Written by Coach Curran
For the second time in two weeks, the Dragons were defeated by the Calgary Mustangs in their own building on Tuesday night. The Dragons mounted a comeback after trailing by 4 goals, but ultimately it wasn't enough and the Mustangs took a 6-5 victory.
Despite out-shooting and out-chancing the Mustangs for the second game in a row, the Dragons found themselves down 6-2 after two periods. There were 8 goals scored in the second period after a scoreless first. Dragons goals in the second period were by Chad Hurtubise and Troy Dudley. In the third period the Dragons found the net three more times on goals by Jordan Taupert (2) and Clay Keeley to bring us within one goal. With less than 6 minutes to go we continued to pressure the Mustangs as we hit the crossbar twice and had another great chance in front, but we couldn't tie it up.
I would love to have the answer for these last two games against the Mustangs, as we had plenty of chances to win both games, but the goals we gave up were just bad mistakes that we don't seem to make against other teams. I thought in the third period the boys were going to pull it out. One of the positives is how they pushed back and scored three goals in the third period. They weren't pretty goals but they were the result of hard work and winning puck battles. We were paying the price and it is something we have talked about all year. The proof was right in front of them in the third period; getting traffic to the net, getting shots through and battling for the puck hard. We did and we were rewarded. This is something that is so easy to teach, however it takes courage to go there and sometimes you take a good beating but when you score you don't feel all the hacks and wacks. I hope the boys understand that now and know that by doing the little things well we will be rewarded
Photo by Broken Curfew Photography