Drumheller CNRL Raptors won the CAHL League banner on Saturday, March 13 at home versus High River.
CNRL Raptors finished 4th overall in the standings. They went on to defeat Oyen in a best of three series sweeping them in two games. They then went on to play High River and did the same, swept them in two games.
Playoffs started in Oyen on February 21 with a win for the CNRL Raptors. They won 4-3 with a lead in the first period of 2-1. Spencer Fournier started the scoring off with assists by Landon Brown and Talon Marshall. Fournier’s second goal was unassisted.
The Raptors grew their lead in the second period to 3-1 as Fournier earned a hat trick assisted by Thomas Ahner and James Turnbull.
Oyen came back and tied it up in the third period at 3-3, but Drumheller came out ahead with a goal from Brown assisted by Brady Jacques with less than 2 minutes left.
They held on to win the game 4-3 which brought game two to Drumheller on February 27.
In game two, Oyen opened up the first period with two goals finishing the period with a 2-0 lead. The Raptors ended up being down by another goal in the second. The Raptors tried to turn it around and scored twice that period. The first goal was scored by Thomas Ahner, assisted by James Turnbull, and the second goal was scored by Fournier assisted by Zach Miller.
The scored was 3-2 for Oyen at the end of the second period. The third period was down to the wire until Talon Marshall tied the game with just over two minutes left on the clock. His goal was assisted by Thomas Ahner and Robert Sinclair.
With just 50 seconds left, Fournier scored the winner, assisted by Robert Sinclair. This advanced the Raptors to the next round versus High River.
Game one started in High River March 6 with a win for the Raptors in overtime. It was 2-1 for High River after first period with an unassisted goal from Tanner Hedstrom. The game was tied 2-2 at the end of the second period with a goal from Thomas Ahner, assisted by Marshall and Brown. In the third period, High River scored to lead with 3-2. Justin Schinnour tied the game, assisted by Lucas Martinez.
It was a battle till the end. Overtime came and Sinclair scored the winning goal with just under 4 minutes left in OT, Tanner Hedstrom had the assist.
Game two in this series was Saturday, March 13 at home for the Raptors. They wanted a win more than anyone else as they could win CAHL League on home ice.
Game 2 started off really strong for the Raptors with period 1 ending in 4-1. Drumheller’s first goal was scored by Hedstrom, assisted by Sinclair and Fournier. Their second was scored by Fournier, assisted by Ahner. The third was by Sinclair, assisted by Tanner Couturier and goal four was scored by Fournier assisted by Turnbull.
The Raptors let it slip in the second period, ending in a 4-4 tie. Both teams battled to get the winning goal, but once again Drumheller came out on top with only .16 seconds left on the clock. Fournier scored the 5th goal for the Raptors, and the team won the Bantam Tier 2 Championship for CAHL.
This has been an exciting year for this team. They were chosen to host the Investors Group Hockey Alberta 2010 Provincials on March 19-21. They were in play downs to see if they would be the Representative for Zone 6 or the Champions for Zone 6.
It turned out they won the play downs for Zone 6. This gave them the Championship Banner, which was won on home ice as well as defeating the Canmore Ice Cats.
The Investors Group Hockey Alberta 2010 Provincials start this Friday morning at 8 a.m. with the Raptors Hosting the Sexsmith Vipers.
The team invites hockey fans to come and check out some great hockey all weekend being played at the Drumheller Memorial Arena. Check The Drumheller Mail for more details on the games and times.
More information is available the Hockey Alberta website at www.hockeyalberta.ca click on Investors Group Hockey Alberta 2010 Provincials then on Bantam B.