The Drayton Valley Thunder commenced week two of the AJHL regular season with a home-opening weekend matchup against the Lloydminster Bobcats.
Drayton Valley came into the weekend ranking seventh in the first week power rankings.
The first period of Friday’s game started off a little slower as it wasn’t until the 17 minute mark that Ben Aucoin scored his second of the season to break the ice and put the Lloydminster Bobcats up 1-0.
In the second period, scoring came much sooner as the Thunder’s Gavin Middendorf tallied his first of the season with a nice set up by the team leader in points Kadyn Chabot to tie it 1-1. Three minutes later, Conner Burke scored to retake the lead for the Bobcats 2-1. However, not even a full minute later, Drayton Valley’s Tyler Blocha notched his second goal of the season to tie the game again, 2-2 before the period came to an end.
The Thunder, still hungry for their first lead of the game, looked to Kadyn Chabot as he tickled the twine with his fourth goal of the season and opened the scoring for the third period, just three minutes into it. However, the Thunder’s lead would not stand long, as about three minutes later, Lloydminster’s Ben Bygrove put away his second of the season to tie the game back up at three a piece. However, it was Drayton Valley’s Gavin Middendorf with his second of the game with about 10 minutes left, to put the game away for the 4-3 victory.
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With the Bobcats still looking for at least one win in their Drayton Valley road trip over the weekend, they opened the scoring in Saturday’s game just over 8 minutes into the first period with a goal from Chase Visser, his first of the season. It didn’t take long for the Thunder to respond, however, as about five minutes later, Mathew Strilets notched his first goal of the campaign to once again put the two teams at a deadlock going into the second period.
Lloydminster’s Jordan Borysiuk then scored, thanks to a nice set up by Mathew Swanson to give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead. Drayton Valley wasn’t able to respond till nearly four minutes left in the second as Daniel Kernaghan put away his third of the season to once again tie the game up at 2-2.
Drayton Valley’s Jack Silverberg then commenced scoring for the the third period when he potted his first of the season to give the Thunder a 3-2 lead. Lloydminster would respond with just under 4 minutes to play though, as Ryan Schendel came up big to tie the game up late at 3-3.
Tensions ran high going into overtime, however, it was Drayton Valley’s Matthias Bessey who scored three minutes into OT to put the game away 4-3 and give the Thunder the weekend sweep and the all important 4 points.
The Thunder will next visit the reigning national champions, the Brooks Bandits on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, then welcome the Okotoks Oilers back at home on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.
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