While the Dragons split this week, losing to Grande Prairie at a home game played in Hanna, they bounced back to put together a convincing win at home over the Canmore Eagles.
“As tough as the Tuesday game was I think it gave us real clarity and focus and intensity needed going into the Friday’s game,” said Coach Dan Price.
Canmore scored seven minutes into Friday’s game to take the early lead, but Robert Geddes tied the game, assisted by Csizmadia and Bloom. In the second period, Csizmadia got the go ahead, assisted by Sean Sanford. Two minutes into the third period, Bloom found the net from Matthew Brown and Davin Stener. This turned out to be the winner. While the Eagles found the net with eight minutes left, it was as close as they would come.
While the Dragons’ powerplay was only one for eight, the one goal came at the right time.
“It was our first powerplay team, it was the winning goal, it was at a critical moment in the game and it was after several powerplay chances in the first period we didn’t score on,” said Price. “They made those adjustments between periods and went out and executed. I thought that was very clutch on that group’s part.”
Coach Price is impressed with the progress his players are making.
“Csizmadia was the best example of that. For the first 20 games of the season he was working on how to play at the Junior A level, where to play positionally, how to play structurally and learning details and good habits, particularly away from the puck,” said Price. “That was his best game by far doing those things. By doing those things, he ended up having the puck more and more offensive chances. He was rewarded offensively. It was neat to see all the good habits pay off and be rewarded on the score sheet.”
The play of Beckwith was also impressive.
“We were scored on first and he played very well and stuck with it. He stopped a penalty shot and then held the fort for us late when it was 3-2 after they had their goalie out, so it was a tremendous performance,” said Price.
The Dragons have a two game home stand this weekend, and Price said they want to continue to progress this week.
“The trick now is after a win Friday and week off, are we going to be able to take the next step by improving these habits even more going into the two home games this weekend?” said Price.
This Friday the Dragons are at home to play the Okotoks Oilers at 7:30 p.m., and then the Brooks Bandits on Saturday.
