February 27, 2013

Junior Gold blows out Sidney 8-0

The Watford City Junior Gold hockey team closed out its regular season on Friday, Feb. 22 with an impressive 8-0 win over the Richland Rangers. With the win, the Oilers head into this weekend’s State Tournament, which will be held in Sidney, as the No. 3 seed and are set to face off against the Fargo Freeze in the opening round.
Against the Rangers, the Oilers opened the scoring 1:02 into the contest when sophomore center iceman Ted Ramage, on a nice give-and-go play from Dalton Wright, blasted a shot past the Ranger goalie, Trent Schilling, for a quick Oiler lead.
The Oilers had good scoring chances in the opening period and finally added their second score of the game at 7:15 on the power play on an unassisted goal by senior Brandon Taylor.
Physical play led to an Oiler power play with sophomore winger  Jon Dunn scoring his 19th goal of the season as he hammered home a Taylor centering feed to build Watford City’s lead to 3-0 at 12:32 into the game.
Junior defenseman Brandon Allex wrapped up the Oilers’ first period scoring as he blasted a slap shot past Schilling with just eight seconds left in the period to put Watford City up 4-0 heading into the intermission.  Ramage set up Allex’s goal.
The Oilers would score three more goals in the second period. The first came off the stick of Daniel Marmon as the line of Marmon, Ramage and Wright cycled the puck and found a wide-open Marmon for an easy tap-in to the right of the Ranger net.
Taylor then added his second goal of the game, and his 21st of the season, to put the Oilers up 6-0 midway through the second period. Sophomore defenseman Beau Heiser added the assist on Taylor’s goal.
With the Oilers buzzing, Wright and Ramage again set up Marmon for his second of the game, and his 12th of the season, to close out the scoring in second period.
The Oilers would add one more goal in the third period to complete their shutout of the Rangers. This time, Ramage and Marmon set up Wright as the line passed the puck all night and had great scoring chances.
Freshman goaltender Quayde Shores kicked aside 22 Ranger shots earning his fifth shutout of the season.
Six seniors, Reese Frick, Alex Hansen, Guy Ross, Katie Skarda, Brandon Taylor and Davis Zubke, played their last home game and went out in grand style skating to an 8-0 win over their rivals, the Sidney Rangers.
Next up for the Junior Gold is a run at a State title in Sidney, Mont., on Thursday, Feb. 28 when the Oilers face off against the Fargo Freeze at 6:30 p.m. (CT).

WATFORD CITY WEATHER