Might as well get into playoff mode now as the fun season is just around the corner.
The Okotoks Oilers evened their season series at two games a piece with the Drumheller Dragons in the fourth meeting in 12 days between the clubs in a 5-1 triumph on Pack the Rink Night Sunday at Pason Centennial Arena.
“Our approach, not just with Drumheller, is every game coming up is like a playoff series,” said Oilers centre Jordan Xavier. “Playoffs are approaching and we want to make sure we’re ready to go. We’ve got a seven-game series count going on and we want to win every series.
“At the end of the day, that’s what’s going to move us on come playoffs.”
The Oilers opted to fight fire with fire on Sunday, imposing its aggressive forecheck through the likes of Austin Wong, Braeden Nesbitt and Regan Doig on a Dragons team built on size and physicality.
“They’ve had our number the last two games. We thought if we came and played our style of game we would come out with the victory,” said Oilers captain Jordie Lawson. “We wanted to eliminate the neutral zone, get the pucks deep and get on the body.”
Trey DeGraaf opened the scoring inside four minutes on an odd-man break off a tasty dish from Xavier. Lawson would double the lead late in the opening frame as the Rimbey native jumped on a rebound for his seventh of the season. Firmly against the run of play, the Dragons cut the lead in half through Nate Keeley.
Austin Wong restored the two-goal advantage on a powerplay marker early in the middle frame. Xavier, snake-bitten for much of the evening, added an insurance marker again on the powerplay for the Calgarian’s team leading 20th goal of the season.
The sniper then played the role of set-up man, teeing up DeGraaf for a tap in to round out the five-goal scoreline.
“We wanted to get to the net and get as many good house quality shots as we can,” Lawson said. “That’s what we’ve been focusing on and it worked for us tonight, we got five goals.”
The right-handed shooting, offensive minded trio of DeGraaf, Xavier and Tanner Laderoute combined for three goals and eight points on the evening.
“We all get along really well and we’re all similar players,” Xavier said. “It’s easy to know where they’re going to be because you just think where would you go. Lads has great speed and Trey all around is unbelievable.”
The runaway victory was Okotoks’ sixth straight at home and extended its points streak at Pason Centennial Arena to 14 games.
The Dragons got the better of their divisional rivals earlier in the week in a 5-2 victory.
One bright spot in the loss was the debut of Okotoks native Gibb Coady who scored in his first game as an affiliate player with the Oilers. Captain Jordie Lawson notched the other.
The season series has proven to be home-centric with the visitors now 0-for-4.
“Home ice advantage is definitely something,” Xavier said. “And if we have to go through Drum in the playoffs we’ve got to figure out a way to win in their rink.”
Okotoks (27-11-5) continues a jam-packed January when it makes the short trek up the QEII for its fifth meeting of the season with the Calgary Canucks on Jan. 18.
The weekend will see two of the top contenders in the North Division pay Big Rock Country a visit. First, the second-ranked Spruce Grove Saints hit the ice on Jan. 20 followed by a battle with the top-seed Fort McMurray Oil Barons the following evening.
The North heavyweights represent two of the three remaining teams whom the Oilers do not yet have a victory over in the 2016-17 regular season.
Both games are 7 p.m. starts at Pason Centennial Arena. For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca
