Written by Coach Curran
The Drumheller Dragons took to the road on Tuesday to face the Camrose Kodiaks in a tough division match up. The last time the two teams met, Camrose took the 5-3 win, but not before we fought hard and almost came back on the Kodiaks at the end of the game.
This time the Dragons came out flying in the first period, and on goals by Brady Risk, Jordan Taupert, and Markus Boguslavsky, took a 3-0 lead going into the first intermission. Coming into the Kodiaks’ arena is always going to be tough, but I thought our first period was all-around the best we’ve played all year. I also knew that the Kodiaks were going to push back, and they did.
In the second period the Kodiaks picked up their pace and had the Dragons in trouble, but goaltender Hunter Virostek played another solid game and helped us stay ahead. Camrose got on the board when a shot from the point hit one of our defencemen and redirected into the net to make it 3-1. However, the Dragons quickly answered back with a power play goal by Joren Patenaude to restore the 3-goal lead. The Kodiaks ended up scoring on a power play of their own before the period expired, and the game was 4-2 heading into the second intermission.
Third period action once again saw the Dragons back on their heels, and as the Kodiaks kept putting the pressure on, it was Virostek that kept it 4-3. We got a power play once again but the Kodiaks would capitalize on a couple of our poor decisions and went ahead 5-4 to take the win.
Overall, we played a great first period and did so many positive things. The second period we didn't play bad – we just sat back too much and the Kodiaks pushed the pace. In the third period it looked like we were standing around watching, hoping and trying not to lose. I know the Kodiaks came hard and pushed the pace, but we need to learn that we can only play our game and stick to our systems. If we had done that, this game would have been ours.
Photo by Pro Sports Photography