GRANDE PRAIRIE, AB (September 13, 2014) – Jade McMullen scored three goals, and the official shot tally read 53-28 for the home side, as the Grande Prairie Storm (2-2) became the first team to defeat the 2014-15 Fort McMurray Oil Barons (4-1) by a 6-3 margin on Saturday night.
Fort McMurray opened the scoring 6:18 into the first period when a Zach Wittenburg (Chestermere, AB) power play point shot found its way through a screen in front of Storm goalie Liam McLeod and into the back of the net for an early lead.
But the first was catalogued with instances of the Grande Prairie net being dislodged during Oil Barons scoring chances, and frustration by the Barons soon turned into the Storm claiming momentum, scoring the first three of a six-goal run in the opening frame.
First, just under two minutes after the Barons’ goal, Nigel Swab scored in similar fashion with a long, floating wrist shot through a screen that got past Jesse Gordichuk (Penticton, BC). McMullen notched his first of the night at the 13:30 mark on a breakaway, while Parker Wakaruk finished the first period scoring with 49 seconds left in the period off a series of chances in front of the McMurray net.
In the second, McMullen deflected home a power play point shot at 10:18 to extend the Storm lead to 4-1. Austin Parmiter scored from the halfboards on a sharp angle shot at 15:01 to make it 5-1, and McMullen capped off his hat trick with a close range backhand goal at 19:30 to tally the Storm’s final goal of the night. Zach Fortin (St. Jerome, PQ) would come in to relieve Gordichuk after the period.
The Barons controlled the third, scoring two goals, but couldn’t pull any closer. At 2:22, Trent Lofthouse (Surrey, BC) flipped a puck in front from the side of the net to a waiting Adam Durkee (Nederland, CO), who fired it home to narrow the deficit to 6-2. But the MOB wouldn’t score again until Durkee centered the puck on a 5-on-3 power play to captain Jetlan Houcher (Paradise Valley, AB), who one timed it into the net for his seventh goal of the season in just five games played.
The Barons went 3-for-8 on the power play while killing off 2 of 3 Grande Prairie chances.
The team returns home for its next game Saturday night, September 20th, hosting the Olds Grizzlys at 8 PM. Tickets are available at http://tickets.oilbarons.com.