Another one bites the dust.
The Drumheller Midget Tier 3 Raptors have advanced to zone championships after utterly decimating the Canmore Eagles in one game by a score of 11-1.
Normally, provincial rounds are decided in two games.
“We did really good. We automatically advanced to the next round,” said assistant coach Nick Schinnour. “I don’t think they (the Raptors) wanted to go to Canmore, because the Super Bowl was on, so they took it in one game.”
The game started off locked in a stalemate, with a lot of end-to-end play. It wasn’t until late in the first period that Spencer Fournier gave the Raptors the lead with a two-on-one rush goal.
From there, the Raptors dominated the game. Fournier would go on to score six more times before the game was done.
“I was surprised we beat them by that much. I was expecting to win, but not by ten goals,” said Schinnour. “Sometimes teams just have bad games, but we had a really good one. The boys played great. It was probably the best I’ve seen them play all year.”
One of the biggest factors to the Raptors success, explained Schinnour, was staying out of the penalty box.
The Raptors continued the momentum on Saturday when they headed to Airdrie, where they won 6-4.
The Raptors have a busy weekend ahead. Last night they hit the road to play their first game of zones against a tough Three Hills squad. Game 2 will be held at the Drumheller Memorial Arena on Wednesday, February 13.
Last year, the Raptors ousted Three Hills from provincials.
“They’re in a higher Tier than us. We faced them last year in zone playoffs too, so they’ll be out for redemption,” said Schinnour.
They continue their league games on Friday versus Strathmore and Indus on Sunday. Friday’s game will be at home and starts at 7:15 p.m.
