It was a whirlwind of a weekend for the Bertram Drilling/Sports Room Midget Raptors. The team played three games in as many days and went home Sunday night as zone champions and one step closer to being league champions.
On Friday, February 24, the Midget Raptors headed to Sundre for their first game of the Zone 6 Championships.
Both the Sundre team and fans were tough on the Raptors. The battle ended with the Raptors and Sundre in a 4-4 tie.
The Raptors' got off to a huge three point lead early in the game. At 0:39 into the first, David Pedersen got the Raptors first goal. A mere 12 seconds later, Devon Ptashnik scored their second goal.
Justin Schinnour scored the Raptors third goal at 5:32.
The Raptors considerable lead did not last. Sundre came back and in the end managed to tie the game up at four a piece.
The next game was a do or die situation for the Raptors. Whoever won would skate away as champions.
In front of the home town crowd, the Raptors showed they were indeed championship material.
Sundre was totally overwhelmed by the deadly, coordinated efforts of the Raptors and could not penetrate the defenses or goaltending of Chase Kostelecky.
Unlike the previous game, it wasn’t until the second period began that the Raptors struck. Landon Brown at 0:23 into the second scored the Raptors first goal.
A minute and a half later, Spencer Fournier added another and Thomas Ahner popped the third goal in two minutes after that. Pedersen scored his third goal of the series at 15:03 into the third period.
The Raptors were then declared the Zone 6 champions.
Despite the elation of Saturday night, the weekend wasn’t over for the team. On Sunday, the Raptors started their league playoffs in Standard against High River.
Two players were out due to injuries sustained on Saturday.
The game was an all out war. The penalty box was seldom empty and both teams aggressively took the puck to the net.
Brown scored the Raptors first goal at 1:12 into the first period. Fournier then followed with three goals, one at 5:02 into the first and the next two in the first half of the second period.
The third period, was when the scoring really took off.
Thomas, a fourth by Fournier, and two by Pedersen propelled the Raptors to an 8 to 6 victory over High River.
This weekend, the Raptors will face High River twice, first in High River and then at home in front of a supportive Drumheller crowd.
The Raptors will be in High River tomorrow at 6:30 p.m., but will return on Sunday with the aim of adding the title of league champions to their impressive season.
“From the start of the season until now, they’ve really grown as a team,” said head coach Darren Toffan. “They don’t like to lose. I told them there’s only one cure: to win.”
