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Oil Barons open season with split vs Storm

Oil Barons forward Ty Budai battles in the corner with the Storm's Jarin Sutton/Dan Lines Photography

The Fort McMurray Oil Barons kicked off the 2019-2020 Alberta Junior Hockey League season with a pair of games against their North Division rivals the Grande Prairie Storm at the Casman Centre.

Despite a lot of new faces in the line-up for each side, the two teams certainly had no love for one another as the rivalry was evident right from the get go.

The teams split the weekend set with the MOB picking up the win Friday night 5-3 before the Storm bit back Saturday with a 4-1 victory.

The Storm came out flying Friday night, looking for some early season revenge against the team who ousted them from the AJHL playoffs back in March.

Ethan Strang fired home the games first goal 35 seconds in as he went short side on a two-on-one to beat Oil Barons netminder Josh Dias.

The Barons responded off a face-off win in the offensive zone when a shot from Max Struss deflected off Tyler Maser and in behind Kaeden Lane to tie the game.

The Storm would get another before the period was out as Jackson Savoie jumped on a MOB turnover and wired a shot into the top of the goal.

The second period saw the Barons come out hard and capitalize on an early powerplay when Logan Bromhead crashed the net and stuffed in the tying goal 2:13 in.

The line of Hunter Lamb, Michael Hodge and Brendan Stafford then went to work with Hodge’s centering pass deflecting off a Storm defenceman and into the net to give the MOB their first lead of the game 3-2.

A powerplay goal from the Storm tied the game 3-3 heading into the final frame with Strang ripping home his second of the night.

The teams battled back and forth before the MOB found their chance off the rush. Luke Harvie dropped a pass to Jesse Burchart who spotted Jonathan Assayag cross-ice. Assayag one-timed a shot up under the bar to put the MOB up 4-3 with 4:48 remaining.

“We’re going to have to get scoring by committee and it’s certainly nice to have a goal from all four lines and I thought they all played real well,” said MOB Head Coach Bob Beatty. “Hodge, Lamb and Stafford showed some good creativity and the other lines are real hard working lunch pail lines who have some skill and contribute as well.” 

Bromhead sealed the victory with his second goal of the game into the empty net as the MOB gave the over 1,500 in attendance a lot to cheer about in their home opener.

“He played like a veteran hockey player tonight, he’s with a couple 17 year olds who are extremely quick, solid two-way hockey players and really stabilize the line and give it some offence,” said Beatty on Bromhead who was acquired in July from Lloydminster. “He had a real strong game, I thought he played well, he’s a smart player and he’s not the biggest guy but he can make a contribution for us.” 

Saturday night saw a different story line as it was the Storm who out battled the MOB and were the recipients of some puck luck.

Cade Mason’s point shot was stopped by Dias and hit the end glass but bounced right back over the crossbar and hit Dias in the back and trickled into the net to open the scoring 4:46 into the game.

Brody Dale then scored on a Storm powerplay in the second period before the Oil Barons managed to get anything going.

Harvie, Assayag and Layne Sniher would provide that spark when a physical hard forecheck resulted in a loose puck that found newly named captain Ryan Conroy in the low slot and he snapped home his first of the season to cut the lead to 2-1.

The Oil Barons certainly had chances in the game but couldn’t capitalize including on the powerplay as they went 0-8.

The Storm struck every chance they got and added two more in the third period as Lukas Jirousek scored on a breakaway before Samuel Erkkila slipped a shot through the legs of Dias after he was left all alone down low.

The games were physical and saw several fights as Ty Budai dropped the gloves with the Storm’s William Schimek and then it was Max Johnson squaring off with Jarin Sutton.

“I think that needs to be part of our identity, we can’t have teams coming up here licking their chops we want to make sure that when they’re on Highway 63 that they’re tightening up a little bit,” Said Beatty on the physical style of the play from the Oil Barons. “I think it needs to be part of our identity, we’re going to have to battle for our wins and play tough, physical hockey and be relentless.”

Next up for the MOB, they’ll head to Spruce Grove on Friday night to take on the Saints before a date with the Sherwood Park Crusaders on Saturday.

“We have to have an effort that we had Friday night in order to beat the best teams in our division on the road so we’re going to have to ramp it up this week and be fully prepared to give 100 percent and be smart and try and build some consistency to our game.”