Atom 2 Chinooks defeat Taber Oil Kings

Atom 2 Chinooks vs Taber Oil Kings
C. Davis photos and video

Chris Davis

Pincher Creek's Atom 2 Chinooks hosted the Taber Oil Kings at the MCC arena on Saturday afternoon, December 22.  Associated players Rhett Fitzpatrick and Cory Dyck of the Novice Chinooks helped  fill out the Atom 2 Chinooks' roster for this game. Caleb Evans and Beyonce Crowshoe were playing their second home-game in a row after helping out the Atom 1 Chinooks in their game against the CNP Thunder.

The game got off to a good start for the Chinooks after Crowshoe scored a great goal from near the blueline at the 11:12 mark of the first period.  She was assisted by Captain Caleb Evans, who went on to score unassisted with 4:48 left in the period, and then scored again at the 3:47 mark, assisted by Connor Stuckey and Rhett Fitzpatrick.  Fitzpatrick made a couple of great breakaway attempts in the period, to be foiled by Oil Kings goalie Talen Damberger.  Then Crowshoe scored again unassisted with only 7.9 seconds left in the period, taking another long shot that deflected slightly off of several players and beelined in, to bring the score to 4-0 for the Chinooks.

The Chinooks got off to a brisk start in the second period, resulting in a goal by Rhett Fitpatrick at the 17:50 mark, assisted by Abi Cryderman and Beyonce Crowshoe.  Fitzpatrick scored again just over a minute later, this time assisted by Nico Charette.  The Novice team might have trouble reclaiming Fitzpatrick after his stellar performance in this game. He certainly fit right into the Atom 2 lineup.  At the 9:26 mark Caleb Evans scored, unassisted, earning himself a hat trick for the game, with an assist to boot. Then at the 7:11 mark Nico Charette added an unassisted goal to his earlier assist.  The period again ended with an unassisted goal by Beyonce Crowshoe, a hat trick for her.

The Oil Kings brought a much better game to the third period, particularly since they were playing with a short bench and must have been tired by then.  They played with a great deal of determination despite the long odds that the score now presented them.  At the 17:42 mark repeated efforts finally paid off for them when Brayden Kaye scored, unassisted.  At the 15:09 mark Oil Kings' Mac Jensen scored, also unassisted.  After that there was a lot of solid back and forth hockey, with neither team managing to score, largely due to the efforts of Talen Damberger in the Oil Kings net and Christopher LeBlanc in the Chinooks net.  Some big saves on both sides.  Chinooks' Cory Dyck took control of the puck on several occasions, and appears to be turning into a feisty forward, but could have used a little more help getting it to the net.  The final goal of the game came, appropriately, from Beyonce Crowshoe, who scored unassisted with 5:20 left in the game, for a total of 4 goals and one assist for her.

The final score was 10-2 for the Atom 2 Chinooks.