Good things come to those who wait.
And with a little patience the Okotoks Oilers youth movement could bear considerable fruit if everything goes to plan when the puck drops on the 2017-18 Alberta Junior Hockey League season this week.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys, we’re going to make a lot of mistakes and we think we have one of the best goalies in the league so that’s going to help out,” said Oilers head coach/GM Tyler Deis. “It’s a tough league here and we’re young. Our expectations? We just want to come out and give ourselves a chance to win every night and at the end we will see where we’re at.
“We’ve got some guys who have experience in playoffs and that leadership is going to carry through.”
Fresh off a berth in the South final the green-and-gold will need a different cast of characters to carry the load if they want to again make it deep in the post-season.
The Oil boast just six returning forwards opening the door for a number of rookies to make an impact.
“That’s one of the biggest reasons I came here. I knew there would be a chance for me to step in and contribute a lot to this team and to its success,” said forward Marc Pasemko. “There are lots of rookies, but there is lots of skill, lots of grit and what this team needs – skating.
“We’re expecting a lot from ourselves. We’ve got a good core group here and good rookies ready to jump in. We want to stay humble and not get our expectations too high and keep pushing. We want to beat a Brooks, that’s our biggest goal right now.”
The list of impressive recruits include 2001 born Dylan Holloway out of Bragg Creek, a University of Wisconsin commit, along with Blackie’s versatile centre Blake Wells and Eli Carels, the top midget scorer out of Manitoba last season, to name just a few.
“It is a big adjustment coming from midget into junior. The guys are a lot bigger, faster and stronger,” said winger Ben Sanderson. “I’ve tried to do the little things right and try to be a producer for the team.
“Everybody is battling their hearts out. It has been really high pace in practice and games, everyone is going their hardest. The coaching staff is unbelievable here with Deis and I thought it would be a great place to play.”
With youth comes both exuberance and inexperience.
But there is a lot of potential in the rookie class.
“We’re a lot faster and a lot more skilled,” the coach added. “Obviously we’re young so there is going to be some learning curve, but with the speed and skill we have now it can be something pretty good for the forwards.
“We’ve now upgraded four lines that can produce so we’re excited about that. But our team has got to be about the defence. Our best player is our goalie and we’ve got to keep make sure we keep their score as close to zero as possible.”
Where the forward group is undeniably undergoing a makeover the back-end remains largely intact.
The Oilers bring back four defencemen in Carson Beers, Reece Soukoroff, Ryan Roberts, Jacob Bernard-Docker along with the off-season acquisition of 19-year-old Kylor Wall from the Calgary Mustangs.
With just a couple spots to fill the likes of smooth-skating Hoon Kim, the steadying presence of Tyler Winquist and energetic puck-mover Nick Blankenburg impressed in the pre-season.
“(Blankenburg) came in and the work ethic and passion for the game is definitely a thing that rubs off on everyone,” Deis said. “We’re pretty excited about him.”
The Michigan import has quickly got acclimatized to life north of the border both on and off the ice.
“That has been nice having a lot of vets on the team, helping me out,” Blankenburg said. “I expect to make a big contribution to the team, especially being a guy from the States. I expect to keep the up tempo and bring a lot of speed and passion to the team.
“Okotoks is a nice small town feel and I’ve got Calgary not even half an hour away and it’s cool to be able to look out the back window in the kitchen and see the Rocky Mountains.”
In goal the Oilers are in great shape once again as Riley Morris returns for his fourth year in between the pipes. Calgarian Ben Howard, who impressed in pre-season, will form the other half of the netminding duo.
Okotoks finished just 1-1-2 in exhibition, but did so without playing a game with all of their veterans.
“We’re pretty excited,” Deis said. “There are definitely a lot of things we’ve got to clean up, but minor things, easy things. I really like the dynamic we have with the character of the kids we’ve got in here.”
Okotoks opens the regular season on Sept. 15 in a battle with the defending champion Brooks Bandits. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at Pason Centennial Arena. The teams renew hostilities on opening weekend the following evening in Brooks.
For full schedule information on the team go to okotoksoilers.com
