Time has run out on Okotoks Oilers hockey for the 2020-21 campaign.
Okotoks was not among the teams scheduled for cohort action for the final two weekends of Alberta Junior Hockey League regular season games with the Oilers in a two-week COVID-19 protocol that began April 25. The team confirmed its season was over on May 4.
"We had an idea that, especially with getting hit by COVID a couple times, and the increase of case numbers throughout Alberta we figured it would be a long shot that we would get to keep playing," said Oilers fourth-year forward Zane Kindrachuk, one of six graduates on the team. "It's obviously sad to hear, but we weren't too shocked to hear about it."
Okotoks finishes the season with a 7-1 record in a season of stops and starts that got underway in November, was on pause for three months and got off the ground once again in the late-winter to early spring.
"We would have liked to play more games, but I think everyone on the team, I know I really enjoyed the season despite all of the highs and lows and cancellations throughout," Kindrachuk added. "The season made us really appreciate hanging out at the rink with each other, how much we missed it when we were shutdown last year and even November and December this year.
"When we came back we made to sure to really enjoy being out on the ice and being with each other."
It’s a difficult exit from junior hockey for Okotoks’ graduating class, a group that includes Kindrachuk, third-year netminder Brady Parker and Okotokian Gibb Coady along with third-year blueliner Tanner Sawka, second-year Oiler Coltan Wilkie on the back-end as well as second-year centre Brandon Machado.
Kindrachuk, a Niagara University commit, graduates with the fifth most regular season games played, 170, in franchise history. The gritty winger ranks 10th all-time among Oilers with 54 goals and is 11th with 127 points accrued from 2017-21.
"I was super fortunate to be able to play here for four years, I know lots of guys want to come play here," he added. "I really learned a lot throughout my four years, especially from coach Tyler (head coach Tyler Deis), I've known him for a while now and a big part of who I am now is because of him and I'll be super grateful for that and everyone throughout the community has made this experience super awesome for me.
"I'm super excited to be heading down (to Niagara), they've got a great program and it seems like every year they get closer and closer to winning the Atlantic Hockey Championship and getting into the tournament there. For me, it's just getting down there to try to help put them over the edge."
Parker earned a commitment to Clarkson University last month after starring on the last line of defence for three seasons, posting 54 wins a 2.37 goals against average and .905 save percentage.
In both of his previous seasons in Big Rock Country, the athletic shotstopper was nominated for the AJHL’s Goaltender of the Year Award.
Coady, an Okotoks minor hockey product, battled through injuries in his sophomore and junior seasons with the hometown squad to play in 87 games from 2018-21 with 37 points to his credit.
"It sucks that it had to end this way and it's back to back years ending like this, but I'm really happy and thankful that I got to play three and a half seasons with Okotoks, my hometown," he said. "It's a crappy way to end it off, you expect to win the league or (nationals), but I'm still pretty thankful."
Coady said the commitment the coaching staff and group has to winning and to sticking with it this year was something everyone involved can take forward with the anticipation of lots of new faces joining the program in 2021-22.
"It was basically be ready to play whenever the chance was that we were going to play," he said. "It was difficult, but we all handled it really well and I'm proud of all the guys on the team and how everyone handled it, we all stuck together and we all stayed committed to being ready to play."
The 6-foot-2, 190 pound forward is weighing his post-secondary options and expects to make a decision on college hockey in the next month, he said.
"I'm excited to move on, experience somewhere else and see the world," Coady said. "It will be different and weird not playing in front of the fans here in Okotoks and playing in front of my parents and my friends and all of that. But I'm excited."
Sawka showed tremendous character in battling back from a double-hip surgery early in his second year with the team.
The Cochrane defenceman played in 45 of his 60 games in his rookie campaign and rehabilitated to the point where he got back in the lineup for five of Okotoks’ eight games in 2020-21.
Wilkie and Machado joined the Oilers midway during the 2019-20 season and both made an impact as every situation players. Wilkie, a Colorado College commit, was a force on the back-end with his speed and physicality while Machado, who came over from the WHL, was a face-off ace, skated at centre and on the wing and played a strong two-way role.
"I guess for us, it's don't take it for granted, being able to skate every day and work out, practising," Kindrachuk said. "Make sure you're playing hard all the time because like we learned this year, you never know and anything can happen and it can be taken away from us.
"Just make sure you're always giving it your all out there."
For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca.
