(File photo)
A rough start to the Drayton Valley Thunder’s road trip, as they picked up two losses over the weekend.
The first came on Jan. 21, with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Bonnyville Pontiacs.
The Thunder were first on the board, scoring at 12:50 in the first period. Grayson Reid got the assist from Lucas Krol. The Thunder had a 1-0 lead at the end of the first.
Bonnyville responded near the end of the second period, however, as Cole Hipkin scored at 19:40, thanks to assists from Kash Rasmussen and Matthew Roy. The second period ended with a 1-1 tie.
The third period was a back-and-forth affair. The Thunder broke the tie at 1:13, as Jack Silverberg picked up the assist from Moe Hakim. The Pontiacs tied things up again though at 2:25, thanks to a goal from Chayce Schmidt and an assist from Alex Atwill. Bonnyville took the lead at 6:47, as Sebastian Tamburro scored shorthanded. Tamburro was assisted by Kash Rasmussen. But with 36 seconds left in the third, the Thunder were able to tie it at 3-3 and force the game to go to overtime. Grayson Reid picked up his second goal of the night, thanks to assists by Noah Lamb and Lucas Krol.
After a scoreless overtime period, the game went to a shootout, where the Pontiacs were able to pick up the win.
The Pontiacs outshot the Thunder 45-19. The two teams did not have a lot of luck on the power plays. The Thunder were 0 for 2, while the Pontiacs went 0 for 1.
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On Jan. 22, the Thunder were off to Lloydminister to play the Bobcats. Lloydminister beat the Thunder 6-4.
The Thunder were first out of the gate at 8:53, as Daniel Kernaghan picked up assists form Lucas Krol and Luca Ricci. The Bobcats tied the game at 12:07, as Ryan Schendel got the assist from Andon Coles. The Thunder pulled ahead 2-1 at 14:22, as Rylan Brown scored. Brown was assisted by Andrew Larson and Hunter Price. But the Bobcats tied things up again at 18:36, as Hassan Akl received the assist from Andon Coles. The first period ended with a 2-2 tie.
The Thunder pulled ahead in the second period, as Drew Sutton scored unassisted at 3:08 to make it 3-2 Drayton Valley. But the Bobcats scored at 12:13, as Ethan Aucoin got the assist from Matthew Swanson. The second period ended in a 3-3 tie.
The Bobcats pulled ahead 4-3 early in the third, as Jayven Leslie scored at 1:32. Leslie picked up the assist from Jack Parker and Zack Whittaker. The Thunder were able to tie things up again at 6:01, as Sammy May got the assists from Rylan Brown and Andrew Larson. The Bobcats broke the 4-4 tie at 17:50, as Andon Coles scored unassisted. Then Ethan Aucoin got his second goal of the night, as he got the insurance goal for the Bobcats at 18:58. Aucoin scored on the empty net with an assist from Jack Parker. Final score was 6-4 for the Bobcats.
The two teams were close to evenly matched, as the Thunder barely outshot the Bobcats 44-43. The two teams were also unsuccessful on the power play. The Thunder were 0 for 2, while the Bobcats were 0 for 1.
Despite the losses, the Thunder are still holding steady in fourth place in the Viterra AJHL North Division, with 53 points and a record of 23-13-7.
The Thunder’s road trip now takes them to southern Alberta. Jan. 28, the Thunder are in Okotoks to face the Oilers, followed by stops in Canmore and Calgary on the 29 and 30.
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