The Green and Gold gave the Okotoks Oilers faithful one last gift for the holidays.
Okotoks (27-6-2) scored twice in each period and held Olds to 11 shots in 60 minutes in a smothering 6-1 victory Saturday night at Pason Centennial Arena to close out an up-and-down week on the right note.
“We know we had a couple tough games up North the past couple days so we wanted to end it off with a good overall team game,” said Oilers alternate captain Zane Kindrachuk. “We wanted to keep their score low, a good defensive battle. I think we did a really good job of eliminating their chances.
“And at the same time we were able to empty the tank and go hard on the fore-check and create some offence there.”
The bounce back performance was needed.
Okotoks brought a season-long two-game losing streak into the contest after a pair of rough rides on a tough mid-week North Division road trip.
The Oilers lost 5-2 to the Spruce Grove Saints on Dec. 11 and fell 7-4 to the Sherwood Park Crusaders the following night.
“Our special teams was brutal, I think that’s what cost us those two games up North,” said Oilers alternate captain Marc Pasemko. “We were about 50 per cent on the penalty kill and got scored on twice on the powerplay.
“We’ve just got to have better special teams. We out-battled Spruce Grove and Sherwood Park both games, we got down early because of powerplays and penalty kills.”
Special teams played a part in stopping the mini-slide at two games.
Okotoks held off Olds on four powerplay opportunities and added goals on the penalty kill and man-advantage.
“We just wanted to play really tight,” Pasemko added. “We didn’t really care about what our score was, we just wanted there’s to be as low as possible and that shows with the (11) shots.
“One of our identities as a team is our penalty kill. We want that to be as strong as possible. We wanted to get those numbers back up and on the defensive side, the goalies bail us out all the time. We can’t be flying the zone.”
Jack Works opened the scoring with his team-leading 23rd marker just 1:41 into the contest. Okotoks doubled the lead inside four minutes when Kindrachuk blocked a shot on the PK, before turning on the jets and sticking it blocker side on Grizz netminder Ty Marcinkowski.
“I was in the shooting lane and it just bounced off my shin-pad,” Kindrachuk said. “Then on the breakaway the guy was kind of hooking me so I just thought I would throw it on net and draw a penalty or maybe a penalty shot.
“And luckily enough it went in.”
In the second period, blueliner Nic Draffin notched his first goal with the Oilers on a wrist shot from the point and Liam Freeborn added a powerplay marker with nine seconds left in the frame.
Michael Hagen scored his fourth of the season on a rebound goal and Pasemko rounded out the scoring after having a powerful slapper from the point from Noah Kim go in off the forward.
Logan Bromhead ended Ashton Abel’s shutout bid with just 64 seconds on the clock as the visitors earned some late consolation for a hard-nosed effort.
“We can’t slow down as a team going into the break,” Kindrachuk said. “We had to keep going into this last game, as we’re trying to catch Brooks we can’t take any games off. I think we did a good job of that tonight with a good way to end it.
“Our team, especially in the locker room, we’re all pretty tight. We all like hanging out with each other and I think that translates onto the ice as we’ve been doing really good so far.”
Okotoks is back on the ice on Dec. 29 for a road date in Olds and once again clash with the Grizz on New Year’s Day at Pason Centennial Arena.
For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca
