DRUMHELLER, AB (March 19, 2022) ““ Parker Sawka (Cochrane, AB) stopped 34 shots in his first playoff start, and Sam Huck (Calgary, AB) scored the game-winner 94 seconds into the extra frame, as the Okotoks Oilers downed the Drumheller Dragons 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night in Game 2 of their AJHL South Division semifinal.
The series is now tied at 1 game apiece as the setting shifts to Okotoks for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
A scoreless first period saw the Oilers outshot and outchanced early, getting an early goal called back due to a delayed penalty, but it would nonetheless be the visitors breaking through first just 22 seconds into the second when Brendan Boyle (Lake Country, B.C.) flipped home a puck from the left side of the net to open the scoring. Drumheller tied the game on a 2-on-1 goal from Adam Raesler at 10:54 to make it 1-1 heading into the third. The Dragons appeared to take the lead later on a power play goal but it was brought back after discussion among the officials determined that it was kicked in.
A backdoor tap-in goal from Hayden Prosofsky 5:35 into the third gave Drumheller a 2-1 edge, but less than three minutes later, rookie defenceman Nick Wolfenberg (Calgary, AB) corralled a puck in the slot and fired a close range shot past goalie Eric Ward to knot the score at 2 and force overtime.
The game winner was started with a carry-in by Austin Reschny (Macklin, SK), who drove down the right wall before centering the puck perfectly to a waiting Connor Gourley (Calgary, AB). He left the puck in the slot for Huck, who quickly whipped it past Ward to send the Oilers parading off the bench and mobbing their teammate at the end wall.
The teams will reconvene on Tuesday night for Game 3 in Okotoks with puck drop set for 7:00 PM. Tickets are available online at tickets.okotoksoilers.ca.