The Vegreville Rangers picked up their first win of 2025 on Saturday night, stunning the powerhouse Lloydminster Bandits in the process. The home team came out strong, playing hard and physical. 15 minutes into the first, the Rangers held a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Tysen Tomlinson and Ryle Dubitz. The period’s last five minutes were the exact opposite though. Lloydminster struck three times in a span of 2:41 to enter the intermission up 3-2. They picked up right where they left off in the second, notching two goals in the first three minutes to go up 5-2. The Rangers never gave up though and a long-distance point-shot goal from Austin Boser seemed to turn the tide. Dawson Bilyk and Carson Pewarchuk traded beautiful goals on the rush to tie things at 5-5 before a short-handed marker from Bilyk put the home side up by one through two. Less than a minute into the third, captain Ethan Bast buried a powerplay goal to put the Rangers up 7-5. The Bandits would pull to within one before Bilyk added a powerplay goal of his own to complete the hat-trick. With just over two minutes left, Lloydminster cut the lead to 8-7 but an empty-netter from Tysen Tomlinson sealed the deal, giving the Rangers an incredible 9-7 victory. Bilyk says it was a great comeback and the team did a great job turning things around.
Tysen Tomlinson also played a big part in the victory, finishing with two goals and three assists. He says proving themselves against one of the league’s powerhouse teams is a big boost for the locker room.
The victory pushes the Rangers record back above .500 at 13-12-1. They’ll look to keep things rolling when they visit the Wainwright Bisons on Friday night.
