Bobcats earned their 3rd straight victory tonight, edging out the Okotoks Oilers 3-1 in a tight affair. The ‘Cats go for their fourth in a row tomorrow night at home against Drayton Valley.
The Bobcats were looking stay above .500 and keep their winning streak alive with a 3rd straight win on Friday night. Their opponents, the Okotoks Oilers were sitting in second place in the South Division with a record of 8-2-2, winning all their games in October up until their last which they dropped at home 3-2 in OT to Bonnyville. It was Devin Green in between the pipes for the ‘Cats against the team he played 6 games for last season.
It was an uneventful first period, but the ‘Cats won the shot battle, outshooting Okotoks 9-4. The scoring got started in the second period, and in the Bobcats favour. Eric Therrien scored his 3rd of the year thanks to assists from the Yaremchuk brothers Austin & Nolan. Only 1:22 later the ‘Cats added another, as rookies connected – Cole Porter with his 2nd on the year from Troy Rapuano.
In the third period, Austin Yaremchuk dropped the gloves with Okotoks Ty Clay but it would be the Oilers capitalizing on the momentum as Robbie Fisher got Okotoks within one from John Edwarth. But the Bobcats battled hard to protect the lead and their effort would pay off by way of an empty netter from Troy Rapuano, his second point of the night – from Grant Baker.
Tonight’s win looked a lot different on the score sheet than their two previous victories – which were high scoring and needed extra minutes. GM/Coach Garry VanHereweghe reflects on tonight “More consistency tonight, we kind of scrambled throughout a lot of the (previous) games, showed great character to win the games, but we didn’t show the structure that we stuck to all the way here tonight against a very good hockey club.”
Devin Green made 18 out of 19 stops, and GM/Coach Garry VanHereweghe got the win against his former team.
Next up for the 9-7-0 Bobcats is the Drayton Valley Thunder, who visit the Centennial Civic Centre tomorrow night at 7:30 PM where the ‘Cats will look to extend their winning streak to four games.