Kluane Drillers win recreational hockey ‘B” championship

It took seven goals and a couple of comebacks, but the Kluane Drillers are champions of the Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League's "B" division.

It took seven goals and a couple of comebacks, but the Kluane Drillers are champions of the Whitehorse Recreational Hockey League’s “B” division.
The Drillers maintained their perfect record in the 2007-08 playoffs, beating ORC Tree Services by the close score of 7-6.
The victory was the second in a row over ORC in the best of three series. Kluane’s first game in the final came on Tuesday when the team won 7-5.
“It feels good. It’s been a long time coming for the Kluane Drillers,“ said Bud Arnold.

“We really got better every game and just proved that hard work is the only way you can win.“
A lack of scoring chances in the first few minutes of the game gave way to a plethora of goals scored by both teams in the opening frame.
ORC was first to get on the board on a goal by Danny Crawford that eluded Drillers goalie Vance Comer, nearing the 18 minute mark of the period.
After both goalies traded saves, the Drillers drew even, scoring less than five minutes after giving up the initial goal.

The play began after a save was made by Comer. 

Doug Roberts made a quick to fire the rebound up the ice to Tyler Murray, who picked the corner of the net to make it 1-1. Comer was credited with an assist on the play.
The Drillers kept the pressure on and scored their second goal of the game at 13:56 on a hard shot from just inside the blue line that beat ORC goalie Chad Warren low on his glove-side.
The Drillers lead would be short lived as ORC came right back, scoring less than one minute later.

The goal came off the stick of Jesse Gilday, who took advantage of a rebound opportunity to lift the puck over Comer after Kluane’s goalie made the initial pad save.
ORC didn’t let up and took a 3-2 advantage at 12:38 on a goal by Danny Johnson. Johnson blasted a low shot that beat Comer on the left side.
The players on Kluane showed a lot of persistence of their own in getting the team’s third goal of the game at 11:06.

The goal was scored by Arnold, who fired a low shot past Warren to tie the game up at three a piece.
A power play opportunity just under the 10-minute mark of the first period gave the Drillers their second lead of the game.

The team didn’t waste any time, scoring 17 seconds into the man-advantage on a goal by Matt King, who fired a well placed shot past Warren after being set up by Arnold and Roberts.

Kluane had an excellent chance for its first two goal lead of the game after the puck was dumped out of their zone and down the ice.

A Drillers forward managed to chase it down, avoiding the icing call and ripped a shot through the pads of Warren.

However, the ORC net minder got a lucky break with the puck deflecting off the far post and out to maintain the 4-3 score.
The Drillers didn’t let up and were able to capitalize on their very next chance to go ahead by two goals. Murray scored for the third time of the period after Arnold set him up.
ORC may have been down by two for the first time in the game, but the team was far from out.

The group got right back into the contest, scoring at 3:31.

Johnson scored the team’s second goal in a row after making a nice move to not lose control of the puck, while cutting across the ice in front of Kluane’s net.

He then placed a perfect shot past the outstretched arm of Comer.
The goal seemed to spark ORC, who tied the game up on a low shot, less than 20 seconds later on the very next rush.

Jeremy Hookham scored the goal and Arlo Riordan got the lone assist.
Both teams had their chances to pull ahead in the final minute of the first period, but neither one could capitalize and at the end of the first period the game was tied 5-5.   
It took a while for the scoring to resume in the second period.

The Drillers were first to break the tie, which happened just under the 10-minute mark when King scored again.

King’s goal was a result of the hard work down low by Doug and Tyler, who helped centre it in front for him.

King wasted little time putting the puck into the net with the shot. 
The Drillers kept the pressure and had their chances to add to the lead, but Warren stood on his head, making a couple of great saves before stopping the onslaught with a brilliant glove save just under the five minute mark.
Kluane came right back less than 30 seconds later, scoring a huge goal to restore its two-goal advantage for the second time in the contest.

The goal was scored after Pat Anderson made incredible cross ice pass right onto the stick of Roberts, who deflected the puck into the net to make it 7-5.
With two and half minutes remaining in the contest, a time-out was called.

The brief break seemed to benefit ORC, who scored their sixth goal of the game on a bullet of a shot by Blair MacDonald to bring the team within one.
That was as close as the team would get, though, and the game would finish with the 7-6 score.
With the victory, Kluane won its third championship in the last five years. The team also won the title in 2004 and 2006.
The Drillers were under .500 for the majority of the season, but really picked it up in the last two weeks, winning five of their last six games.

Overall, they finished with a 18-16-2 regular season record.
Arnold said Kluane played better defensively and overall as a team in the playoffs.
“We didn’t take as many chances as we did in the regular season at defense,“ he said.

“We talked about it, we said ‘our defensemen aren’t going pinch, we aren’t going to get caught, we’ll always be back and anything the other team got they have to earn.‘“
He said the team didn’t really have any expectations going into the playoffs.
“We knew that the B division was really even and that just about anyone had a shot at winning it, like they do every year,“ Arnold said.

“So we didn’t really have any expectations.“

Arnold said this was the team’s toughest series in the playoffs.
“They really played well,“ he said.

“We know they play tough, they are more physical than the other teams and we knew that. So we were going to stay out of penalty trouble.

I think we were only shorthanded once or twice against them in the two games.

So that was our game plan, no penalties at all.“
Arnold said the championship victory was special because the Drillers were playing such a talented team.
“We were playing a really good team, that has played us really tough all year long,“ he said.

“They had us on the season series four wins, one loss and one tie for them.

So we came in here knowing it was not going to be easy at all and we had two tough games against them, 7-5 and 7-6 are pretty close games.“
In other Whitehorse Recreational League action, Boston Pizza/Yukon Rad eliminated Yukon Appliance, beating the team by a score of 3-1 on Thursday in their “A” divisional match.
Yukon Appliance scored the opening goal of the game, but Boston Pizza came right back, notching three goals in the first frame, including its third goal with just 55 seconds left in the period.
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Boston Pizza/Yukon Rad 3, Yukon Appliance 1
Balanced scoring was one of the keys to the victory for Boston Pizza. Goal scorers on the team included Trevor Twardochleb, Rob Johnson and Derek Johnstone, who also added an assist in the win.
Other notables on the team included Lance Brown, who finished with two assists, while Nelson Turnbull, Brian Power and Bryan Curial each contributed one assist.
Nester Baird scored the lone goal for Yukon Appliance.
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Air North Jets 3, Northern Cross Midget Mustangs 1
With the score tied 1-1 after the conclusion of the first period, the Jets were able to score two more in the second to get the victory and eliminate the Mustangs from the playoffs.
The team will now play Boston Pizza/Yukon Rad in the “A” final.
Tim McIntosh scored twice for the Jets, while Willy McKenna finished the game with one goal in the victory.
Other notables on the team included Ryan Kinney, who finished with two assists, while Greg Charlie, Scott Horsey and Darius Elias each added one assist in the win.
Glen Skookum scored the lone goal for Mustangs.