Our Drumheller Dragons welcomed their parents to the valley for the annual “Parents Weekend” this past weekend.
The team also had two games against the Bonnyville Pontiacs at the Memorial Arena. It all started on Friday night and heading into the weekend, the two teams had very similar records setting up for two fantastic games. The Pontiacs would open the scoring in the first period at 6:29 when Lucas Knorr potted his 18th of the year. Bonnyville took the 1-0 lead into the intermission.
The Dragons would tie things up early when Bradley Gallo was sent in short-handed and scored his 22nd of the year, from Jacob Goudreau and Tristan Payne at 6:12. The Dragons would take their first lead of the hockey game at 14:46 when Nick McLennan scored his 3rd of the season, from Sullivan Humeniuk and Sean Cootes. The Pontiacs would tie the game 2-2 with only 31 seconds left in the second period when Malcolm Baar scored.
Only 38 seconds into the third period, the Dragons would regain the lead with Jacob Goudreau scoring his 9th of the year, from Nick McLennan and Brayden Ryan-McKay. Bradley Gallo would score his second of the game (23) at 9:54, increasing the lead for the Dragons to 4-2, assisted by Jase Johnstone and Jensen Marsh. Bonnyville would pull goaltender Nathan Salisbury with just under two minutes left in the game. Nick McLennan would find the empty net with 24 seconds left in the game, scoring his second of the game, assisted by Brayden Ryan-McKay and Tristan Payne, securing the 5-2 victory.
Saturday, the night started with the parents being introduced prior to the game. This would help to provide some positive energy for the Dragons. The Pontiacs would open the scoring once again late in the first period when Christophe Lussier scored at 16:27. Drumheller would trail 1-0 after the first period. Dragons forward Bradley Gallo would go down along the boards in the period and would leave the game.
Call them the comeback kids as the Dragons would tie the game in the second period. At 7:32 Matthew Hilderman would score his 10th of the year, on the power play, assisted by Sullivan Humeniuk and Eli Johnson. The game would remain tied 1-1 after two periods.
In the third, the Dragons would take the lead with Jase Johnstone scoring his 8th of the year, from Eli Johnson and Brayden Ryan-McKay at 13:43. Bonnyville would pull goaltender Ben Laurette with 2:14 left in the period. Drumheller would add an empty net goal by Luca Dufour (4) from Matthew Hilderman and Sean Cootes with 1:12 left, solidifying the 3-1 victory.
Sean Cootes had a great weekend and the AJHL has recognized him for his efforts. On Tuesday, Cootes was awarded the Alberta Ford Dealers AJHL Defensive Player of the Week. Cootes was in goal for both wins this past weekend and has wins in his last three starts.
The third year Dragon is in the Top 10 for both goals against average (2.99 GAA) and save percentage (.901%).
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