After a remarkable regular season it’s time to switch into playoff mode.
The Okotoks Minor Midget AAA Oilers charge into this week’s Sutter Cup playoffs at Calgary’s WinSport in first place in the 24-team Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League playoffs with a tremendous 30-1-6 record in the regular season.
“There was a lot of individual accomplishments made for sure, but the most impressive piece for me is our group came together extremely fast,” said Oilers head coach Geoff Rollins. “They had an incredible culture in that dressing room.
“It’s tough as a professional to maintain that brand that we’ve developed of our style of play and staying on brand, staying process driven and for a bunch of 15-year-old kids, to be able to do that consistently throughout the season when it got tough and when it got easy was pretty exceptional to watch.”
Along with tremendous team success, highlighted by just one loss on the season, a one goal defeat to the AC Avalanche in early January, came some individual highlights.
Okotoks forward Hayden Pakkala tied the AMMHL record with a 92-point season, with 34 goals and 58 helpers.
“He’s come a long way,” Rollins said. “He’s always been a skilled player, always been able to be an offensive threat, but you can tell he really put the work in this summer. He gained a step. He got a little bit faster and he’s a big guy who plays very physical.
“He’s just maturing into a leader.”
Pakkala, Sam Callahan, Conyr Hellyer and Ty McRuvie all finished in the top-10 in league scoring as the Oilers led the league with 232 goals and finished second in goals against with 76.
Netminder Allen Fanning finished the season 12-0 in goal while his partner in the crease Rhett Harten registered a league leading 17 wins. Defenceman Trevor Bonham also went through the whole season without taking a single penalty.
“A lot of good things happened,” the coach added. “We got bit by the injury bug early, we played short most of the year, but it didn’t matter who we were missing. Our depth was really on display.”
Co-captains Hellyer and Cyle Clayton have been culture carriers all season, Rollins said.
“They’ve been incredible. They’re two guys that are going to be able to play this game for a very long time, if they want to,” the coach added.
“To be that young and to have the kind of quality they do, they’re the two hardest working guys in every practice, every dry-land session, every game. You never have to worry about them not showing up.
“They set the example all year long.”
Going forward the unique Sutter Cup playoff format has all 12 teams in the south in the post-season and pooled into three groups of four.
The Oilers are pooled alongside the six-seed NWCAA Bruins, seven-seed CBHA Rangers and 12-seed CRAA Gold.
The top teams from each pool and a wild card team advance to the semifinals with the gold and bronze medal matches to follow on March 8.
“We look at it like you’ve still got to beat everybody to achieve our goal that we set and the format is the format,” Rollins said. “We’ve just got to focus on the stuff we can control and go out and continue to do the job we’ve done all season.
“The last couple weeks of the season it has been very difficult to stay focused on the day in front of us and not looking ahead. Everyone is really excited, we’ve played really well and we’re definitely headed in the right direction.”
The top two teams out of the Sutter Cup South playoffs make it through to provincials – held March 19-22 in Red Deer.
For full schedule information go to ammhl.ca
