At times you have to do the special things when you’re a goalie on an elite team.
The Bow Mark AAA Midget Oilers faced a plethora of penalties against the Sherwood Park Kings but were able to weather the storm thanks to the special goaltending of Adam Goody in their 5-2 victory Saturday at the Pason Centennial Arena.
“Obviously, our best penalty killer tonight was Goody our goalie,” said Oilers head coach Ryan Barrett. “We don’t want to put him in that situation as much as we did, but I liked the way our guys responded.
“Goody was a big reason why we got the win tonight.”
The Oilers were able to kill a two-minute penalty with five minutes left in first period. But before the penalty-killing team could catch its breath, the Oilers were hit with a four-minute double minor, which straddled the first and second period.
Goody kept the Oilers tied at 0-0 when he made a spectacular glove save off the stick of King Logan Cyca in the early goings of the second period.
“I came out and I then I saw a 2-on-1 was forming in the middle,” Goody said. “The puck got through our defenceman and I was able to track the puck right off his (Cyca) stick to make sure they didn’t get any momentum.”
Instead the Oilers got the momentum when Caden Scott made it 1-0 Bow Mark on a powerplay goal assisted by Sam Simard and Lucas Watkins seven minutes into the second period.
Just over a minute later Bow Mark made it 2-0 when d-man Alex Frank scored on a knuckleball shot from about the blue-line that took a wonky bounce past King goalie Brady Roblin.
Bow Mark would take a 3-0 lead midway through the second when Okotoks’ Nathan Fox streaked across the front of the net from the boards and put it by Roblin low on the stick-side.
“It takes a lot of guts to go to that far post on those drives,” Barrett said. “It shows Foxy’s ability to score — his willingness to self-sacrifice to get a goal.”
All in a days work as far as Fox is concerned.
“I got a good chip from Waddy (Liam Watkins) and I figured I had a step on their d-man so I thought I would take it hard to the far post,” Fox said. “Hopefully, the goalie wouldn’t come with me and he didn’t, and I just slipped it in.”
Fox would get a much easier goal to make it 4-0 when he got a powerplay goal midway through the final period. He was able to tap the puck in past Roblin at the side of the net.
Give captain Simard a major assist on that one.
Simard took a feed from Moe Hakim and with a King draped on him like a royal robe, he feathered a pass from the corner on to Fox’s stick at the side of the net.
“He worked hard on that and I thought, ‘Hey, that’s all you buddy,” Fox said with a laugh.
Sherwood Park gave the Oilers a scare as they scored back-to-back powerplay goals in the latter stages of the third period to make it 4-2.
A powerplay goal by the Oilers Kyle Newnham iced the game for the Oilers at 5-2.
Goody stopped 21 shots in picking up the win. The early powerplay pressure didn’t faze him.
“Whenever we got down it was: ‘I got a keep battling for the boys.’
“I had to make sure I was sharp… and the boys got it going in the second.”
The victory combined with the Oilers’ 2-1 win over the Calgary Royals Thursday at the Pason gave Bow Mark a monarch-winning weekend but more importantly a 3-1 record in the Alberta AAA Midget Hockey League — good for first place in the Chrysler Division.
The Oilers took a 2-0 lead in the opening period against the Royals on a powerplay goal from Liam Watkins and an even strength goal by Hakim.
But the Royals didn’t’ roll over.
“As the game wore on they took it to us,” Barrett said. “(Goalie) Mitchell Dudar made some big saves for us in the final minutes.
“We learned to play 60 minutes, because the Royals took it to us.”
Bow Mark will put that 60-minute challenge on the road next week as they play the SSAC Boston Pizza Athletics on Oct. 19 and the Knights of Columbus Pats Oct. 20.
For more information go to amhl.ca
