Even with the summerlike temperatures, hockey season is ramping up for your Drumheller Dragons as they wrapped up the exhibition portion of their season over the weekend.
It was a home and home with their nearest rivals, the Olds Grizzlys. Game one would take place at the Memorial Arena on Friday night. The Dragons fielded a good mixture of veteran players and those vying for a spot on the squad for the upcoming year. The first period went back and forth with the Dragons scoring first, a goal by veteran Nick McLennan. Then the Grizzlys tied the game at 7:24 with Jordan Wales scoring. With just under five minutes left, Bradley Gallo gave Drumheller the 2-1 lead and with under 5 seconds left in the period, the Grizzlys would tie the game at 2-2 after one period.
The Dragons young guns would capitalize in the second with three goals, one from Ben Wetterberg, one from Max Malinousky, and one from Nathan Ivey, to give the Dragons the 5-2 lead after two periods.
In the third, Drumheller would tally the only goal with Max Malinousky scoring his second of the game, making the final score 6-2. Before the end of the game, we had a great fight between Dragon forward Bradley Gallo and Keil Schmalz from the Grizzlys. Gallo would get a couple great shots in before Schmalz had the take down. It would keep the energy up between the two rivals heading into game two of the weekend in Olds on Saturday night.
The Grizzlys came to play on Saturday as goaltender Connor Johnson would be tested often but the Dragons couldn’t get anything by him in the first period, on 11 shots. Olds would open the scoring early in the first with a goal by Sean Richards, making it 1-0 Grizzlys.
Olds would add to their lead with two quick goals early in the second by Dexter Materi and Lucas Davidson putting Drumheller in a the 3-0 hole. Lauchaln Kozicky, who just turned 19 on Friday, scored for the Dragons at 5:57 cutting the deficit to 3-1. The Grizzlys would get that one back with 9:36 left in the period when Dexter Materi scored his second of the game.
Materi would complete the hat-trick with an early powerplay goal in the third, making it 5-1 Grizzlys. Wyatt Yule would score his first of the exhibition season for the Dragons with 9:01 left in the game, making it 5-2 Olds. The Grizzlys would add two more and the Dragons one, with the net empty, to make the final 7-3 Grizzlys.
The Dragons now have to make their final cuts as they prepare for the kickoff to the regular season on Friday night as the Canmore Eagles come to town. Puck drop is at 7 PM at the Memorial Arena. Be there early to get your seat before the player introductions. Tickets for the game can be purchased at tickets.drumhellerdragons.ca
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