WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Co-Captain Comes Through

Published on March 8, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Oil Kings co-captain Brenden Dowd has scored some big goals for the Oil Kings in his career, but there probably weren't any more important than the goal he scored on Sunday night.

The Oil Kings threw 33 shots towards Lethbridge Hurricanes goaltender Juha Metsola, but Dowd's snap shot beat the Finnish netminder at the 12:52 mark of the third period and the Edmonton Oil Kings clawed out a gutsy 2-1 win in front of 7,965 at Rexall Place.

"With the playoff push, and having that game in hand, getting that goal was huge." said Dowd.

"I seen (Michael) Burns, and I tried to hit him for the breakaway. He got a piece of it, so there was no icing and then he took a hit and passed it to me. I walked out front, seen I had the shot and there was a screen there and I just took advantage of it."

The Oil Kings went into the game tied for the final playoff spot with the Prince Albert Raiders, but they had a game in hand. They certainly made the most of their game in hand as they put forth the gritty effort to move two points ahead of Prince Albert in the playoff chase.

The Oil Kings record improves to 28-32-4-5 and now have 65 points, two points ahead of Prince Albert in the ultra tight Eastern Conference.

"We try not to get too hyped about it. Some guys might get a little nervous, but we just try to stay calm."

"They (Prince Albert) are probably watching and stuff and now with a couple points on them, hopefully they grip their sticks a little tighter and be a little more nervous coming down the stretch."

Mark Pysyk scored his fifth goal of the season when he opened the scoring with a power play marker in the first period.The rookie defenceman's shot found it's way through a ton of traffic as Dowd and Burns provided great screens.

The Oil Kings improve their record to 22-5-1-2 when scoring the game's first goal.

"We had a lot of shots, but we didn't seem to get a lot of traffic at times. Now on the power play, I thought we did a great job (getting traffic). We had a lot of chances there," said Oil Kings head coach Steve Pleau.

Despite dominating Lethbridge on the shot clock, outshooting the Hurricanes 18-6 in the second period, Zach Boychuk scored the Hurricanes only goal of the game in the second period. Oil Kings goaltender Torrie Jung (19-18-3-5) made 24 saves. He wasn't overly tested in the final two periods, but he came up big when Edmonton had to kill off a late penalty.

"It's a tough game for him. We only gave up six shots in the second period, and I looked up 10 minutes into the third, and they only had one shot," added Pleau.

"That's basically seven shots through two periods, and you know with their skill level if they get a chance, it's going to be a bell ringer."

For the second straight game, the Oil Kings put forth a strong effort. They out played and out worked Lethbridge.Things weren't really going the Oil Kings way, but they didn't give up and they played with poise despite missing on some golden scoring chances.

""We're about 0 for 8 in the last two games on breakaways, and I was starting to think the same thing. We were playing so well, but we can't seem to put the puck in the ocean right now, but all of a sudden it just cracks," said Pleau.

"You've got to believe that's going to happen if you continue to play with structure and work, and we did that. I give our guy credit, they played with a lot of determination tonight."

It was a Minor Hockey Wrap-Up Party at Rexall Place on Sunday and with the victory the Oil Kings didn't spoil the party and they've inched closer to their first ever playoff berth in franchise history.

The Oil Kings have just three games left in their 2008-09 regular season. They have two games left at home. Their next home game is Wednesday March 11th when the Kootenay Ice visit, which marks the final Weiner Wednesday of the season.

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 8, 2009


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