It was a total team game.
That’s how Steelers head coach Trevor Whiting described the first game of the second and final round of the provincial qualifiers to see who will represent Zone 3 in the Provincial Championship Tournament. In the first round the Steelers defeated a team from Stony Plain.
On Thursday, Feb. 11, the Steelers Midget A team defeated Drayton Valley by a score of 5 to 1 at the Barrhead Agrena.
In the first period the Steelers dominated Drayton Valley in both territorial play and on the shot clock. At the half way mark of the period the Steelers outshot their opponents 14 to 2, but were stymied by the strong play of Drayton Valley puckstopper Morgan Boudreau.
The Steelers finally got on the scoreboard at about the 11 minute mark, scoring on the power play thanks to a goal by Keegan Wolkowski, assisted by Zach Laun.
At the first intermission the Steelers led 1 to 0 and outshot Drayton Valley 21 to 5.
The second period started similarly to the first, with the Steelers dominating, although not by as big of a margin, in every category, except the scoreboard.
The turning point in the game came at the 7:04 mark of the third period when Drayton Valley player Kade Schneider viciously hit Brad Bujold from behind near the boards, near the opposition bench. Schneider received a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct. Off ice officials also filled out an incident report to send to the 1660 league for possible disciplinary action.
Although the Steelers power play was ineffective for much of the five minute penalty they managed to score two goals: the first by Brady DeRudder assisted by Laun and Kegan Wolkowski, the second by Tanner Whiting, assisted by DeRudder and Laun.
After the major penalty, the physical play escalated with the majority initiated by Drayton Valley who were becoming frustrated with their inability to come up with much of an attack.
At the end of the second frame the Steelers were leading 3 to 0.
In the third period the Steelers scored two more goals for insurance by Laun, assisted by Bujold, and a power play marker by Danny Dekker, assisted by Declan Kummer and Bujold.
At the eight minute mark of the period, Drayton Valley scored their only goal of the game.
Logan Branden stopped 15 out of 16 shots for the win.
“I’m so proud of the boys,” Whiting said. “I told them to bring it and they did. If they play the same way the next game I know we can win the series.”
The next game is in Drayton Valley on Thursday, Feb. 18.
If the Steelers win the game or lose by less than four goals they will qualify to play in the Provincial Championship Tournament.
