It was a pair of one goal losses by the Oil Barons this weekend against the CJHL number 10 ranked Canmore Eagles. Fort McMurray saw their record drop to 5-7-1 despite excellent efforts in both their games. Cade Petersen led the charge on Saturday with a goal and assist, Griffin Gidney and Danny Akkouche had a pair of points Sunday, while Vincent Filion stopped 49 shots over the weekend.
The MOB got off to an excellent start on Saturday. 2:12 in, a blast from Alexis Beaulac found its way through Alex Scheiwiller and the Oil Barons led it 1-0. However, Canmore responded with a power-play goal. The puck bounced to Ethan Look on the left wing, who snapped home a shot over the shoulder of Filion, equalizing the contest. Just 1:42 later, the Oil Barons restored their lead. On a power-play of their own, a shot from Petersen was stopped, but Simon Gaul poked home the rebound to make it 2-1 Fort McMurray. Early in the second period, the Eagles tied up the contest once again. Zach Coutu charged through the neutral zone and found Rhett Dekowny wide open on the back door for another power-play goal by the Eagles. Both teams pressed, but we wouldn’t see a go ahead marker until late in the third period. A shot from Coutu skipped to Kayden Rawji, who tucked it around Filion making it 3-2 Canmore. The Eagles scored an empty net goal by Coutu to make it 4-2, but the Oil Barons refused to go away. Charles Olivier Villeneuve picked the pocket of the defence and set up Petersen for his first career AJHL goal, making it a one goal game with 48 seconds remaining. But that was as close as Fort McMurray got and they fell 4-3.
Sunday saw the Eagles jump out to an early lead. Six minutes in, a shot from Christian Luke at the blue line found its way through Noah Nelson for Luke’s first career AJHL goal. Another shot from the blue line, this time from Dekowny, beat Nelson and the goalie was pulled ten minutes into the game. Canmore increased their lead to 3-0 in the second period. On the man advantage, the puck slid through the slot past Filion, and Rawji tucked it home for his second goal of the weekend. However, the MOB responded nine seconds later. Griffin Gidney received a cross ice pass from Jason Huang and tucked the puck past Hudson Sedo, cutting the lead to 3-1. Fort McMurray added another goal midway through the third period. Gidney held possession from the Eagles before finding Akkouche wide open at the front of the net, where the veteran deked out Sedo, making it 3-2. The Oil Barons turned up the heat, but they couldn’t tie up the game and they suffered their third straight defeat.
Fort McMurray hits the road for their next game as they travel to central Alberta to battle the Olds Grizzlys this Friday. Puck drop at the Olds Sportsplex is at 7pm.