The Drumheller Dragons are in the midst of a five game stretch of games on the road and have been relentlessly pushing forward in their campaign to make the AJHL playoffs.
On Thursday, January 26, the Dragons journeyed to Calgary to face the Mustangs, who had beaten the Dragons 5-1 in their last meeting.
The Dragons turned the tables and broke the Mustangs, winning stream 4-2.
Things didn’t start off well for the Dragons, however. A Mustangs goal at mere 0:54 into the game followed by another at 13:23 seemed to spell trouble for the Dragons.
Darian Henry, with help from Brodie Jamieson and Justin Cintas, breathed life into the Dragons.
In the second period Brody Jamieson and Logan Sceviour put two more goals on the board.
The Dragons fought their way through a 5 on 3 penalty kill in the third period and were able to put the game out of reach on an empty net goal by Ryan Bloom in the dying seconds of the game.
Two nights later the Dragons were in Calgary again to face the Canucks and keep their momentum going. Unfortunately, the Dragons were overpowered by the Canucks and lost 4-1.
The Canucks got the upper hand late into the first period on a powerplay goal. The Canucks did not relent and scored three more goals, two of which were on the powerplay, by the time Doug Jones got the Dragons their only goal at 15:52 into the third period.
The Dragons regrouped and headed to Olds on Monday to meet the Grizzlys in their den. The Grizzlys have been the victors in the last two meetings with the Dragons.
However, in this meeting of the two, the Dragons came out with a vital 2-1 win.
The Grizzlys took the lead early at 5:51 into the first period, but Doug Jones, with help from Josh McKissock and Davin Stener, tied the game up on the powerplay before the first period was done.
The game remained tied until well into the third when Sam Lawson, with the assist from Brennan Baxandall and Braden Gamble, put the puck into the back of the Grizzlys net for the Dragons second and game winning goal.
The star of the Dragons in the Grizzlys game was undoubtedly Gamble who was a virtual brickwall in net. Gamble stopped 57 of the 58 shots sent his way.
The wins vault the Dragons over the Canmore Eagles for the last playoff spot in the southern division. The Eagles have one more game left in their season compared to the Dragons.
The Dragons will have to generate more wins on the road to stay in the playoffs. The Dragons will be in Camrose tonight to face the Kodiaks. The two teams last met on December 17, 2011, and the Dragons left that game with a 3-1 win.
