Third place in the Alberta Division has been solidified. The Bulldogs will play the Sherwood Park Crusaders in the first round of the playoffs. The Brooks Bandits will play the winner between the Okotoks Oilers and Spruce Grove Saints. Which I think is a best of 3 series. The Blackfalds Bulldogs scored three goals in the final two minutes to edge the Oilers 6-5 on Friday night at the Centennial Arenas in Okotoks.
Dakota MacIntosh wires one past Green right off the draw from the high circle to make it a 1-0 Bulldogs game at 8:02 of the first period with the assist on the goal going to Alexander Dimitriadis.
Luke Dahlen makes it a 2-0 sneaking it past the goalie at 9:19 of the opening frame with the assists on the goal going to Jayden Joly and Tanner Willick.
Jagger Tapper scores for the Oilers seconds later to get the Oilers on the board with the assists going to Kade Turner and Brett Wilson.
Robert Morris University commit Connor Gourley ties the game at 2 apiece with 48 seconds remaining in the first period at 19:12. The assists on the goal went to Dean Spak and Ryder De Nys.
Shots on goal in the first period were 14-8 for the Oilers. They brought the tires out during the first intermission in Okotoks again It looks like shuffle board or curling almost but with tires. They need to do something similar to that in Blackfalds.
Brett Wilson gains the lead for the Oilers to make it 3-2 at 2:32 of the second period with the assists going to Jagger Tapper and Sam Huck.
Otto Hanson ties it up sitting all alone in front 3-3 with the assists going to Ryan Neumann and Nolan Dupont. That marks Dupont’s first regular season point as a Bulldog. Do note that Dupont missed like 50 of the first games of the year due to injury.
Ryder De Nys scored when Gratton was screened to make it 4-3. The Bulldogs D has to remember that Gratton is not that tall, I think him being listed at 5’10 is a bit generous. It’s pretty hard for a goalie to stop something he can not see coming. The assists on that goal went to Sam Huck and Brett Wilson at 10:19 of the second period.
Okotoks had a goal disallowed late in the second period when a scramble happened infront and an Oiler player pushed the puck into the net with his glove. Although the goal was disallowed this was the end of Gratton’s night. Not sure if he was injured or just really pissed off he was getting ran by the Oilers because he wasn’t playing bad by any means.
Shots on goal in the second period were 11-6 for the Oilers
Sam Huck makes it 5-3 for the Oilers at 3:58 of the third period. The assists on the goal went to Jagger Tapper and Brody Maguire.
I agree with Jackson Rowland. His penalty that he got for interference was a bit of a crappy call. By telling the ref to go have sex with himself though is probably not the smartest thing to do (Wasn’t hard to read the lips there) To this day I have still never seen a ref once reverse a call after someone had told him to f off, who to have intercourse with, or where to stick his genitalia. It has never happened not even once. So all this time later why do people still try it? What is going to happen the ref is going to all of a sudden say: “Hey thanks for reminding me that I have sex with my mother, that made me realize that your penalty was wrong, I am sorry.”. The Bulldogs were unsuccessful in scoring on the 4 minute Power Play.
Alexander Dimitriadis makes it 5-4 at 18:24 of the third period with the assist on the goal going to Ryan Shaw and Easton Adrian.
Luke Dahlen ties the game up with 21 seconds left with Maxfield pulled and the score is now 5-5. The assists on the goal went to Dakota MacIntosh and Tanner Willick.
The Oilers pulled their goalie as they needed the 2 points in regulation for a chance to get third place. But Hunter Brown scored on the empty net and ruined that dream. If it helps any help the BCHL website blamed the goal on Aaron Brown. The assists on the goal went to Alexander Dimitriadis and James Johnson.
Shots on goal in the third period were 19-8 for the Bulldogs. The shots were tied at 33 each for the game.
Gabe Gratton made 16 saves on the 20 shots that he faced before leaving the net at 12:01 of the second period after getting ran and having a goal disallowed. Wilson Maxfield then replaced him and made 12 saves on the 13 shots that he faced for the Bulldogs. For the Oilers Boothwyn, Pennsylvania native Christian Green made 27 saves on the 32 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Luke Dahlen 2) Sam Huck 3) Alexander Dimitriadis
Attendance in Okotoks was 1046
Bulldogs next game is Saturday April 6th at 6pm in Blackfalds against the Spruce Grove Saints for the final regular season game of the season.
Slade Firkus was called up as an AP for theOilers. Yes he is the brother of Moose Jaw Warrior and Seattle Kraken draft pick Jagger Firkus.
The Calgary Canucks have defeated the Drumheller Dragons 4 games to 1 and are going to the AJHL final and will play the winner between the Canmore Eagles and Whitecourt Wolverines. The Wolverines lead that series 3-2.
The Playoffs have started on the BC side.
