The Okotoks Oilers made the most of a rare opportunity to host a divisional rival on back-to-back nights, taking four points from a weekend set with the Calgary Mustangs.
The Oilers earned their first regulation victory of the season over the Mustangs with a 6-2 romp on Feb. 3 and followed with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory the following night in front of a boisterous crowd of just under 1,000 at Centennial Arena.
The four-point weekend gives the Oilers possession of second place in the Alberta Junior Hockey League ' s South Division with games in hand on the Mustangs and Camrose Kodiaks.
Oilers head coach James Poole said the two victories should prove vital to their pursuit of a top-two seed.
“ Getting four points this weekend was the goal and it ' s still a tight race with them getting one point,” Poole said.
“ It ' s going to be a dogfight to the finish so to come away with those wins this weekend was huge.”
The successful front end of the two-game set for Okotoks was made possible by a torrid opening period, explained Poole.
“ We came out really strong, it was probably one of the better starts that we had and once we got that 2-1 lead we kept on pushing,” Poole said. “ We capitalized on some opportunities and really did a good job of putting traffic in front of their goaltender.”
Oilers forwards Connor Collett and Connor Hartley scored first period goals answered by a marker from Mustang leading scorer Corey Scott. The Oilers took control of the game in the middle frame on goals from Jon Turk and Tyler Krause.
The latter added his second of the game on a great individual effort in the third period followed by a powerplay goal from defenceman Jordan Swenson.
Eager to atone for a convincing loss, the Mustangs came out in the second game with fire in their belly and jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Scott and Tanner Labelle. The lead would be short lived as Okotoks scored three unanswered goals in the middle frame, two from Turk and a single from Hartley.
Poole said he was pleased with the resilience his club showed in overcoming the two-goal deficit.
“ I liked the fact that when we got down 2-0 after playing not that bad of a first period and in the second we were able to claw our way back in the game,” he said.
Okotoks ' first line of Turk, Krause and Derek Bacon worked its cycle game down low to perfection, leading to the first of Turk ' s goals on the night.
“ That ' s what we have to do, that ' s the way our line works best,” said Turk.
“ We really figured out how to play together lately and it ' s been working good.”
The exploits of Okotoks ' top trio weren ' t enough to keep a persistent Calgary team at bay, as the Mustangs tied the game 3-3 through Matthew Brown with seven minutes to go in regulation.
The seesaw affair would be decided in three-on-three overtime, an extra frame featuring glorious opportunities at both ends of the ice. Oilers ' netminder Michael Tadjdeh made a pair of dynamic glove saves, setting the stage for an unlikely overtime hero. With under 1:40 to go, Bacon was given time and space and showed great patience in looking off a Mustang defenceman and feeding Swenson who buried it past Calgary goalie Jay Deo.
“ They brought their guys down low and (Bacon) walked the line and it was wide open net and I just put my head down and shot,” Swenson said. “ I took a look before and saw their goalie was way out of position so I just tried to get it on net as fast as possible.”
The Oilers rookie, who missed nine games with a separated shoulder prior to the weekend set, said it was essential for Okotoks to finally get the better of the Mustangs after having lost their first four matchups in 2011-12.
“ We ' ve had some bad bounces and haven ' t played our best against them,” Swenson said. “ It was really nice to get the feet under us and finally play good against them and get two wins.”
Turk echoed the sentiment, adding Okotoks needed to prove to themselves they could beat the Mustangs with an eye on a potential playoff matchup down the road.
“ Confidence wise it was needed,” Turk said. “ I think we knew we had a big (roster) change since last time so we feel we ' re a better team than them, but just to prove it and to prove to everyone else that those first four games didn ' t count and these two (games) are the real deal.”
The Mustangs had already wrapped up the season series before the weekend slate, meaning they held a tiebreaker advantage over Okotoks. Turk said the team is well aware they can ' t afford to end the season in a deadlock with Calgary.
“ That ' s why these were big games just so we put (Calgary) as far back as we could,” he said.
The Oilers continued their push for second in the division with a Feb. 7 tilt with the Grande Prairie Storm, a game Okotoks won 2-1 on goals from Krause and Connor Hartley. Okotoks hosts the Brooks Bandits, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. for the Oilers ' second last home game of the season. For more information go to www.okotoksoilers.com
