While turmoil swirls throughout the AJHL, for the Dragons it means business as usual as they complete a tough three-game road trip, and came home with one win under their belt.
The Dragons were in Fort McMurray on Friday, January 26 to take on the Oil Barons. It looked like the Dragons were bringing the action as they grossly outshot Fort McMurray, and Connor Poffenroth put them up 1-0 in the first period on the powerplay. Austin Reschny added a pair of goals in the first half of the second to go up 3-0. However, the Oil Barons added two goals to end the second 3-2.
In the third period, the Oil Barons tied it up and then took the lead on the powerplay. They added an empty netter with less than a minute to play to capture a 5-3 win.
It was Deja Vue all over again on Saturday, January 27, as the team met back to back. After a scoreless first period, Van Yuhas put the Dragons up 1-0. It was short-lived, however, as the Oil Barons evened it up and five minutes later took the lead. They added an empty netter at the end of the third to take a 3-1 win.
It was a gruelling weekend for the Dragons as on Sunday afternoon they were in Bonnyville to take on the Pontiacs. Cyle Clayton opened the scoring on the powerplay, but the Pontiacs evened it up to end the period and then took the lead in the second. Early in the third, Bonnyville took a 3-1 lead, but Jacob Goudreau pulled the Dragons closer. Less than a minute later the Pontiac were up 4-3. But then the Dragons went on a three-goal tear, starting with Devon Winder, Poffenroth and then Holden Cardinal as the Dragons went on to a 5-4 win.
This Friday, February 2, the Dragons are back home to take on Calgary, and on Saturday host the Fort McMurray Oil Barons.

According to Strathmore’s Provincial Crime Gauge, criminal code offences have dropped by a total of 12 per cent from January 2023 - November 2023.

The RCMP have done presentations to councils in Rockyford and Standard, and submitted a report to Hussar, explaining their reports in the last year and breaking down their crime statistics. Persons crimes such as stabbings and assaults are down by 15 per cent, and property crimes are down by 10 per cent. Theft of vehicles and personal property may not be viewed as grave as persons crimes, since they aren’t being physically abused, yet they can
be more aggravating to the public. Break and enters have decreased by 16 per cent,
with 8 fewer occurrences than in 2022, and theft under $5000 had decreased by 33 percent, with 31 fewer cases. The theft of motor vehicles has risen by 5 per cent with three more being stolen than the previous year.

Strathmore RCMP’s Staff Sergeant Mark Wielgosz tells The Mail that the main reason for the overall drop in crime is credited to reductions in property crime such as break and enters and theft under $5000. “One of our Detachment priorities was to focus on Property Crimes, specifically Break and Enter, Theft from Motor Vehicles, and Theft of Motor Vehicles. To achieve a goal of maintaining or reducing crime in these areas we employed a number of strategies.
Most effective in these strategies was our habitual offender management program which focuses attention on known persons or properties which are most negatively impactful on our communities. Through this program we were able to shut down a problematic property where stolen property was frequently stored, area habitual offenders would either frequent or stay on the property, and subjects were found wanted on various crimes,” explains Wielgosz, “Another contributing factor is our watch clerk program. Each of our watches has a clerk assigned who can complete much of the administrative tasks for our members thereby maximizing their ability to be present in our rural areas. This has been very helpful to prevent, detect, and to deter crime in our rural areas.”