Bad bounce costs Trojans in home opener

CALGARY, ALTA., (Oct. 11, 2019) - Hockey teams talk about getting the bounces to go your way. That didn't happen for the SAIT Trojans men's hockey team, literally.

A puck chipped high into the zone ended up in the back of the SAIT net after goalie Kyle Dumba lost sight of it, giving the visiting NAIT Ooks a 3-2 overtime win Friday night in the first game of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) season for both teams.

"You never want to lose," said Trojans head coach Tyler Drader. "It sucks, but our guys battled hard. We bent, but didn't break so to speak. . . It was tough, but we were short-handed, so to pull out a gutsy point is nothing to be disappointed in."

SAIT falls to 0-0-1 on the season. NAIT goes to 1-0.

"The battle factor was there," Drader added. "Sure, there are some things we need to clean up. Our turnovers were way too high and we have to be a little better in our defensive zone, but to me it really starts with our effort and coming together as a group and we did a good job with those two things."

Despite scoring the first two goals of the game on markers by Jared Power (1st year, Calgary, Business Administration) and Zach McNeill (3rd year, Calgary, Business Administration), the Trojans seemed to be caught watching as NAIT buzzed around them for the first 30 minutes. 

Nearly 10 minutes into the second period, the Ooks led SAIT in shots, 27-7, but Dumba (1st year, Calgary, Business Administration) was stellar in keeping the Ooks at bay.

In all, he stopped 44 of 47 shots fired his way on the night.

"He was strong, and made a few saves that even he thought were going to be in the back of the net," said Drader. "He just kept battling, and gave us a chance to win. I feel bad for that weird one at the end there."

The last 30 minutes of regulation saw SAIT come alive more and create more chances for themselves, but they could not get another one past Ooks goalie Jordan Papirny.

In the four-on-four overtime period, both teams had their chances. With exactly 60 seconds on the clock, NAIT advanced the puck from their end to the SAIT blueline. Ooks forward Tyler Kunz got a stick on it to prevent icing, chipping the puck straight up into the air.

Dumba simply lost sight of the puck, and could only raise his arms in bewilderment when it landed just left of him and rolled into the net.

Also scoring on the night for NAIT was Ryan Piche and Jake Mykitiuk.

The teams will play the second of their weekend set tomorrow night in Edmonton in a 6pm start.

"We'll have some of those missing guys back, so they'll give us some fresh legs," Drader stated. "NAIT has gone to the finals a lot for a reason; they're a good, deep team. If we want to win a championship, we're going to have to go through them so this weekend is a good test for us."