First-place is very much on the line this week in a mouthwatering home-and-home set.
The Okotoks Oilers and Brooks Bandits play twice in a three-day span with the Green and Gold just two points back of the division leaders in a race to the finish in the Alberta Junior Hockey League South.
“We’ve been looking forward to this for a while,” said Oilers forward Michael Hagen. “We play them four times in the last 11 games of the year. We’re only two points back right now, these next two games are huge. We want to catch them, we want to finish first.”
Okotoks (38-6-3) is in Brooks on Jan. 29 with the set switching to Pason Centennial Arena on Jan. 31.
The Bandits have won two of three meetings this season, one in a shootout while Okotoks took the most recent match-up earlier this month on home-ice.
Brooks owns the most potent offence in the provincial loop with 237 goals and are strong on special teams as the top powerplay and second-ranked penalty kill.
The Oilers are no slouches on that front either, as the fourth-ranked powerplay and third-ranked shorthanded unit in the 15-team league.
“They’re obviously good, they’re a fast team so when we play them we try to slow them down and keep games tight,” Hagen said. “We’ve had tight games so I would expect the same.”
Okotoks has narrowed the gap on Brooks with a strong month, boasting a league-best 10-game winning streak.
The Oilers knocked off Canmore 6-2 and Olds 4-2 on back-to-back nights on the road on Jan. 24-25.
“I think we’ve been playing as a team really well,” Hagen said. “(Head coach Tyler Deis) talks a lot in practice about set your linemates up, but then try to set the line behind you up with good changes and managing the puck well.
“And I think we’re doing a good job with that.”
Okotoks is also proving to be incredibly comfortable in uncomfortable situations, and beyond well versed in one-goal games in the late stages.
“We’ve been doing a good job of if it’s a close game, play that close game,” Hagen added. “We’ve got a lot of experienced guys on the team, a lot of vets, a couple of guys from two years ago that beat Brooks in the playoffs, guys that know what they’re doing.
“And the first year players, they seem to be really mature for their age and everyone buys in and it’s easy.”
Following the Bandits home-and-home, the Oilers take on the Calgary Canucks on Feb. 2, a 4:15 p.m. start at Pason Centennial Arena.
For more information on the team go to okotoksoilers.ca.
Defenceman taking flight
One of Okotoks’ biggest off-season additions finalized a promising future south of the border.
Defenceman Noah Kim committed to the Air Force Falcons in the NCAA’s Atlantic Hockey Association in Colorado Springs.
“I started talking to coaches a few months into the season and then I went on a fly-down a week ago and committed (Sunday),” Kim said. “They have a really strong engineering program, one of the top in the country, and that’s what I want to take.”
Kim, a free-agent signing from the Calgary Mustangs, has been a revelation on the blueline in his first and only season in Okotoks, leading Oilers defencemen with 12 goals and 52 points in 47 games.
The 19-year-old is planning on beginning his NCAA journey in the 2020-21 season and with a nomadic hockey career with stops in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington state and Alberta to date, he’s excited to play relatively close to his home in Fullerton, California.
“It’s probably under a two-hour flight and only an hour ahead in time-zone, my family will get to visit me more often and my friends a bit more,” he said.
“It’s definitely a big relief, it’s something I’ve been dreaming about since I was in Grade 9, it’s definitely a big relief and I’m just thankful for everyone.”
