Fort McMurray gained a full four points with a weekend sweep of the Lloydminster Bobcats at Centerfire Place. Simon Gaul led the offence with four points, while Charles-Olivier Villeneuve and Dustin Good each had three points, and Vincent Filion was credited with both wins in goal.
Friday’s game saw the Oil Barons take four different leads before they wrestled away a victory. Cam White opened the scoring halfway through the first period. A shot from Drew Freer off the faceoff was deflected by White for his first goal of the season, making it 1-0 MOB. However, 96 seconds later Lloydminster responded. Luke Fritz flew down the right wing, snapping a shot past Filion to make it 1-1. The Oil Barons restored their advantage early in the second period. Gaul pushed the puck to the blue-line where Alexis Beaulac hammered home his first goal of the season, snapping Fort McMurray’s 0-for-22 run on the power-play. Late in the second period, the Bobcats equalized. A shot from Wyatt Yule was kicked aside by Filion and the rebound went right to Teague McAllister, who put the puck home to make it 2-2. Fort McMurray jumped back in front before the second intermission. A shot from Villeneuve was mishandled by Kaiden Kirkwood and Gaul was the first to the puck, cashing in for his first goal of the season. Lloydminster found another answer, this time in the third period. After a Noah Heinrich turnover, Yule fired a shot past the blocker of Filion to make it a 3-3 hockey game. Fort McMurray got their fourth lead of the night, this time it was a lead they would not give up. Leo Adams pushed the puck to the side of the net for Good, who passed it backdoor, and Nolan Eastwood tapped it home for his first career AJHL goal. Griffin Gidney added an empty net marker, his first goal in the AJHL, and the MOB took home a 5-3 victory.
Lloydminster opened the scoring in Saturday’s game at Centerfire Place. While on the power-play, Teague McAllister left the puck for Luke Fritz, who wired the puck top corner on Filion for his second goal of the season. The Oil Barons found the equalizer halfway through the second period. Leo Adams drove the puck to the net and after a number of whacks, Nolan Eastwood scored tying the game at 1-1. From that point on, the MOB started to take over the game. On a breakout play, Fort McMurray found the lead in the third period. Dustin Good pushed the puck to the right wing for Beaulac, whose shot was kicked out by Anders Miller, only for Good to put home the rebound for his second goal of the season. Simon Gaul added an empty net marker and Fort McMurray swept their weekend set against the Bobcats with a 3-1 win.
The Oil Barons hit the road for a midweek game against the Bonnyville Pontiacs. Puck drop for the two teams is at 7pm. All the action can be found on the MOB Radio Network with the Bruce Ferguson of Royal LePage pre-game show beginning at 6:45pm.
