and 2-1 in game 5. The Dragons were hoping to use that to get by the Eagles in Game 7.
The Dragons opened up the scoring midway through the first period when Ellis Mieyette potted his second of the series, assisted by Easton Daneault, giving Drumheller the 1-0 lead. In the last minute of the period, the Eagles were on the power play. Owen Jones fired one on goal from a sharp angle. The puck went under the pad of Dragons netminder Sean Cootes and would end up sneaking into the net, tying the game 1-1 after one period.
Dragons goaltender Sean Cootes was in significant discomfort at the end of the first and Drumheller decided to make the change to Matthew Kondro in goal. Midway through the period, while on the penalty kill, the Dragons ended up giving the Eagles forward Aidan Tkachuk a penalty shot. Kondro flashed the leather and snagged Tkachuk’s shot keeping the game tied 1-1. Late in the period, Drumheller would get their fourth powerplay of the game and with 21 seconds remaining, Bradley Gallo would score his fourth of the post-season, from Ellis Mieyette and Ayden Peters, giving the Dragons the 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
Canmore would come out fighting but could not solve Matthew Kondro. Drumheller would score the insurance goal with 6:19 remaining as Aiden Connell would tally his first of the playoffs, from Trip Jensen and Kai Matthew. Then with Canmore’s net empty, Drumheller would seal the deal with Jase Johnstone scoring his first of the postseason, from Allen Sherpa, making it 4-1 and confirming the Dragons would move on to the AJHL South Division Final.
Shots on Goal
Drumheller – 20
Canmore – 30
Power Play
Drumheller – 1/4
Canmore – 1/3
3 Stars
- Aiden Connell DRM (Insurance Goal)
- Bradley Gallo DRM (GWG)
- Matthew Kondro (20 saves in relief of Sean Cootes)
The Dragons now move on to the second round of the playoffs where they will face the number one team in the AJHL South Division, the Calgary Canucks. In the six meetings this season Calgary won the season series 4-2 with one of those wins in overtime. The Dragons are looking for revenge as Calgary defeated Drumheller last season in the playoffs and would eventually make it to the Centennial Cup. It all starts on Friday night in Calgary at 7 PM at the Ken Bracko Arena. If you can’t make it in for the game, you can listen to all the action with Jason Blanke and Boedy Shields starting with the Western GM Pregame show at 6:45 PM Friday night.
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