The Drumheller Dragons faced the Brooks Bandits last night in Drumheller. Brooks despite having their winning streak broken by the Kodiaks last week are still slotted as the first place team in the south, with no question that they are one of the elite teams in the AJHL this season. The last time the Dragons and the Bandits faced off the game was decided in a shoot-out in favour of Brooks.
The Bandits would come out strong in the first period and if not for the goaltending of Dragons goalie Jonny Hogue the game could have been over in the first. Brooks would have 4 power plays in the first but a great job by the Dragons penalty kill would keep the game scoreless after one period of action.
Second period saw the Dragons play a better period but it would be the Bandits who would get on the board first to take a 1-0 lead. Several minutes later the Dragons would be short-handed and Levi Wunder on a great individual effort would tie the game at one. Brooks with just under 4 minutes left in the period would regain the lead and after 2 periods the score would be 2-1 Brooks.
Third period saw both teams’ battle hard and neither team giving an inch with hard hits and good battles in all zones. The Dragons would have to push harder to tie the game but in the last minutes of play the Dragons would have a costly turnover that would give the Bandits a 3-1 lead. The Dragons would pull their goalie but Brooks defence played strong and would score an empty net goal to take the win 4-1.
Coach Curran,” There is no question in the first period that I was upset at the effort of a lot of our forwards and I thought our defence played hard and Jonny played great in the net to even give us a chance. We were playing a team that does a lot of good things and it reflects in their record. How we were not excited in the first was a mystery to me. I did however like the response from the team in the second and third as we showed a lot more emotion and intensity. Our team has good players and we need to start acting like we are a good team.”
Dragons travel to Camrose to battle the Kodiaks on Friday, January 29th at 7pm.