Saints vs. Oil Barons (North Final Game #1 Oil Barons lead 1-0)
The Spruce Grove Saints continue to struggle on home ice in the playoffs as they dropped game one 4-2 to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Friday night.
Remember the North Final preview saying that special teams probably wouldn’t be a factor?
Guess what, it was wrong as Parker Mackay (assist to Cameron Hughes) would open the scoring on the Saints’ first power play of the night as he beat Oil Barons’ goaltender Tanner Jaillet over the blocker at 6:20.
The Oil Barons would respond on a five on three as Adam Wilcox (assist to Kaiden Tobin) would beat goaltender Kenny Cameron blocker side at 9:40 of the opening period.
Shots favored the Saints 13-9 in the opening period.
In the second period the Saints would retake the lead as Jarid Hauptman (assist to Cole Nicholson) snapped a shot over Jaillet at 9:04.
Fort McMurray though, would tie the game late in the second period as Kaiden Tobin (assist to Austin Yadlowski) tipped a shot behind Cameron at 18:57.
Shots were 8-5 Oil Barons in the second, 18-17 Saints after two periods.
Early in the third period the Oil Barons would get their first lead of the night as Adam Durkee took a pass from Kevin Miller and snapped it over Cameron to make it 3-2 at 1:37.
Adam Durkee (unassisted) would score his second of the night into an empty net at 19:52 to make the final 4-2 Oil Barons.
Shots favored the Oil Barons 12-10 in the third period and 29-28 in the hockey game.
Game two will be Saturday night in Spruce Grove.
Bandits vs. Dragons (South Final Game #1 Dragons lead 1-0)
The Drumheller Dragons blew a 2-0 lead, but managed to score a late goal to secure a 3-2 victory on Friday night.
The Dragons would get the first goal of the South Finals as Ethan James (assists to Dallas Smith and Alex Bechtold) would drive down the right wing and snap a shot behind Bandits’ goaltender Michael Fredrick at 7:40 of the opening period.
Late in the first period the Bandits would get into penalty trouble as three players took penalties 11 seconds apart from each other to give the Dragons an extended two man advantage.
During the first part of the five on three, Mitchell Cook (assist to Colton Vannucci) finished a cross crease pass and beat Fredrick to make it 2-0 Dragons at 19:55 of the opening period.
Shots were even at 11 in the first period.
The Bandits would get on the board in the second period as Anthony Petruzzelli (assist to Patrick Lee) would get a breakaway and beat Dragons’ goaltender Devin Buffalo at 9:44.
Drumheller would outshoot Brooks 9-8 in the period and led 20-19 after two periods.
Just 3:01 into the third period the Bandits would tie the game as Madison Dunn would flip a rebound over Buffalo to tie the game at 2-2.
Late in the third period the Dragons would take the lead while playing four on four as Brody Valette (assists to Mitchell Cook and Trent Ouellette) snapped a shot over Fredrick at 14:12.
The Bandits would push, but Buffalo stood tall.
The Bandits outshot the Dragons 21-7 in the third period and 40-27 in the hockey game.
Game two will be in Brooks on Saturday night.
Story by Chris Colwell