The Drumheller Dragons, backed by an impressive performance in the net by Jonny Hogue took a run at the Brooks Bandits at home on Tuesday night.
    The Bandits, who are ranked 5th in the country and have an explosive offense were in Drumheller, and while they won 4-1, it was a lot closer than the score makes it appear.
    “Brooks is highly explosive, and we talked about how they come out really hard in the first period. We had four penalties, they dictated the play,” said head coach Brian Curran. “Jonny did everything he could to keep us in the game.” Hogue was unstoppable in the first period, fending off 21 shots in the first period alone. The Brooks Bandits found the net 1:17 into the second period. Levi Wunder answered back midway through the period to tie the game short handed, but the Bandits ended the period up 2-1.
    The Dragons stood strong for most of the third period and had some chances, but a late Bandits goal put them up 3-1, and an empty netter in the dying seconds sealed it.
  Coach Curran liked the effort of his team, especially on defense early on.
    “The defense played hard, I was disappointed in our forwards in the first period as a group. In the second and third, I thought we played much better. Obviously, they capitalized on some great bounces for sure, they are going to get their chances, but Johny was there. I thought we played with a lot more emotion and passion in the second period.”
    One takeaway for Curran is that mentally, the team is able to break down and process how to play against very good clubs like the Bandits.
    “You can’t deny they went on a 16 or 17 game win streak. That means they are one of the elite teams in the league. My challenge to the guys was to stop looking at them as the names on the back of their jerseys, and start playing the team,” said Curran. “I try to go through experiences with the ‘player-teams’ that I played against when I was in the NHL. If we always came into Edmonton and worried about all those great games and the names on the jerseys, we would be in trouble all the time.”
    “Skill is skill, and goal scoring is goal scoring, you can’t buy that stuff. But human heart and emotion, and playing by the system and paying attention to the smallest details, teams can win.  I have had teams where that has been proven year after year. I am hoping that second and third period showed our guys we can play with the upper teams.”

    It took a period for the Dragons to get down to business in Hanna Tuesday night versus Canmore, but when they did, they caught fire.
    The Dragons hosted the Eagles on January 5 in Hanna. Coach Brian Curran likes the direction the team has been taking.
    “Over the last nine games, our team has been a better hockey team,” said Curran.    
    Despite this, they had a sluggish start to the game Tuesday night and were outshot 21-13 in the first period. Canmore scored first on the powerplay but the Dragons evened it up at the 15-minute mark on the powerplay by Matt Muzyka.
    Nine minutes into the second period, Canmore went up 2-1, but Evan Rochowiak tied it four minutes later. With three minutes left in the second period, Rhett Kingston put Drumheller up 3-2.
 Canmore’s powerplay was running at 50 per cent as they tied it again 13 minutes into the third period, but it was short lived as 16 seconds later Levi Wunder put the Dragons up for good. Isaac Schacher and Slater Dykema each got one as the Dragons went on to a 6-3 win.
    Coach Curran said he liked the effort he saw on the ice, and liked how they responded to a tough first period effort where goalie Xavier Burghardt stopped 20 of 21 shots. In the entire game, he faced 42 shots.
    Coach Curran was also appreciative of the 320 fans that came out on Tuesday night.  
    “I thank the people of Hanna who came out last night to see them, the event went well,” he said. “They were really supportive, and I know we get some fans from Hanna coming to Drumheller to watch our games and we appreciate that. We hope to continue to do it.”
‘It’s a good thing to do, the kids like the hockey, and that’s good to see.”