A 7-4 loss to the Whitecourt Wolverines started with an Eric Krienke goal just 32 seconds in, after that the Oil Barons settled down and finished the period with a 3-2 lead heading into the second frame. MOB goals came from Brett Edwards, Landon Welykholowa on the power-play and Cole Todd, short-handed on a penalty shot.
The MOB even chased Whitecourt’s starting goaltender Joshua Dechaine from the crease after Todd’s goal, the 18-year-old netminder allowed three goals on four shots in just 12:23 of work.
The second period is where the wheels fell off.
Whitecourt exploded for five in the middle frame, Krienke got his third to complete a hat-trick, Jordan Davies, Hubert Delisle, Justin Young, and Bryson Traptow also scored for the Wolverines. The Oil Barons were outshot 21-11 in the period and 39-26 through three stanzas.
“With a team like Whitecourt you can’t run and gun with them, they chip pucks and they race and they’re so quick at identifying when they think they’re going to get puck possession and they have so many odd man rushes and it just came back to bite us in the second period,” said Oil Barons Head Coach Tom Keca.
Whitecourt used strong team speed and quick wits to move the puck quickly back up the ice following turnovers and create odd-man rushes the other way.
The Oil Barons didn’t seem to have an answer in the second period.
“We’ve got a young team and we have to understand that we can’t afford to take shifts off when you’re against good teams like Whitecourt they’ll make you pay and they did that today. I thought that we got exposed a little bit on the back end. Then you’ve got guys gripping sticks and pucks are bouncing and we couldn’t get any flow in the second period.”
Ravi Dattani who started the game got yanked after the second period out of mercy by Head Coach Tom Keca.
“That’s the one thing that we talked about in the second period is that if nothing else battle for the two guys that have been between the pipes for us I don’t really think that there’s any games this year that we can say that our goaltending has let us down or anything they’ve battled,” said Keca about his netminders.
Dattani stopped 21 of 28 shots faced, Eric Szudor was perfect in relief stopping all 11 third period shots faced. For the Wolverines Tanner McCorriston stopped 21 of 22 shots and changed the flow of the game with a number of spectacular stops.
Both teams went scored a goal on two power-play opportunities.
The Oil Barons move on to face the Lloydminster Bobcats on the road this Friday and Saturday.
Article courtesy of mymcmurray.com.
Photographer: Dan Lines