The Drumheller Dragons hosted the Okotoks Oilers Wednesday night and went home with a win.
The Oilers opened the scoring at the 3:02 mark of the first period with a goal by Carson Beers. The Dragons answered back on the power play with a goal from Ryan Chynoweth at 6:53 before Levi Wunder gave the home team a 2-1 lead at 9:12.
The Oilers didn’t hesitate in the second period tying up the game just 30 seconds in with a goal by Matt McNair. At the 6:31 mark Ty Mappin scored his first goal of the season giving the home team the lead once again. The Dragons held on to their lead in the third period winning the game 3-2.
Dragons Head Coach and General Manager Brian Curran said the there were some positives of the game.
“(Xavier) Burghardt played well. I think both our goaltenders have played well. I think there were guys that did a lot of blocking shots. Our penalty kill does work,” he said.
Curran said despite the win, the team isn’t working as a whole.
“This team has to wake up. They are not doing it as units. We are doing it on, I’d say maybe 12 players here tonight, and we had passengers. In all honesty, we worked harder in practice than we did tonight. That just bewilders me,” he told inSide Drumheller.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Okotoks, they played hard, but I expect way more from this hockey team. We did do some good things, don’t get me wrong, but I expect for a team that has ability like this, to start jelling a little bit better,” he said.
The Dragons will now head to Brooks to face the Bandits tonight (Friday) for the two teams first meeting of the season. On Saturday, the Dragons will head to Canmore to face the Eagles. Both games start at 7 p.m.
The Dragons will then return home to host the Canmore Eagles on Friday, September 25. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Memorial arena.
