The Okotoks Oilers are glad to have their two longest road trips of the season in the rear-view mirror. Okotoks (12-9-1) took one win in three games in its second three-day journey through the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s North Division in the last three weeks, coming away with a five-hundred mark from its busiest stretch of the campaign away from home-ice. “They are tough weekends, it’s a lot of time on the bus,” said Oilers captain Kyle Gordon. “At the same time it’s good for team bonding, getting to know the guys better. Our (last) road trip was our first weekend with our new goalie (Nick) Sanders and our d-man (Tylor) Ludwar. “These are the weekends you play hockey for. Obviously you don’t want to always do them because they are tiring and long, but they’re fun weekends with the team.” The green-and-gold opened the trip with the eight-hour journey north to Grande Prairie for a 4-3 defeat to the Storm on Thursday. Gordon opened the scoring in the opening frame before the hosts weathered the Storm with a three-goal middle frame. Zane Kindrachuk and Blake Wells scored in the final four minutes as the visitors mounted a late surge to fall just short. “We gave up too many odd-man rushes,” said Gordon, who had three points versus the Storm. “You can’t give up 2-on-1’s and breakaways when you’re just coming off an eight-hour bus trip. If you’re doing a lot of back-checking you’re really tiring out. “That was a lot on the forwards. We weren’t covering high well enough.” Okotoks responded in kind with its best performance of the weekend in knocking off the Whitecourt Wolverines 5-2 on Friday. Dylan Holloway paced the offence with two goals and three points while Kindrachuk, Wells and rookie forward Carson Dyck also tickled the twine in the triumph. Brady Parker made 20 saves in goal. “There’s not one thing I would change about that game,” Gordon said. The weekend finale saw the Oil get stuck behind a slow start in a 2-1 defeat to the Drayton Valley Thunder. Holloway got Okotoks on the board with just 61 seconds left in regulation. “It’s an eye-opener because we’ve lost both of our third games on road trips,” the captain added. “We didn’t have our best games, they were still games we could have won. “I don’t think it had more to do with fatigue, I think it was just accountability on our part, preparing properly and taking care of ourselves properly for the road trip, we just seemed to die out in third games.” Okotoks returns to the Pason Centennial Arena for a pair of divisional match-ups this weekend versus the Calgary Canucks and South leading Brooks Bandits on Nov, 16-17, respectively. “It’s always nice coming home after a long road trip, being comfortable, sleeping in your own bed,” Gordon said. “And preparing the way you always prepare for a home game.” Okotoks’ special teams continue to improve. The team looks to have the early-season issues on the shorthanded unit behind it, as the Oilers now rank ninth in the league on the penalty-kill. Meanwhile, the eighth-ranked powerplay continues to be steady with the five-man forward unit of Gordon, Holloway, Kindrachuk, Austin Wong and Quinn Olson showcasing its considerable firepower. For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca Watch List Four Alberta Junior Hockey League skaters were named to NHL Central Scouting’s Watch List for the 2019 Draft, half of whom are familiar to Okotoks hockey fans. The list included Oilers forward Quinn Olson, Grande Prairie Storm winger and Okotokian Zach Okabe, Brooks Bandits defenceman Luke Bast and Canmore Eagles foward Alex Young. All four skaters were given the ‘C’ status as players expected to be drafted from rounds four to six at the 2019 Draft in Vancouver.
