Story Coming In:
The Oil Barons are coming off a pair of losses over the weekend at the hands of Drayton Valley. Despite the results, Fort McMurray did a lot of things right that they deserved a better fate. On Friday, the offense came to life, putting five goals past the Thunder, while Saturday’s game saw the Oil Barons outplay Drayton Valley, doubling them in shots, only to see Thunder goaltender Chazz Nixon steal the game. Leading the charge for the MOB is Simon Gaul, who leads the team in points and is on a three game point streak, and Vincent Lamanna, who has tallied six points in his last three games. Now the Oil Barons hit the road for the lone time this month. Fort McMurray has plenty of success on the road, having gone 4-4-1-1 with marquee wins over Blackfalds, Drumheller and Calgary. With the standings being so tight, these are four big points on the line for Fort McMurray.
View From Whitecourt & Drayton Valley:
Many people believe Whitecourt is a team that is better than their 11-11-2-1 record indicates. The Wolverines lost a lot of firepower from last year in the form of Cooper Smyl, Chase Broda and Caleb MacDonald, but with returning pieces in Braden Keeble, Jared Feist and Colby Browne, Whitecourt is a team that can’t be taken lightly. Defensively, the Wolverines have been strong giving up five goals against in their last four games. Whitecourt has a three game road trip to wrap up November. With that in mind, Shawn Martin’s bunch will look to take full advantage of home ice as they try to climb the standings. For Drayton Valley, they are a team on the rise. The Thunder have won four straight and watched themselves climb from out of a playoff spot to 12th in the standings. Leading the way is captain Adam Grenier and Ryan Neumann. Meanwhile, Chazz Nixon is back from suspension and continues to show why he’s arguably the best goalie in the league with a 2.32 goals against average and an AJHL leading .931 save percentage.
Stats Leaders For Fort McMurray:
Goals: Gaul (11)
Assists: Gruener (9)
Points: Gaul (16)
PIM: Schmidt (38)
Goalies: Nelson: 4-5-0-1, 3.25 GAA, 0.922%, 1 SO
Gratton: 3-8-1-1, 3.92 GAA, 0.898%
