Following what Tom Keca described as a disappointing effort in a 5-3 win over the Calgary Mustangs on Friday night, the Oil Barons Head Coach sent a message to his players by playing a man short. Dressing just ten forwards and seven defencemen Saturday night against the Sherwood Park Crusaders, a game the MOB would go on to win 5-4.
“I thought it was our best effort at home for the first 40 minutes, I loved the first period. I thought that the first period was great even though we were down 1-0 we outshot them by our count 17-7 and we only gave up one scoring chance,” said Tom Keca following the game. “I thought that the second period was even better than the first.”
The Crusaders opened the scoring courtesy of Tyler Bang who banked the puck in off the back of Eric Szudor’s leg from behind the goal line at the 12:30 mark of the opening frame, it was the lone goal in the first.
Meanwhile, Fort McMurray threw everything they had at newly acquired Crusader Joshua Dechaine, the 19-year-old net-minder played his first AJHL game this year after being dropped by the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League, he stopped each of the 18 shots fired his way in the opening frame.
“The message to the players in between periods was ‘even though we’re down 1-0 do we stay the course’ or will we have players who turn the page and try to do their own thing,” said Keca.
It did not take long for the Oil Barons figure out Dechaine in the second just 14 seconds in Will Conley burned a defender wide (stop me if you’ve heard that before) and fired a shot low blocker to tie the game. The MOB would add two more in the second from Nicholas Leeseberg and Jack Hamly to carry a 3-1 lead into the final frame.
Sherwood Park’s Merritt Oszytko notched a short-handed marker in the first five minutes to pull the Crusaders within one. Jackson Verstraete restored the MOB’s two goal lead as he banged in a nifty feed from Ryan Cox in the slot at 7:53.
Not long after that the tires fell off the wagon. A pair of quick Crusaders markers from Brandon Wallis and the always dangerous Ty Readman tied the game at four a piece with 7:25 to play in the third.
Thankfully for the nearly 1,300 Oil Barons faithful at the Casman Centre Saturday night, Reed Morison wound up notching the game winner going far side off the right dot at 14:41. It was a bit too exciting of a game for Tom Keca and his staff, but the fans were treated to a great contest.
The MOB’s power play fell silent at home once again going 0/3, they still haven’t scored on the man-advantage at home, although the Oil Barons did kill off both penalties.
“It’s something that we are going to keep addressing and working on (the power play), you can have a structure in place but at the end of the day it’s up to the players to execute,” said Keca. “Jackson Verstraete had two chances in the slot which was perfect, wasn’t able to pull the trigger but it would’ve been nice. Now we take the positives, we got the win and now we go on the road for six straight.”
The victory was the seventh in a row for the Oil Barons who now sit atop the North Division standings with a 12-1-1 record and 25 points on the year, just a point back of the league leading Oilers.
Fort McMurray heads out on a three-game road swing this weekend beginning in Whitecourt on Friday, followed by games on Saturday and Sunday in Drayton Valley against the basement dwelling Thunder.
Listen to Oil Barons Head Coach Tom Keca’s post-game interview on Country 93.3 with Brad Karp:
MOB Post Game Oct. 22 1
Notes:
Will Conley has points in seven straight games and goals in three straight. Liam Izyk has points in five straight including eight in his last seven. Reed Morison has goals in three straight. J.C. Thivierge has nine points in his last five.
