The mantra for the Dragons has been to commit to winning habits, and it seems to be making a difference as they ended the week 2-1.
The Dragons were able to down the Sherwood Park Crusaders in their own arena 3-1, handing them their first loss. On Friday, they were trounced 6-3 by the Fort McMurray Oil Barons, but on Saturday, pulled it together for a 4-1 victory over the Grande Prairie Storm.
“Hockey is both a possession and a transition game, and we have to build habits on both sides of it, and I think we are doing that more and more and we are getting better in doing it more consistently,” said coach Dan Price.
Puck control was key in last Wednesday’s game versus the Crusaders. Mitch Owsley scored the first two goals for the Dragons putting them up 2-0 after two periods. Sherwood Park poured it on at the end and scored with less than three minutes left. Keenan Martens scored on the empty net to seal the game with eight seconds. Keith Csizmadia had two assists.
“I think there were two deciding factors. One was that we controlled the puck really well… we protected it, passed it and moved it well, and had support from our forwards and defence,” said Price.
Another key was the performance of rookie goalie Christopher Wray in his first start in Junior A hockey.
“Sherwood Park came hard early, and they had a couple chances right off the bat before we had our chances. Chris made some great saves to keep us alive and we scored and got our lead,” said Price, adding, “Wray also stood strong at the end making key saves.”
Friday’s game against Fort McMurray showed the Dragons’ struggle with injuries. Owsley scored in the first period to tie the game, but that was as close as the Dragons could get. Sam Lawson and Kenton Levesque also scored in the third period, but the Oil Barons outshot the Dragons 50-21 as they cruised to victory.
“Our defence core was extremely depleted during all the showcase games,” said Price. “We only had five defenseman, and four were either not defensemen or first year players,” said Price.
While the Oil Barons continued its barrage on the Dragons, the defence kept the shots to the outside, limiting scoring chances.
“I am pretty happy with the way they competed against Fort McMurray and then Grande Prairie,” said Price.
The Dragons flexed their offensive muscles against the Storm on Saturday. Giovanni Bombini scored five minutes in, and three minutes later Doug Jones put the Dragons up 2-0 on the powerplay. The Storm scored midway through the second period but Csizmadia and Lawson scored in the third to end the game 4-1.
Ryan Bloom and Levesque each had two assists. The Dragons were 40 per cent on the powerplay.
The Dragons are hoping to get healthy, and their October schedule, which has five games at home, may help.
“If we can rest and get healthy and sort of get in a bit of a rhythm like we had on the road, it sets us up well for October,” said Price.
The Dragons are in Camrose this Thursday, but home Saturday to play Sherwood Park.
