It’s been a simple formula for the Okotoks Oilers in the South semifinal.
Score early and hold the fort.
Okotoks earned a commanding 3-0 lead in the second round playoff series with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Calgary Canucks on the strength of three goals on its first five shots to chase AJHL Top Goaltender Logan Drackett early in Monday night’s Game 3 at Pason Centennial Arena.
“We’ve really keyed on trying to take (Drackett’s) eyes away and just throw everything on net,” said Oilers forward Nolan Thompson. “There is no such thing as a bad shot for us right now.
“For us, they went in tonight.”
Defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker ignited the offensive outburst just 3:34 into the first period when his point shot found its way through a sea of bodies in front.
Five minutes later, the hosts were once again celebrating as Jordan Xavier batted a puck out of mid air on a powerplay to notch his fourth goal of the post-season.
Thompson completed the scoring in the frame when he got his stick on a shot from linemate Carter Huber prompting Canucks head coach James Poole to pull Drackett in favour of Caiden Kreitz.
The netminder steadied the ship for the visitors who put forth a much stiffer test in the middle stanza.
Dogged by four minor penalties in the period alone, Okotoks’ shorthanded unit was put through the paces, but stood up to the test with a commitment to shot blocking from the likes of Cory Santoro, Riley Mathies, Reece Soukoroff and Bernard-Docker.
“It’s tough when we have penalties. Some guys don’t get to play,” Thompson said. “Our killers have done a phenomenal job. They throw their bodies in front of literally everything.
“Not to mention Mo (netminder Riley Morris) has stopped everything and been rock solid.”
Calgary got itself on the board late in the period on a Zac McNeill tally to make for an interesting finish.
Okotoks put the result to bed with another powerplay marker as defenceman Jordan Davies pinched down to the slot and roofed a feed from Huber.
Trey DeGraaf added an empty net tally to round out the scoring with 1:33 left in regulation.
Morris stopped 30 shots in the victory to improve to a perfect 6-0 record in the post-season.
The goaltender of the year finalist has a sparkling .981 save percentage in the second-round with 102 saves on 104 shots.
Okotoks can wrap up the best-of-seven series as early as Tuesday night when it hosts Game 4.
Puck-drop is 7 p.m. at Pason Centennial Arena.
“They’re going to come out with everything they’ve got,” Thompson said. “And why not? It’s their season on the line. The last one is always the toughest, but we will just come out with the same mindset and hopefully have the same outcome.”
