Four Okotoks Oilers are among 31 Canada West hopefuls for the return of an international showcase event.
Forwards Conyr Hellyer, Sam Huck and blueliners Nicholas Wolfenberg and Rylan Brown were named to the selection camp for Team Canada West for the 2022 World Junior A Challenge, which is making its return for the first time since 2019.
"It's huge for those guys and for our program in terms of those guys getting those invites," said Oilers head coach and GM Tyler Deis. "We're excited about it and the opportunity for them."
Hellyer, a 2004-born Okotokian, leads the Oilers offensive attack with 20 goals and 35 points. After missing the start of the season, Huck has returned strong with 23 points in just 20 games.
"With Hellyer it's just consistency in his game, every game he comes to play, he's a true professional in the sense of what he does," Deis said. "With Huck, it's the dynamic part of what he can do. I know he was injured at the beginning, but the potential of him creating and the dynamic part of what he brings to the table is really cool."
Wolfenberg, a hard-hitting blueliner, has produced 21 points in 27 games while recent acquisition Brown, the lone 2005-born skater of the group, has made an instant impact with the Oil, tallying seven points in 14 games.
"With Wolf, his consitency and how hard he plays every game, how he competes it makes it hard on the opponents and that's a huge thing for tournament play," Deis said. "Browny, he's younger and he's just exciting with the things that he can do and his deception and playmaking ability is huge."
Also among the camp invitees is Okotokian Liam Watkins, a second-year centre with the South Division leading Spruce Grove Saints. The 2004-born centre is just outside of the top-10 in AJHL scoring with 37 points in 30 games.
The selection camp is Dec. 5-7 in Cornwall, ONT, the site of the World Junior A Challenge which runs from Dec. 11-18.
The competition features two Canadian teams as well as the United States, Sweden and Latvia.
Team Canada West has won the event five times in its 14-year history, most recently in 2017 when then Oilers Jacob Bernard-Docker and Dylan Holloway helped the team claim gold.
Empire State
The Okotoks Oilers defence corps is continuing to show a ton of commitment.
Wolfenberg and Brody Maguire, both 2004-born blueliners, have joined the ranks of Oilers defencemen with NCAA Division 1 commitments with a pair of announcements to New York state based schools on Dec. 1 and 2.
Wolfenberg is headed to the Ivy League with the Cornell University Big Red while Maguire landed on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
"Wolf had that long injury last year, but he's had a lot of interest the last couple of years and with Cornell he wanted that academic component of it and it was a great fit for him and his family," Deis said. "And Brody went down and literally fell in love with the school, he came back and that's where he wanted to go."
Both Cornell and RPI compete in the East Coast Hockey Conference, historically one of the most competitive groups in the country against the likes of Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, Quinnipiac and Clarkson.
The Oilers now have eight skaters on the roster with NCAA Division 1 commitments.
Trade Winds
The Oilers made a couple of transactions on Dec. 1, the roster cutdown deadline day.
Second-year forward Brody Spencer-Ha, from Foothills County, was traded to the Drayton Valley Thunder for future considerations. Spencer-Ha, a 2003-born winger, had 10 points in 24 games with Okotoks in 2022-23.
Fellow-sophomore Austin Reschny was also traded for future considerations, landing with the Grande Prairie Storm. The Macklin, Sask. product had nine points in 24 games in his second year with the Green and Gold.
Weekend Split
Okotoks secured two points from a challenging road trip on the first weekend of December.
Spruce Grove rode a four-goal first period to a 4-1 triumph over Okotoks on Dec. 2 led by two tallies from Watkins against his hometown team. Brett Huxley had the lone Oilers tally on the night.
On Dec. 3, the Oilers chased the Camrose Kodiaks by a 5-2 score, backstopped by a 29-save performance from rookie netminder Alexander Scheiwiller.
Hellyer scored twice, Kade Turner and Huxley found the back of the net with rookie forward Shayne Tibbles notching his first junior goal in the victory.
The Oilers are home this weekend to the Calgary Canucks and Drumheller Dragons on Dec. 9 and 10, both games are 7 p.m. puck drops at Okotoks Centennial Arenas.
At 17-11-3, the Oilers sit second in the South Division standings with 37 points.
For more information, go to okotoksoilers.ca.
