The Whitecourt Wolverines travelled to Centerfire Place in Fort McMurray on Feb. 23 and 24 for back-to-back games against the Oil Barons.
The Oil Barons won the first game on Friday, Feb. 23, by a score of 6-5.
Rowan McDonald scored the first goal of the game for Fort McMurray at 6:06 in the first period. Kyle Marsden and Anthony Campbell were credited with assists on McDonald’s first goal of the season.
The Whitecourt Wolverines outshot the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 15-7 in the first period, but the Oil Barons took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Fort Mac’s Kyle Marsden scored his second goal of the season at 2:07 in the second period with assists from Simon Gaul and Vincent Lamanna.
Anthony Campbell then scored at 5:20 to extend the Oil Barons lead to 3-0. Rylan Ringor was credited with the assist on Campbell’s ninth goal of the season.
The Wolverines finally got on the board at 9:04 of the second period with a power play goal from Braden Keeble. Keeble’s sixth goal of the season was assisted by Jalen Bianchet and Evan Johnson.
Rylan Ringor scored his ninth goal of the season at 11:54 in the second period. Simon Gaul and Vincent Lamanna were credited with the assists.
At the end of the second period, the Whitecourt Wolverines had outshot the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 10-8, but the Oil Barons had a 4-1 lead.
The third period started with a quick power-play goal for the Wolverines from Nathaniel Bannister at 1:19. Colby Browne and Evan Johnson assisted on Bannister’s third goal of the year to cut the home team’s lead to 4-2.
Jalen Bianchet then scored another power play goal for the Wolverines at 7:48 with help from Tavis Verbeek and Colby Browne. That was Bianchet’s 12th goal of the season and made it a 4-3 game.
Not long after, Colby Browne scored his 23rd goal of the season for Whitecourt at 9:38 of the third period to tie the game 4-4. Browne’s game-tying goal was assisted by Travis Verbeek and Jack Franklin.
Liam Cox-Smith restored the lead for the Oil Barons with his first goal of the season scored at 11:44. Simon Gaul and Kyle Marsden assisted on Cox-Smith’s goal, which made it 5-4.
Simon Gaul then scored the eventual game-winning goal, on the power play, at 16:20., with Vincent Lamanna and Carter Schmidt assisting on Gaul’s 20th goal of the season to make it 6-4.
Colby Browne tried to keep the battle going for the Wolverines with a last-minute goal at 19:51. However, they would not be able to tie the game and force overtime. Joey Melo and Travis Verbeek were credited with the assists on Browne’s 24th goal of the season.
The Whitecourt Wolverines outshot the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 14-7 in the third period and 39-22 in total, but lost 6-5.
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The Whitecourt Wolverines and the Fort McMurray Oil Barons played the second of two back-to-back games on Saturday, Feb. 24, with the Wolverines winning this one 6-3.
Anthony Campbell got the Oil Barons out to an early lead by scoring his 10th goal of the season just 1:45 into the first period. Keenan Ingram was credited with the assist.
Vincent Lamanna scored another goal for the Oil Barons, his ninth of the season, at 2:54 with an assist from Nikolas Hoogendoorn.
Nikolas Hoogendoorn then scored his own goal at 10:42. Hoogendoorn’s ninth goal of the season was assisted by Ethan King, and put the Oil Barons up 3-0.
Travis Verbeek got Whitecourt on the board with his 27th goal of the season, scored at 13:17, assisted by Colby Brown and Joey Melo.
At the end of the first period, the Whitecourt Wolverines had outshot the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 12-9 but were trailing 3-1.
Wolverines forward Colby Browne would score just 1:27 into the second period. It was Browne’s 25th goal of the season and assisted by Travis Verbeek and Kyle Venneman.
Evan Arnold then scored his 15th goal of the season for the Wolverines on the power play, at 15:11, with assists from Travis Verbeek and Matthew Ronn.
At the end of the second period, the Fort McMurray Oil Barons had outshot the Whitecourt Wolverines 10-6, and the score was tied 3-3.
Travis Verbeek scored the eventual game-winning goal for the Wolverines just 0:32 into the third period. Joey Melo and Colby Browne assisted on Verbeek’s 28th goal of the season to make it 4-3.
Joey Melo was then responsible for the rest of the scoring from the Wolverines for the rest of the game. He scored his 21st goal of the season at 7:46 with assistance from Travis Verbeek and Xavier Lacoste, and his 22nd goal of the season at 13:19 with assistance from Matthew Ronn and Colby Browne to secure the 6-3 Victory for the Wolverines.
The Whitecourt Wolverines outshot the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 14-10 in the third period, and 32-29 in total.
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The Whitecourt Wolverines’ (31-17-4-1) next game is Monday, Feb. 26, as they head down to the Drayton Valley Omniplex to take on the Thunder (18-33-2-0).
Game time is 7:00 p.m. and as always, you can catch all the action LIVE on XM105FM
