The Drumheller Dragons seem to be at a turning point in the season. After a rough road trip where the team lost nine of ten away games, the Dragons have won two of their last three games.
The Dragons returned home last Wednesday to host the Olds Grizzlys and came away with a decisive 5-1 victory. The boys then hit the ice again on Friday to continue their momentum against the Okotoks Oilers.
“The Olds game was pretty intense and our guys stepped up to the plate. They scored five goals, three on the powerplay. They did a lot of good things and carried that over to Friday’s game against Okotoks,” said Brian Curran, head coach and general manager of the Dragons. “It was a very strong game from all aspects. We played well as a team.”
The Dragons burned the Oilers, winning 6-0 and earning their second shut out of the season. The Dragons delivered on their powerplay, scoring three goals when the Oilers were short handed.
Dragons rookie Christopher Rauckman posted three points, one goal and two assists in the game, while Ryan Aasman, Ryan Bloom, Mitchell Gartner, Joey Raats, and Colton Vannucci each earned two points in the game.
However, the real star for the Dragons was minding the net. Adam Beukeboom, a rookie hailing from Calgary, started in the goal for the Dragons, and stopped all 32 shots the Oilers sent his way.
“Adam almost had back to back shut outs. He certainly has the ability and played great on Wednesday and Friday,” said Curran.
The Dragons have yet to decide who will be the permanent starting goaltender.
“Adam has the ability to be a number one, but we have two other goaltenders. It’s not set in stone yet. There has to be a decision made on our goaltending pretty quickly. We’re going to take a look at it this week and make some decisions,” said Curran.
Dragons goaltender Adam Beukeboom put out two solid performances against the Olds Grizzlys and Okotoks Oilers last Wednesday and Friday. Beukeboom only gave up one goal against the Grizzlys and shut out the Oilers.
mailphoto by Michael James
On Sunday, the Dragons couldn’t bring down the Canmore Eagles, losing 5-2 in front of the home crowd.
The Eagles took advantage of a Dragons squad that didn’t quite have their game plan working and scored four of their five goals in the first 15 minutes of the game.
“Yesterday I felt like it was a case of coming in and took it for granted. Those first ten minutes really cost us. Those games we stayed by our game plan and did well. Yesterday, we weren’t all on the same page. There is a particular way we have to play and we have to pay attention to the details,” said Curran.
The Eagles also scored four of their goals while on the power play. The first two were scored with no traffic in front of the net, the third was a 5 on 3 situation against the Dragons, goalie Christopher Wray gave a costly turnover for the fourth, and another turnover in the Dragons zone led to the fifth.
The Dragons hadn’t let in a goal on a penalty kill for two games.
“We got to get better at moving the puck out of our zone and we’ll keep working on our penalty kill and power play,” said Curran.
The Dragons will be facing off against the Spruce Grove Saints this Friday. This will be the first time the two teams will meet this season. The Saints are currently the top team in the AJHL northern division.
The following Tuesday, the Dragons will host the Olds Grizzlys in Hanna.
The game against the Saints starts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in the Drumheller Memorial Arena.
