New Year’s fireworks arrived a couple days late for the Okotoks Oilers.
The Oilers (29-6-3) handed the No. 1 ranked Brooks Bandits (36-2-1) their first divisional loss of the 2019-20 season in a 4-3 Alberta Junior Hockey League thriller on Jan. 3 in front of 1,149 fans at Pason Centennial Arena.
“We talk about Brooks a lot and wanting to catch them and it starts by beating them,” said Oilers centre Jack Works. “They’re really fast so you’ve got to slow them down before they can pick up too much speed and their special teams are both really good so we had to stay out of the box.”
Works opened the scoring with his team-leading 25th goal, tucking in a backhand deke in tight on Brooks’ Pierce Charleson late in the first period.
Liam Freeborn doubled the lead on a one-timer in the slot in the middle stanza and rookie Dylan James notched his 12th of the season on a perfect shot on a partial breakaway at the end of a long shift.
The Bandits didn’t go away quietly and swiftly cut the deficit to one with Tim Rego and Brayden Krieger finding the back of the net late in the frame.
The Oilers got some much needed insurance in the third period when Zane Kindrachuk tapped in a rebound on the heels of a powerful bull rush from linemate Marc Pasemko.
Brooks’ Taylor Makar got the visitors back within one with 2:37 on the clock leading to a nailbiting finish at a boisterous Pason Centennial Arena.
“It just shows that we’re a good hockey team,” said Oilers alternate captain Louis Jamernik. “And that if we work hard and stick to what we know we can beat anyone.”
Okotoks’ celebrations were short-lived at what the team thought was the final buzzer.
The Oilers looked to have sealed the deal with the whole team coming off the bench and congratulating one another on the ice while the in-house band cranked its tunes in the background.
Not so fast.
After some deliberations, 1.8 seconds was put back on the clock with Okotoks needing to prevent any quick shots from the ensuing defensive zone face-off.
“If I lost that (face-off) and they got a shot I would have been in trouble,” said Works with a laugh. “I wasn’t too happy (with the restart), but it was sweeter once it was done.”
Brady Parker made 24 saves and was particularly busy in the final frame to pick up his ninth win of the season.
“We knew they were going to come out strong in the third,” said Parker. “We just had to stay disciplined and we did that pretty well and we just didn’t sit back on our heels and still went at them.”
It was imperative for the Green and Gold to show some resilience on the heels of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Olds Grizzlys on New Year’s Day.
“I think that was a good kick in the butt for us and probably something we needed,” Parker said. “We came out strong and didn’t have any let ups, we played a full 60.”
For Parker, it was his first regular season win over Brooks and a nice jolt with the new situation in the crease.
Ashton Abel, who played the bulk of the first half of the season in goal and posted a stellar 2.16 goals against average and .910 save percentage, joined the NCAA’s Boston University Terriers for the second half of the season.
That leaves Parker along with 2002-born rookie Parker Sawka as Okotoks’ goaltending tandem.
“It’s definitely nice to do that at the beginning of the year – it will be really good for us,” Parker said. “It’s nice to beat a team like that. I felt really confident and the guys in front of me were unreal tonight.
“They all made it easy for me and hopefully we’ll keep the momentum going.”
Next up for Okotoks is a road date versus the Camrose Kodiaks on Jan. 7 followed by home games versus the Spruce Grove Saints and Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Jan. 10-11.
For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca
