*Written/Supplied by Okotoks Oilers

Bowden Singleton (Calgary, AB) scored for the Okotoks Oilers on Wednesday but the Drumheller Dragons overpowered goaltender Parker Sawka (Cochrane, AB) with six goals on 29 shots as the Oilers fell 6–1 in Game 3 of their AJHL South semifinal playoff series.

Singleton’s marker came on the power play early in the second period to cut Drumheller’s lead to 2–0. The 17-year-old winger fired a shot from the right side that sailed past Dragons netminder Eric Ward for his third goal of the playoffs.

Riley Bodnarchuk (Okotoks, AB) and Brendan Boyle (Lake Country, BC) picked up the helpers on the goal, which came 1:09 into the middle frame.

While special teams directly contributed to the Oilers’ goal on Tuesday, they also proved to be their downfall. Only one of the Dragons’ goals in the game came at even strength, with four of them coming on the power play and one coming while Drumheller was shorthanded.

Sam Simard (Okotoks, AB) and Luke Fennig (Battleford, SK) each scored twice for the Dragons, which also received goals from Hayden Prosofsky (Medicine Hat, AB) and Carter Belitski (Regina, SK).

Fennig and Simard scored less than four minutes apart in the second half of the opening period to give the Dragons an early two-goal lead. Simard found the back of the net again midway through the second, kicking off a run of four unanswered goals for the visitors.

Goaltender Jack McNaughton (Calgary, AB), defencemen Tucker McRae (Calgary, AB) and Logan Magowan (Calgary, AB), and forwards Ethan Jamernik (Calgary, AB), Brody Spencer-Ha (Foothills County, AB), and Carter Massier (Peace River, AB) all sat out of Tuesday’s game for the Oilers.

The Dragons outshot the Oilers 29–27 in Game 3. Now trailing 2–1 in the series, the Oilers will return to action against Drumheller at Pason Centennial Arena for Game 4 at 7:00 p.m. MT on Wednesday, March 23.

— Mike Gould