November 28, 2012

Junior Gold splits in opening weekend of hockey action

The Watford City Junior Gold hockey team opened its season on Saturday, Nov. 24 in Sidney dropping a 4-3 decision in overtime to the Williston Coyotes.
Williston drew first blood 1:56 into the contest banging in a rebound on Oiler freshman goalie Quayde Shores. Shores appeared to have the puck covered but a flurry of players caused the puck to slip past the Oiler netminder. Erick Leiseth knotted the game at 1-1 when he found a loose puck in the crease and hammered it home to score his first high school goal. Cody Johnson added an assist on Leiseth’s goal.
The Oilers took the lead 4:17 into the second period when Jonathon Dunn scored an unassisted goal knocking home a rebound off a shot from senior defenseman, Davis Zubke. The Oilers added to their lead four minutes later when senior, Brandon Taylor, converted on a nice passing play from senior forward, Katie Skarda, and sophomore winger, Daniel Marmon.
It looked like the Oilers would take a two-goal lead into intermission but the Coyotes scored with just 1.8 seconds left in the period.
Both teams had quality scoring chances only to see good goaltending and solid defense. With just over two minutes remaining in the game, the Coyotes beat Shores on a shot that just found the corner of the net to send the game to overtime.
The Oilers had a great chance to end the game early on when Taylor went in all alone with the Coyote netminder, decking him and ringing a shot off the crossbar. The Coyotes took advantage of an Oiler penalty, scoring a power play goal with 3:43 left of overtime.
Shores turned aside 30 Coyote shots while the Oilers put 30 shots on the Coyote netminder.
The Oilers rebounded from their loss on Sunday as Watford City skated to a 5-0 win over the Richland Rangers.
Quayde Shores turned aside 28 Ranger shots to  record his first high school shutout in the net for the Oilers.
Katie Skarda scored the eventual game winner at 12:25 in the first period when she converted a pass from Brandon Taylor. The Oilers scored two goals in the second period, both goals off the stick of sophomore, Jonathan Dunn. Dunn’s first goal, an unassisted tally, was a wicked snap shot that beat the Rangers goalie through the 5 hole (legs). Katie Skarda set up Dunn’s second goal feeding him with a nice pass and Dunn lifted the puck into the top corner for a 3-0 Oiler lead.
Taylor scored a power play goal with 4:43 remaining, converting a Daniel Marmon feed. The Oilers closed out the scoring with Skarda picking up her second goal of the game hammering home a rebound off a Dunn shot for a 5-0 Oiler win.
The Oilers are led by seniors, Reese Frick, Alex Hansen, Guy Ross, Katie Skarda, Brandon Taylor and Davis Zubke. Other team members include juniors, Brandon Allex and James Devers; sophomores, Daniel Marmon, Dalton Wright, Ted Ramage, Jonathan Dunn, Cody Johnson, Reed Skarda, Beau Heiser, Wyatt Staal, Erick Leiseth; and freshmen Derrike Hayden and Quayde Shores.
The Oilers are coached by Dave Hansen, Scott Samuelson and Sam Huebner.
The next action for the Oilers will be on Dec. 1 when they travel to Crosby to take on the Comets, the defending State champions, at 5 p.m.

WATFORD CITY WEATHER