The puck dropped on a new era of Okotoks Oilers last weekend.
One day after finalizing a franchise agreement with the British Columbia Hockey League, the Oilers and Blackfalds Bulldogs took to the ice at the Eagle Builders Centre on Feb. 2 for the first time as members of the league with the home team skating to a 4-3 victory.
“At the end of the day, it was just any game, we’re playing Blackfalds,” said Oilers head coach and GM Tyler Deis. “We hadn’t seen them since the beginning of the year and it was exciting to get to play them again and see how they were.
“I thought we came out a little flat, but as the game progressed, we got a lot better.”
It’s the first of 20 games the Oilers will play against Alberta teams to close the 2023-24 regular season.
The BCHL and five Alberta-based teams, Okotoks, Blackfalds, Brooks Bandits, Sherwood Park Crusaders and Spruce Grove Saints, had agreed to terms on a framework of what joining the BCHL would look like prior to the Feb. 1 agreement.
“We are pleased to officially welcome these five franchises into the fold as members of our league,” said Graham Fraser, Chairman of the BCHL Board of Governors. “All five are strong organizations from great communities and we look forward to the immediate boost they will give our league.”
After the BCHL announced it had come to terms with the five teams for the 2024-25 campaign, the Alberta Junior Hockey League responded with cancellations of games between the five teams and the remaining 11 members of the provincial loop.
Games between the five teams had gone ahead prior to the move to the BCHL.
“With the unfortunate situation the Alberta teams have faced in recent weeks with having games cancelled in their previous league, it was imperative to us to get these players back on the ice in meaningful competition,” said BCHL Commissioner Steven Cocker. “This five-team schedule and postseason will give these athletes the chance to get in a full set of games for the remainder of the year, which is the most important thing to us.”
The Alberta Junior Hockey League responded to the BCHL release with another statement expressing its disappointment with the situation and optimism for the league’s future.
“Our core 11 teams remain committed to our fans, committed to our communities and committed to Alberta,” the statement reads. “We’re looking forward to an exciting finish to our 60th anniversary season-see you at the rink!”
The regular season for the Alberta teams will see them play exclusively against one another with an Alberta champion to be crowned.
“We’re playing against those four teams and they’re good teams, good tests for our group here,” Deis said. “It’s just making sure our preparation is right and we’re excited to be able to play against these teams, some of them we haven’t seen a lot and Brooks, it seems like we see them all of the time.”
From there, the Alberta champion will take on the B.C. playoff champions to close the year.
In their BCHL debut, rookie forward Kade Duell notched the Oilers’ first goal in the league, finding the back of the net on a breakaway short side tuck in the second period.
Rylan Brown and Jack Silverberg added late third period markers with Mikeal Kingo stopping 29 of 32 shots.
“(Duell) is a young player on our team and he’s exciting, a skilled player that can make plays, he can score and he’s coming along nicely for our team,” Deis said. “It was a super nice goal and it kind of got us back into it and rejuvenated us.”
The Oilers are back on the ice in Brooks on Feb. 9.
Okotoks’ first home game as a BCHL team is set for Feb. 9 against Spruce Grove. Puck-drop is 7 p.m. at Centennial Arenas.
“We’re excited in the sense of playing meaningful games right now against high competition,” Deis said. “These guys are ready and it will be a good home game here this Friday.”
The Oilers’ schedule can be found here.
