Hat Trick for Schofield
The Drumheller Dragons wrapped a weekend of home games in the win column much to the delight of their fans. The team has been struggling with a series of injuries for quite a while and has turned to their affiliates who have stepped up and we are starting to see some wins.
In their first game of the weekend they faced off against the Olds Grizzlys in a game that would have great meaning to both teams as the Grizzlys have been struggling lately too.
The Dragons came out very strong in this game and controlled much of the tempo with strong D-Zone coverage and forecheck. Drumheller forced Olds into some costly turnovers but on this night Schofield and his line were too strong and the Dragons team would get back into the win column.
Affiliate Jude Butler would also score his first ever goal in the AJHL and assistant captain Jacob Schofield (recently committed to Grant MacEwan) would get a hat trick.
Coach Curran,” I thought under the circumstances the boys played very hard and we were all on the same page. It was a team win and there were no passengers tonight.”
Victory in Shootout
The Dragons Sunday afternoon game against the Grande Prairie Storm, who were playing their third game in three days, showed a home team off to a slow start but they did turn it on for a 4-3 victory in a shootout.
Drumheller were looking to build on their last game versus the Grizzlys but within several minutes the Dragons were down three goals to the Storm as it looked like the home team were looking for an easy win against a team who have had a rough year. The Dragons would get back 1 but at the end of the first they were down 2 goals.
The Dragons would come out stronger in the second and third and tie the game to send it into OT. Unable to capitalize on a couple of good chances the score would remain tied at the end of the OT forcing a shootout.
Dragons goalie Jonny Hogue would stop all three shooters while Clint Filbrandt would score and the Dragons would take the shootout victory.
Coach Curran,” I expected much more from the boys after the way we played against Olds but I think the boys took the Storms record this season and expected an easy game. Grande Prairie played hard but no matter what the boys showed character and tied the game and won. We were down three so it's good to see them fight back but I hope we understand that come playoffs that will be very difficult to do.”
The Dragons travel to Calgary Tuesday, February 23 to face-off against the Calgary Mustangs. Puck drops at 7:30pm.
Photo courtesy of Athena Winchester, Broken Curfew Photography
