Okotoks' 15th season in the Alberta Junior Hockey League is off on the right note.
The new-look Okotoks Oilers overpowered the Calgary Canucks 4-1 in the AJHL season opener Friday night at the Ken Bracko Arena with 10 skaters playing their first games as full-time members of the Green and Gold.
"I thought it was awesome and a pretty good game out there," said Oilers head coach Tyler Deis. "There was a lot of nerves, it was the first game and we've got a bunch of new guys on the team, but I'm extremely happy with how the outcome was.
"It's an exciting moment, there were lots of mistakes out there, but I thought they had the passion and the heart out there and they battled hard."
The visitors jumped out to an early cushion with a newcomer to the lineup making an immediate impact.
Mitchell Watson, a second-year forward who played last season with the Calgary Mustangs, opened the scoring at the 6:41 mark of the first period after going hard to the net and deflecting a point shot from defenceman Noah Kim.
Second-year forward Jack Works doubled the advantage seven minutes later with a rebound tally after Watson and Gibb Coady did great work to force a turnover leading directly to the tally.
"Our fore-check was doing pretty well," Works said. "Our first guy was going hard, getting the hit and we had support getting the puck from him then we would get it back to our D and just get shots on net."
The Oilers continued to crash the net and throw pucks on goal in a dominant second period with 17 shots on Canucks netminder Jay Thomson.
Alternate captain Zane Kindrachuk made it a three-goal game in the middle stanza when his cross-crease pass went in off a Canuck.
"The start of the game was a little shaky, we ran into some of those first game of the year jitters," Works said. "Second period we were really good, we got lots of pucks on net and our powerplay was doing pretty well.
"It's pretty exciting being in your first game. I remember last year being pretty nervous and even this year I was nervous, but you've just got to kind of relax and not get too high or too low or too hard on yourself."
Six rookies skated in the opener for Okotoks along with four veterans playing in their first game with the Oilers in former Mustangs Watson, Kim, Joel Krahenbil and Ashton Abel in goal.
For TJ Koufis, it was a debut north of the border.
"I played in the States last year so I was excited to play in Canada," said Koufis, who calls Palatine, Illinois just outside of Chicago home. "I hadn't played in a Canadian league or played Canadian Junior before so definitely excited, it's a different kind of hockey, different atmosphere.
"Just adrenaline in the first period with a little bit of nerves, but once third period rolled around I felt a lot better."
Scoring has a way of calming the nerves.
Calgary got on the board early in the final frame as former Oiler Braydon Jenkins was in the right place at the right time for a rebound tally, but Okotoks restored its three-goal advantage within three minutes.
Defenceman Eric Parker sprung Koufis forward on a terrific stretch-pass and the Oilers winger did the rest, beating a Canucks defenceman wide and then tucking in a backhand deke on a partial breakaway for a stylish first AJHL goal.
"Parker made an unreal pass and I think their D was just caught flat-footed, he was standing still and I had a good step on him," Koufis said. "I didn't know what I was going to do until I got to about the bottom of the circle and I just decided to go for it and went backhand five-hole.
"Getting a goal first game is a good feeling."
Abel, a 1999-born netminder from Fort McMurray, made 16 saves on 17 shots to pick up the win in his first regular season appearance with the squad.
The Oilers improved to 12-3 all-time in season openers, including four straight victories in curtain raisers in all four of Deis' years as head coach of the team.
"I think it's huge," Deis said of starting strong. "It eases you into the season a little bit.
"We're just excited about the group."
Okotoks is right back on the ice for a Saturday night road tilt in the Valley versus the Drumheller Dragons on Sept. 14.
The Green-and-Gold's home opener is Sept. 20 versus the Camrose Kodiaks. For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca
Ice chips: Okotoks was without captain Ayden Roche-Setoguchi in the opener. The 1999-born defenceman was serving a one-game suspension for his role in a secondary fight in the Sept. 7 exhibition game vs. the Brooks Bandits. Roche-Seoguchi is eligible to return to the lineup versus Drumheller.
Three Stars:
* Mitchell Watson. Dominant force at times, especially in the first period with two points and several puck battles won.
** Jack Works. Second-year forward lived up to his name with tireless work along the boards and in front of goal along with goal and assist.
*** Noah Kim. Solid performance in Oilers debut. Smooth patrolling the blueline on the powerplay and had nice rush after strong work on the penalty kill.
