The 2012-13 Okotoks Oilers are a team without superstars and that suits head coach and general manager James Poole just fine.
Poole said unlike the previous two seasons, this year’s Oilers won’t feature a dominant scoring line. The Oilers’ top four scorers from last season — Jon Turk, Tyler Krause, Derek Bacon and Alex Kromm — all graduated from Junior.
“If you look in years past we had one whether it was a (Ben) Gamache, (Kyle) Reynolds and (Nolan) Huysmans line or Bacon and Krause,” Poole said. “This year I don’t think we’re going to have a superstar who is going to be in the top 10 or top 20 in scoring.”
Instead, Poole said he expects the offence to be spread out more evenly through four lines.
“I think we’ve got a lot of really good hockey players and it’s going to be a team that’s tougher to play against,” he said. “I think we can roll four lines and they can all chip in sporadically.
“Hopefully that equals our output from last year.”
Okotoks, second place finishers in the South Division in 2011-12, features 11 returning players from last year’s roster and could have as many as nine rookies in the lineup to start the season.
“I fully expect that we’re going to struggle at times at the start,” Poole said. “We’re hoping that 15 to 20 games in some of our younger players that are new to the league kind of figure it out and are ready to contribute on a more regular basis.”
Poole listed Cody Michelle, acquired from the Coquitlam Express in the summer, sophomore centre Connor Hartley, third-year forward Scott Bolland and rookie John Edwardh as some of the players to watch this season.
At the backend the Oilers feature three sophomore defencemen in Jordan Swenson, Tariq Hammond and Robert Hamilton poised to make big strides in year two.
“I honestly think we have three elite defencemen in the AJHL,” Poole said.
Joining them on the blueline will be rookies Stefan Danielson from Red Deer and towering Calgarian Andrew Weich.
Poole said he is looking to add one more veteran defenceman to the mix before the season starts.
In goal, the Oilers expect sophomore netminder Jared D’Amico to corral the job with rookie goalie Devin Green providing solid competition for the number one duty.
Key losses: Jon Turk, F, Derek Bacon, F, Rhett Holland, D, Michael Tadjdeh, G.
Key returnees: Connor Hartley, F, Scott Bolland, F, Jordan Swenson, D, Tariq Hammond, D, Robert Hamilton, D.
Key additions: Cody Michelle, F, John Edwardh, F, Devin Green, G.
