Oilers claim third at State Junior Gold Tournament
The Watford City boys high school hockey team brought home the third place trophy from the State Junior Gold Hockey Tournament in Sidney this past weekend.
The Oilers faced off against the Fargo Freeze in the tournament’s second game with Watford City skating to a 7-4 victory. The Oilers held period leads of 4-0 and 5-3 before the final score.
Brandon Taylor led the attack as he netted three goals and added an assist in the win, while sophomore winger Dalton Wright added two goals. Cody Johnson and Ted Ramage each added a goal, while adding assists was Ramage, Jonathon Dunn and Beau Heiser with one assist each.
In the net, Quayde Shores kicked aside 18 shots in the win.
On Friday the Oilers matched up with the May-Port Ice Dawgs with the winner to have a shot at a state title. May-Port drew the first goal as they came in on a 3-on-1 with the shot beating Quayde Shores to the glove side for a 1-0 lead 5:58 into the game.
Brandon Taylor, on a Guy Ross assist, tied the game at 1-1 when he snapped a shot just inside the post to beat the May-Port goalie.
But May-Port added another goal just before the period end to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room. Both teams skated very well and had good scoring chances only to be turned aside by great goaltending.
May-Port added two goals late in the second period and took a 4-1 lead into the final period.
With the Oilers on the power play to start the third period, the Ice Dawgs took a loose puck, drove the right side, and slipped a shot past Shores for a 5-1 lead just 1:18 into the period. May-Port would add three more goals before Jon Dunn hammered home a centering pass from Taylor to close out the scoring.
Shores turned aside 17 shots on the net.
On Saturday, the Oilers took on the Crosby Comets in the third place game and skated to a very exciting 4-3 double overtime win.
Crosby opened the scoring 14:05 into the contest beating Shores just inside the post for a 1-0 lead. Crosby carried the lead into the intermission. The Oilers had to kill off a penalty to Taylor to start the second period and Crosby capitalized on the man advantage scoring 34 seconds into the period.
Taylor then cut the Oilers deficit to one when he banged home a rebound off the stick off Alex Hansen and Jon Dunn.
In the third period, the Oilers tied the game when Daniel Marmon, with a setup by Dalton Wright, slipped the puck past Crosby’s goalie Lance Knutson.
Crosby wasted very little time and retook the lead just 1:28 later with a blast from just inside the Oilers blueline beating Shores high blocker side. At 13:18 Alex Hansen wristed a shot at the Crosby goal and Taylor tipped the puck past Knutson to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Neither team could get a shot past the two netminders as it was a battle of the top two goalies in the state.
At 3:54 into the second overtime Ted Ramage pounced on a loose puck and slipped it past Knutson to clinch the sudden victory. Beau Heiser assisted on the play as he blasted his shot from the blueline.
The Junior Gold closed out their season with a 15-9-1 record with seniors Reese Frick, Alex Hansen, Guy Ross, Brandon Taylor and Davis Zubke playing their final games for the Oilers.