The Okotoks Atom AA Oilers nearly shocked the eventual provincial champions on the weekend.
The gritty Oilers gave the St. Albert Lightning all they could handle before losing 3-2 in the Atom AA Provincial semifinal March 20 at the Blackie Arena.
St. Albert then went on to down Lethbridge 4-0 in the final Sunday afternoon at the Centennial Arena in Okotoks to claim the provincial banner.
“I think we played our best game of the year — I am extremely proud of them,” said Oilers head coach Kevin Kobelka after their semifinal loss. “We executed our game plan and we competed hard in all four games at provincials.”
Kobelka said St. Albert was considered the number one team in the province and the Oilers were within nine minutes of knocking the Lightning out of the tournament.
The two teams went into the dressing room tied at 1-1 after 40 minutes.
Okotoks would then take a 2-1 lead early in the third period when Oiler Benjamin Jossinet took a pass from Chase LaForge and rifled a wrist shot from just outside the face-off circle by the St. Albert goalie.
The Oilers’ defence and solid goaltending from Braeden Mitchell then held the Lightning off the scoreboard until Okotoks suddenly found themselves two-men short with about nine minutes left in the third period.
“They had a five-on-three late in the game and you can’t do that with a team with as much firepower as St. Albert,” Kobelka said.
St. Albert scored a pair of goals in the following two minutes and they were able to stave off the Oilers’ attack in the final six minutes to advance to the finals.
Although Kobelka would have loved to see the Oilers’ season continue for a few more hours, he was proud of the way his team performed especially because Okotoks, with the help of their friends from Blackie, was the host community.
“The boys played hard and we out-worked teams,” he said. “When you out-work teams at this level, you are going to win a lot of hockey games.
“Today we took a few too many penalties, but for the most part, we stayed out of the penalty box this weekend.”
A few of the Oilers looked like they had been hit by lightning following the loss, but Kobelka told his players to hold their heads high.
“I told them how much we had improved since losing 7-0 in our first game of the year,” he said. “How proud I was of them and how they will have more opportunities like this in the future.”
Defencman Tyson Terretta, who was named the Oilers’ MVP for the semifinal game, agreed the Oilers had some extra jump in their skates for provincials.
“We had a spark on our team and we thought we could win and go all the way,” he said. “I’m really sad now, but I think in a few days we will look back and say we did pretty good.”
He added playing in provincials at home was an experience he won’t forget.
“It’s a lot of fun because you get to play good teams like St. Albert,” he said. “There’s also a lot of cheering in the stands.”
The Oilers earned their trip to the provincial playoffs by going 2-1 in their round-robin pool.
They opened the tournament by outlasting the Airdrie Lightning 8-6 Friday morning at the Centennial Arena.
Peyton Krebs and Jackson Kobelka had two goals each for Okotoks. Also scoring for the Oilers were Gibb Coady, Dryden Wedderburn, Chase LaForge and Hunter Maximnuk.
The Oilers then dropped a 3-1 decision to the Fort McMurray Jr. Barons Friday evening in Okotoks. Kobelka got the lone goal for Okotoks.
Okotoks then played themselves into the playoffs by outlasting the Red Deer Chiefs 5-4 Saturday in Blackie. The never-say-die Oilers scored three goals in the final six minutes for the victory over the Chiefs.
Terretta, Maximnuk and Kobelka scored in the third period to pace the Oilers’ comeback.
The Oilers’ Loeden Schaufler and Jackson Salt scored in the second period.
There is no bronze medal game at the Atom provincials.
