A position of strength has only gotten sharper for the number-one ranked team in the country.
The Okotoks Junior A Oilers can point to its prodigious group of seven defencemen for a big reason behind the team’s best start in franchise history as the lone remaining undefeated team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
“It’s just a fantastic group. Their character really carries them a long way,” said Oilers associate coach Kyle Schussler. “It’s a good veteran group, they have a lot of experience back there which definitely helps a lot, especially early in the season to have that ability to know how to read the game and making sure we’re keeping that even keel.”
The green-and-gold’s strong blueline was at the centre of its push to the South final last season. Some minor tinkering with the roster in the off-season has added another dynamic, one built on speed.
That’s where rookie recruits Hoon Kim out of Edge School and Nick Blankenburg out of Michigan entered the picture alongside veteran acquisition Kylor Wall out of the Calgary Mustangs.
“They have a dynamic element to them which is a lot of fun to work with,” Schussler added. “The first pass is everything for us right now, we do a great job getting back. We have great team defence and having that speed, the ability to get to those pucks quick and make those outlet passes is fantastic.”
Fourth-year Oiler Carson Beers, the team’s all-time leader among defencemen in games played, is something of an authority on the team’s transformative unit.
“Everyone skates very well and can see the ice very well,” Beers said. “It really helps as a defenceman to get the pucks to the forwards. Our forwards are very skilled this year so our guys can open themselves up to get that first pass, that’s really the difference between other d-corps.”
The newcomers have fit in early with incumbents Beers, Reece Soukoroff, Ryan Roberts and Jacob Bernard-Docker.
“We’ve been working on the one-timers and I didn’t know (Wall) had one and that thing is a rocket. I like passing the puck to him and he scores the goals,” Beers said. “Blankenburg, I don’t know how he does it. He always gets hit and gets back up. Kim is really shifty, he really likes to skate the puck and makes it easier for our forwards if they’re trapped and can get it deep.”
Wall, the 6-foot-2, 210 pounder out of Edmonton, sits second on the team in scoring with 10 points in eight games with the green-and-gold.
“It’s awesome. It’s a total culture shock for me coming from the Mustangs,” Wall said. “I’ve got nothing bad to say about the Mustangs, they treated me well and gave me a chance, but here it’s a totally different scenario and I like it a lot.”
Okotoks boasts three strong defence pairs all of whom can play in any situation, whether it’s at even-strength to close out a tight game, killing off a 5-on-3 powerplay or quarterbacking the man-advantage.
There’s only so much playing time to go around.
“It’s very competitive. We’ve got a lot of good defencemen,” Bernard-Docker said. “It’s a good thing, it ups the compete level in practice, ups the compete level in games so if you want ice time you’ve got to show up.
“It’s all about who’s playing well that day and you’ve got to be happy for the guys who are getting time because they’re playing well.”
With a healthy group of seven blueliners the unfortunate consequence is a very talented and in-form defenceman has to sit out every night.
“It’s one of the toughest parts of the game, it’s not easy to have guys out of the lineup every night especially when they’re all healthy right now,” said Schussler, who patrolled the Oilers blueline from 2006-08. “But they’re all so professional about it, they handle themselves well, they know on any given night it could be any of them. The best part is they have a great support system around them, they work well together as a unit.
“When a guy’s out, he steps into the lineup the next night and does great, everybody picks them up.”
The longest-serving member of the back-end said learning how to stay in the lineup is something that will develop organically in each skater.
“When I was a rookie I was sitting out a lot and I figured out how to always stay in the lineup,” Beers said. “You’ve got to start earning the trust of the coaches, you’ve got to make sure you make them not want to take you off the ice and out of the lineup.
“I figured out my first year after Christmas I was trying to do too much. You just do the simple stuff and when you get the opportunity you just capitalize.”
