Copperheads continue strong play as Nov. turns to Dec.

By Cole Parkinson
Sunny South News

As one of the hottest teams in the Heritage Junior ‘B’ Hockey League during November, the Copperheads finished the month with a pair of games before December started.

On Saturday evening, the Copperheads welcomed in the best team in the league — the Okotoks Bisons. Despite facing off against the best team in the league, the Copperheads were looking to extend their seven-game win streak — and the Snakes did exactly that.

They started the game off fast as they put a pair of goals in mid-way through the first period as Dallas Bodnar and Thomas Johnson scored right after each other to take a 2-0 lead into the dressing room.

The Bisons would score the first goal of the second period, but the Copperheads once again answered back with a pair of goals from Brogan Booth and Brand Creighton. Before the period would end though, Okotoks would cut the lead back down to two.

Heading into the final frame, the Bisons had a big lead in the shot department, but the Snakes were capitalizing on their chances. In the third, the Snakes defence and goaltender Ethan Barrows would hold strong as Kole Fujita put the final tally on the board as Coaldale would skate to a 5-2 final.

Brandon Creighton, Johnson, Booth, Tyson Meier, Braiden Burke, James Halverson, and Jason Creighton all collected a single assist in the win. Barrows was stellar in the game as he stopped 31 of 33 shots fired at the Copperhead net.

The Snakes went 0-3 on the powerplay, but were once again perfect on the penalty kill going 4-4. Okotoks would outshoot Coaldale 33-21 in the game.

After a massive win over the Bisons on Saturday night and extending their win streak to eight games, the Snakes would hit the road on Sunday with the Strathmore Wheatland Kings waiting.

During the first period, the Copperheads would convert on a powerplay chance with Johnson finding the back of the net, with Booth and Tyran Kiss collecting an assist.

Heading into the second period, the Copperheads would get outshot 16-6 and Strathmore would take a 2-1 lead into the third.

The third period led to plenty of penalty problems for Coaldale as they took six penalties in the frame, and the Wheatland Kings would convert on one of those chances on their way to a 3-1 win. Logan Leroux was strong in net as he stopped 30 of 33 shots between the pipes. Coaldale would go 1-3 on the powerplay and despite allowing two powerplay goals, they killed off the other eight shorthanded opportunities.

With December right around the corner, the Copperheads find themselves in third place in the Southern Division with a record of 13-7-1 and 27 points.

December sees six games on the schedule, including two games this coming weekend. On Friday night, the Snakes head to Okotoks for a rematch against the Bisons at 8 p.m. The Copperheads return home on Saturday night for an all snake matchup against the Red Deer Vipers for an 8:30 p.m. puck drop. Red Deer sits in third in the Northern Division with a 14-5-0 record and 28 points.

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