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Saints send valiant Oilers packing

Pack the Rink packed a punch.
Okotoks Oilers goaltender Riley Morris blocks a shot by Spruce Grove Saints rightwing Riley Simpson at Pason Centennial Arena on Feb. 6. The Saints scored twice in the third
Okotoks Oilers goaltender Riley Morris blocks a shot by Spruce Grove Saints rightwing Riley Simpson at Pason Centennial Arena on Feb. 6. The Saints scored twice in the third period to win 4-2 in front of 1,068 fans.

Pack the Rink packed a punch.

A season high 1,068 fans at Pason Centennial Arena were treated to an Alberta Junior Hockey League slugfest on Saturday night with the Okotoks Oilers going blow for blow versus the two-time defending league champion Spruce Grove Saints in a 4-2 loss.

“We had the mindset of nothing to lose. With five key players out of our lineup we knew we were going to be in tough,” said Oilers head coach/GM James Poole. “We competed for 40 minutes and then made some mistakes in the third period.

“We didn’t handle the adversity there in the third period quite as well as we need to. The learning message is come playoff time we know we’re going to have some adversity and we’re going to have to deal with it better.”

The green-and-gold were up to the task in front of the boisterous crowd in the opening frame.

Drew Weich ignited the audience early when his shot from the point on the powerplay beat Saints netminder Ravi Dattani to give the Oil a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

“It was for sure louder than normal with a lot more fans,” said. Oilers rookie forward Cooper Page. “If we can get that more often I think it will bring energy to the team and that’s really all you can ask for as a player.”

January’s league player of the month Brandon Biro got it back for the visitors with a powerplay marker of his own early into the middle stanza.

Okotoks jumped back in-front when Carter Huber showed great patience on a two-on-one break before serving up a tasty dish for Trey Degraaf to lift over an outstretched Dattani.

The Saints bounced right back when Jake Mykitiuk buried a rebound past Okotoks’ Riley Morris on the heels of sustained shifts in the Oilers’ defensive zone. Spruce Grove captain Tyler Busch turned the game on a dime early in period three when he stepped out of the penalty box and squeaked one by Morris on a partial breakaway. Biro added his 29th of the campaign off a turnover to put the game to bed.

Spruce Grove out-shot the Oilers 38-22 en route to its 43rd win of the season.

“Every day we go in expecting to win and we’ve also got to be prepared and one step ahead against an RBC contender team like them,” Page said. “We could keep up with them, but we gave up for 10 minutes and it cost us the game unfortunately.

“Defensively, for us we’re a quick enough team that we should be able to beat them. They took it to us and we weren’t having that second man click.”

On the road, Okotoks opened the weekend in a 5-2 dismantling of the Olds Grizzlys.

Colin O’Neill, Matt McNair, Braydon Jenkins, Jordan Davies and Page all found the back of the net with affiliate player and Olds native Regan Doig adding his first AJHL point in a night of balanced offence for the goal-hungry Oilers.

“We finally capitalized on some opportunities and had some nice finishes on some rushes,” Poole said. “We’ve been offensively challenged lately so it was nice to see us breakout and get a few more than two goals a game which we seem to be sticking to right now.”

With the likes of Jordie Lawson, Nolan Thompson and Riley Mathies sidelined, Okotoks could see some of its injured bodies return to the lineup by next weekend for key divisional matchups versus the fourth and fifth-seed Canmore Eagles and Drumheller Dragons. With nine games remaining the Oilers (27-22-4) are nine points clear of the Eagles for third in the South Division with an 11-point cushion on the Dragons.

“We’ve handled it well having a lot of young kids,” Page said. “Obviously we’re missing a lot of key players that really bring energy, bring skill, bring everything to the team.

“It would be nice to get those players back as soon as we can because playoffs are just around the corner.”

Okotoks was in High River for a rare road date versus the Calgary Mustangs on Feb. 9 before a three-game long weekend. Canmore visits Okotoks on Friday Feb. 12 then the Oilers travel to Drumheller on Saturday followed by a return trip by the Dragons to Pason Centennial Arena for a matinee (4:15 p.m. puck-drop) on Family Day in Okotoks.

For full schedule information go to okotoksoilers.ca


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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