The fire of the hometown crowd at the Dragons’ regular-season home-opener may have been the catalyst for a tense overtime win over Canmore on Friday.
Fans were treated to a great game of hockey with the 2-1 OT win over the Eagles, a close match throughout, said head coach Dan Price.
The Dragons controlled the play against a hard team in the Eagles, but it was the perseverance of the team which saw the puck cross the line in the unregulated period.
Dragon Davin Stener opened scoring in the second period with passes from Josh McEwan and Derek Ginnell.
Canmore was quick to respond and tied up the game to 1-1 halfway through the second, and it stayed that way until the teams were forced into overtime.
Doug Jones scored the game winning goal with the help of Matthew Brown for an assist only 31 seconds into overtime. Jones was, of course, given the home star of the game.
This game was special, as it was the team’s first regular season home game this year. The “sea of orange” came out in droves to support the team, as officials handed out free orange t-shirts and thundersticks to the first 500 in the doors.
“The crowd was fantastic, it was really big, really loud,” said Price, ”you could tell they were living and dying with every chance, for or against us.”
Sunday’s game wasn’t as good to the Dragons as the opener, commented Price, as the team hosted the Olds Grizzlys on Sunday evening, losing 4-3 to the team Drumheller beat 7-4 in early September.
“There were things we did really well– our d-zone coverage was the best it’s been, but ironically, and disappointingly there was an error in d-zone coverage that allowed Olds to score 20 seconds in.”
Price said the team was sticky in neutral zone transition, in comparison to Olds, who had clogged up the zone well.
“Sometimes those bumps in the road can give you a real focus and clarity at practice, and we were excellent in practice today. We got a lot better as a team, probably due in large part to not getting away with average play on Sunday.”
The Dragons took on the Calgary Mustangs, (once the Royals,) on Tuesday. Results were not immediately available.
On the road Tuesday and Friday, where they face Lloydminister’s Bobcats on September 24, the Dragons won’t return home until Monday, September 27.
They’ll be playing the Calgary Canucks at the Memorial Arena at 7:30 p.m.
