Dragons vs. Eagles (Dragons win 4-1)
The South Finals are now set as the Drumheller Dragons proved to be too much for the Canmore Eagles on Friday night.
The Canmore Eagles would get into penalty trouble nearly midway through the first period as they would hand the Dragons a 5 on 3 for a full two minutes.
Just over a minute into the power play Christopher Rauckman would blast a shot from the top of the slot over Eagles goaltender Cam Barnes to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead at 9:44.
It would be the only goal of the opening period.
In the second the Dragons would add to their lead while shorthanded as Trent Ouellette stole the puck from the Eagles and would hammer a shot on a breakaway at 7:13 to give the Dragons a 2-0 lead.
On the same power play the Eagles would get on the board as Luke Simpson would pick up the puck and fire it behind Dragons goaltender Devin Buffalo at 7:46.
The Dragons would get into more penalty trouble and the Eagles would make them pay as Luke Simpson would snap a shot in from the high slot and tie the game at 2-2 at the 9:18 into the second period.
The Eagles would then take a penalty late in the period and the Dragons would make them pay as Ethan James would jam in a rebound to make it 3-2 Dragons at 14:39 of the second period.
The Eagles would push in the third period but it was the Dragons that would add to their lead as Hunter Mills came out of the corner and put a shot top shelf at 15:51 of the third period.
Frustration would come out for Canmore as they would give Drumheller a power play late in the third period and Colton Vannucci would give the Dragons a 5-2 lead at 18:21.
Cam Barnes made 30 saves for the Eagles in the loss.
Devin Buffalo stopped 22 of 24 shots fired his way.
The Drumheller Dragons advance to the third round for just the second time in franchise history.
Saints vs. Crusaders (Crusaders lead 3-2)
It wasn’t easy but the Sherwood Park Crusaders won their third road game of the series 5-4 in overtime over the Spruce Grove Saints on Friday.
The Crusaders would open the scoring as Dillon Massie would redirect an Andrew Taverner shot behind Saints goaltender Tanner McCorriston at 12:18 to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.
Spruce Grove would answer on the power play as Parker Mackay would snap a shot from the high slot behind Crusaders goalie Tommy Nixon at 14:35 of the opening period.
In the second Nixon would make a save on Cameron Hughes but was unable to handle the puck and Tyler Busch would flip it past the Crusaders goaltender to give the Saints a 2-1 lead at 4:22 of the second period.
It would take the Crusaders just over three minutes to respond as Colten Meaver would dance around the Saints defense and snap a shot over McCorriston at 7:51 to tie the game at 2-2.
Less than two minutes later Geoffrey Crisfield would fire a shot towards the net that Nixon would stop but, the rebound went right to Paul Lovsin and he would make no mistake at 9:43 to give the Saints a 3-2 lead.
The scoring continued in the second period as Sherwood Park answered back.
Andrew Taverner broke down the right wing and fired a shot over McCorristons shoulder and in to tie the game at 3-3 12:06 into the period.
On the play Geoffrey Crisfield would take a highsticking penalty and give the Crusaders a four minute power play.
While on that power play the Crusaders would take their second lead of the night as Nicolas Jones would score on the rebound to make it 4-3, the goal came at 13:16 of the second period.
Early in the third period the Crusaders would take a penalty and the Saints wouldn’t waste much time as Jarid Hauptman would dangle his way into Crusaders territory and outwait Nixon to tie the game at 4-4 just 48 seconds into the third period.
That would be the only goal of the third period and this game was off to overtime.
The Saints thought they would get the game winning goal early in overtime, but the refs determined the puck went under the net and overtime continued.
The first overtime would come to a close without anybody scoring.
The Saints outshot the Crusaders 4-1 in the first overtime period.
In the second overtime period Nicholas Jones would find a way through the Saints defence and snap a shot behind McCorriston at 21:58 into overtime (11:58 of 2nd OT period).
Saints goaltender Tanner McCorriston made 31 saves.
Crusaders goaltender Tommy Nixon stopped 34 shots.
Game six of the series goes Sunday night in Sherwood Park.
Story by Chris Colwell
