Copperheads earn 8-6 win in wild Saturday game on home ice

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Sunny South News

By Garrett Simmons
Sunny South News

It was an up-and-down weekend for the Coaldale Copperheads in Heritage Junior Hockey League play. 

It all kicked off with a tough game on Friday, where Coaldale fell 6-2 on the road against the Okotoks Bisons. 

The Copperheads responded the right way a day later, however, as the offence was in high gear in an 8-6 win at home over the Red Deer Vipers. 

Friday’s contest was a bit of a mismatch, as Okotoks quickly took the game over, almost immediately after Coaldale opened the scoring. 

Nathan Verloop had the Copperheads off to a good start after he opened the scoring only 3:06 into the opening period, as he converted a Ryan Holm feed. 

Okotoks would strike back just over a minute later, and the barrage of offence quickly followed, as the Bisons took the lead later on with a powerplay goal. 

Sam Callahan then scored twice more for Okotoks, which capped off his first-period hat trick, as the Bisons skated to the locker room with a 4-1 lead. 

Okotoks scored two more goals in the second before Ryan Milo added one in the third for Coaldale, assisted by Holm. 

When all was said and done, Okotoks held a 53-16 lead on the shot clock, as the Bisons connected on three of nine power plays to take the win at home. 

Brylin Noble had a busy night in goal, as a puck stopper made 47 saves. 

Saturday was a different story, as this time, Coaldale fell behind 1-0 early in the first and had to battle back. Brandon Creighton got the home side on the board with a goal assisted by Verloop and Spencer Talerico-Kucheran. 

After Red Deer took the lead again, Verloop tied things off with a goal assisted by Talerico-Kucheran. 

Talerico-Kucheran scored in the second, as assists went to Creighton and Verloop, as Coaldale took the lead early in the second. This time, the floodgates opened for the Copperheads, as Caden Heins scored twice and Verloop added another to make the score 6-2 after 40. Verloop and Griffin McCulloch had helpers on the first Heins goal, while Kobe Fujita and Brinley Degenstein had assists on his second goal. Heins and McCulloch had assists on the Verloop marker. 

Red Deer cut the lead to 6-3 in the third, before Verloop’s unassisted goal made it 7-3. The Vipers made it interesting with three straight goals to make it 7-6, before Creighton added an empty netter, assisted by Heins, to cap off a wild game. 

Joseph Rolfson made 21 saves to pick up the win in a contest where the shots were 37-27 in favour of Coaldale. Red Deer went 3/9 on the power play and Coaldale went 2-6. 

As the calendar turns to November, Coaldale will take on Cochrane Friday in an 8 p.m. road game. The Copperheads return home on Saturday for an 8 p.m. date with the Mountainview Colts.