EAGLES DEFEAT WARRIORS IN OT!
The Stony Plain Eagles retained possession of 1st place in the NCHL this past weekend after defeating the pesky Westlock Warriors on the road Saturday evening in overtime.
The Eagles came out strong in the first period firing 15 shots on Westlock goaltender Spencer Hutson and took the lead twice off goals from Travis Dunstall (Assists: Bourke, Avery) and a beautiful unassisted top shelf breakaway goal from Scott Glennie. Following each Eagles goal the Warriors responded to tie the game. After the first period the game was tied at two. Eagles goaltender Wyatt Holfin made some key saves to keep the game tied turning away 8 of 10 shots.
The second period saw both teams take advantage of their powerplay opportunities, first the Warriors struck with a screen shot from the point beating Hoflin to give Westlock their first lead of the game. Just over two minutes later Brad Bourke tallied a powerplay marker himself, firing a sharp wrist shot top shelf through a nice Chad Hohmann screen to beat Westlock’s Hutson to tie the game at 3 goals a piece. Dunstall and Kyle Lipinski had the assists on Bourke’s third goal of the season.
The third period the Eagles pushed the play again, creating many scoring opportunities, however Westlock bent but didn’t break, Hutson closed the door, making multiple big saves through out the period, even surviving a late 3rd period powerplay for Stony Plain. Shots in the third period were 10 to 3 in favour of Stony Plain to send this game to overtime.
After a late 3rd period penalty to Dunstall and a double minor for high sticking assessed to Eagles forward Kruise Reddick at the end of regulation, the Eagles started overtime on a 5 on 3 penalty kill. After entering the ice from the penalty box and creating a turnover in the defensive zone, Travis Dunstall finished the game on a slick short handed, forehand to back hand to five hole goal, giving the Eagles their sixth win in seven NCHL contests after defeating the Warriors 4-3.
Shots on goal were 38 for Stony Plain to 23 for Westlock.
The Eagles host the Morinville Kings on Saturday, November 23rd at the Glenn Hall Arena. Game time is 7:45 pm!
