Copperheads wrap up weekend with huge win over Red Deer

By Garrett Simmons
Sunny South News

It was an up-and-down weekend for the Coaldale Copperheads, as the team emerged with a 1-1 record in Heritage Junior Hockey League action.

It all started Friday with a 4-1 loss to the Okotoks Bisons and culminated with a massive 9-0 win on Saturday against the Red Deer Vipers.

Friday’s loss saw Coaldale rack up 36 penalty minutes, as Okotoks took full advantage of the powerplay. The Bisons went 3/8 with the man advantage, while the Copperheads failed to score on six powerplay opportunities.

Okotoks scored three powerplay goals in the first period alone and went into cruise control from there. The Bisons scored an even-strength goal in the second to make it 4-0 before Drew Constant scored for Coaldale in the third, on a goal assisted by Brogan Booth.

Despite the loss, Nixon Ordway kept Coaldale in the game, as the goaltender made 43 saves, as Okotoks outshot Coaldale by a final count of 47-17.

The script certainly flipped on Saturday, as Coaldale scored four times in the first period and walked off the ice with a convincing win over Red Deer.

Riley Potts got the scoring started with a goal assisted by Booth, before Nathan Verloop made it 2-0 with a marker assisted by Sean Burns and Griffin McCulloch. Brandon Creighton made it 3-0 with a shorthanded goal, as Brinley Degenstein drew the assist. Verloop’s second goal of the period, assisted by Constant and Rylan Bruns, made it 4-0.

Creighton opened the scoring in the second with a goal from Riley Preachuk, as Twigg made it 6-0, on a marker assisted by Booth and Verloop. It was 7-0 after 40 as Booth scored a goal assisted by McCulloch and Burns.

Two more Copperheads goals in the third, by Booth and Kobe Fujita, helped round out the scoring. Preachuk and Nolan Price had the assists.

Joseph Rolfson made 28 saves for the shutout for Coaldale, as the Copperheads directed an astounding 62 shots on net, 25 of which came in the first period alone.

This weekend, the Copperheads will take on Ponoka in an 8 p.m. game Saturday in Coaldale. The team will travel to Strathmore on Sunday.

Coaldale is now 5-3-1 in the highly-competitive Southern Division, as every team in the division has a winning record.

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