For the third straight game the Fort McMurray Oil Barons headed to overtime. On this special Remembrance Day, Curtis Roach was the hero scoring 2:02 into the extra frame to give the MOB a 3-2 win over the Drumheller Dragons Friday night.
Will Conley stripped Evan Rochowiak behind his own goal and took off down the right side. Conley slid a pass over to Roach on the two on one and the defenceman made no mistake, burying his fifth goal of the year before leaping into the end boards. The goal was the second time this season Roach had scored in overtime to beat the Dragons.
“Didn’t see it,” said Oil Barons Head Coach Tom Keca with a grin on his face when asked about the overtime winner. “You can ask me about the first two periods.”
The reasoning, Keca was ejected late in the second period after frustration took over with the officiating. The coach was handed two bench minors in a matter of minutes before receiving a gross misconduct. As per the league website, Keca will be suspended for one game.
Before the frustration set in, four goals were scored in a 3:33 span mid-way through the period. The MOB (17-4-1) would get the first two, the first off a face-off win by Liam Izyk at 6:22. Ryan Cox came in and ripped a shot through the legs of Hunter Virostek to make it 1-0. The Barons would strike again 56 seconds after when Cox fed Nicholas Leeseberg through the middle. The Colorado native walked in on a breakaway and beat Virostek over the glove hand for his second goal of the year.
“It was a chip up the wall by Ralph, Cox gets it and shields it, chips it and Leeseberg is off to the races. It was a great shot by him and it was great to see him score. His grandparents are in and it was great to see. They were sitting right across from the bench and I couldn’t help but notice but his grandpa was the first guy to jump up,” said Keca on Leeseberg’s goal.
Dragons (8-8-4) head coach Brian Curran called a timeout to settle his group and saw immediate results. With the puck in the MOB’s end, Markus Boguslavsky sent a harmless looking shot towards the goal, Slater Dykema got a stick on it, deflecting it past Eric Szudor to cut the lead to 2-1.
A mere 26 seconds later, an uncharacteristic mistake by Szudor allowed Jordan Taupert to strip the puck from the goaltender and deposit the puck into an open net.
“Szudor thought it was our guy behind the net so he stopped it for the guy (Taupert) and he wrapped it in. It’s an unfortunate play but it’s one of those things that happen,” said Keca .
The game was the third and final meeting of the season between the two clubs. All three games were decided in extra time time with the MOB coming out on top in all three.
The Oil Barons will take on the Drayton Valley Thunder Saturday night at the Casman Centre. Puck drop is set for 8:00p.m.
The MOB will be wearing their commemorative Remembrance Day jerseys for a second night in a row. The jerseys will be auctioned off with all proceeds going to the Royal Canadian Legion.
Tom Keca Post Game Show
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