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by Sheena Read

 

The Drayton Valley Oilers hit gold during the Investor’s Group Bantam C Provincials at the Tom Hornecker Recreation Centre in Nanton March 21.

The Oilers beat out the Castor Cyclones in overtime, ending the game 3-2.

It was a tough game for the two finalists.

The Oilers and the Cyclones had headed into overtime, tied 2-2, knowing that the first overtime period would be 10 minutes, sudden death.

The first goal of the game was scored by Matthew Doolaege of the Cyclones, during the first period, with just over seven minutes of play left. That was followed  by a goal by Keyton Thompson of Drayton Valley Oilers with five minutes to spare.

The game remained tied throughout the remainder of the first period, with no goals being scored in the second period.

Tristan Van Zandebergen of the Cyclones scored the second goal, with just over seven minutes left of play. This was followed by the second goal of the game by Drayton Valley’s Keyton Thompson with just over five minutes left in the third period, tying the game up, 2-2

That left them in overtime, and Joseph Hutchinson scored to win it all, with 2:44 left on the clock.

Castor left the ice with silver medals.

“I think my kids did awesome. They worked hard all year long to work for their Stanley Cup, and they consider this their Stanley Cup,” Drayton Valley Oilers coach Brian Markowski said.

Markowski said that the league play had been a stepping stone for the Oilers. Their last round had been against Athabasca.

“It was tough, but they made it to the show,” said Markowski. The provincials had been an opportunity that many of his team hadn’t experienced, although some of his team had “This last game was definitely one of the toughest we’ve played,” said Markowski. “ We

played them in the round robin and beat them by one goal. This was definitely our toughest challenge. It was a great team to play against.”

Markowski said he was proud of the effort made by his team.

“They stuck to the game plan, and were victorious in the end. It was a full team effort,” said Markowski.

Castor Cyclones coach Todd Pawsey  said, “It was close. It was a good pace, conservative at times and exciting at times. This format of five games in three days — these were two tired teams at the end. And they were slugging it out at the end of the wire.”

The Cyclones had lost their first game to Drayton during the provincials.

“We knew we had to win the next three in a row,” said Pawsey. “ We knocked off Kitscoty, who was undefeated.”

“We gave both Drayton and us, the finals and the fans an exciting final game. My hat’s off to Drayton Valley,” said Pawsey.

“The games were great,” said Markowski. “At times it was anybody’s game. It was close in some games, and not so close in others. The flow could have gone either way.”