A sterling finish produced a provincial bronze medal on home ice for the Okotoks U15 AAA Oilers.
The host Oilers capped off a memorable week at the Okotoks Centennial Arenas with a 7-3 triumph over the Knights of Columbus Squires on Sunday to skate away with the bronze medal at the Hockey Alberta U15 AAA Provincial Championships.
“I’m very proud of the team,” said Oilers head coach Jamie Steer. “It would have been very easy for us to mail it in today not playing for gold because our ultimate goal was the gold medal. And instead of that we played arguably our best game of the weekend.
“And one good thing about winning third is you win your last game.”
In the third-place final, captain Noah Milford registered the hat trick and the Oilers rode a four-goal second period to the victory.
“We were all just playing loose and not worrying about a chance that could cost us,” Milford said. “It was our final time together and we all just came together and had fun.
“And that’s why we all connected so well on the ice.”
Tate Hanson, Cohen Spencer, Braxton Alaric and Nolan Peppler also scored in the contest with netminder Carter Esler stopping 29 of 32 shots.
“We just tried to focus on what we can control,” Esler said. “We just had to win what we can and get a medal.”
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The unpredictable nature of the tournament played out on day one of the competition when the defending champion St. Albert Sabres were twice defeated and the high-powered Airdrie Xtreme were held to a draw.
Okotoks opened its account in fine form by overpowering the Sabres by a 5-2 count.
Kaden Hayes led the offensive attack with two goals with Alaric, Adam Halat and Garrison Peck adding the other markers. Esler stood tall with 45 saves on 47 shots.
Day two saw the Oilers skate to a 4-4 tie with the Calgary Bisons.
Milford scored with 1:02 left in regulation to ensure Okotoks picked up a point against their Southern Division rivals with Hayes registering another two-goal effort and the fleet-footed Hanson adding his first of the competition.
In the second game of the day for the hosts, Okotoks edged KC 4-1. Hayes had two goals and four points, Kade Pierson scored twice with Hanson adding three helpers. Esler was once again excellent facing a busy workload with 40 saves on the night.
“After the first couple of days there’s so many different possibilities on who can make it to the finals,” Milford said. “We held our own destiny and we lost and then just had to pray and hope for another team and it didn’t happen.
“That’s just how it works if you leave it up to another team, anything can happen there.”
The round-robin finale saw the Oilers take their only loss of the competition with a 6-1 defeat to Airdrie. The loss coupled with Calgary’s win over KC on Saturday put Okotoks into the bronze medal game.
“Airdrie is a class, class team, I’m not saying we couldn’t beat them, but they’re the best team and they’re going to beat us more times than we beat them,” Steer said. “I was hoping we could put one game together and beat them.
“The one that really cost us was the tie against the Bisons.”
In the gold medal game, the Xtreme edged the Bisons by a 3-2 score in front of a large and boisterous crowd at the Centennial Arenas.
Hayes, who tallied six goals and 10 points in five games, and Esler, who posted a .928 save percentage, were named to the tournament all-star teams.
“I think it was a little bit better than last year because we had home and all of our family here,” Esler said. “Ending it on a win, you feel a bit more accomplished.”
Coach Steer lauded the impact of the veteran group with second-year players Hayes, Esler, Milford and Jake Perry all making a huge difference on and off the ice.
“Without those guys we might have mailed it in (Sunday),” Steer added. “They were in there saying, ‘we want to finish with a win, we want a medal.’ I told the kids before that if we medal today, we’re the only team that’s medalled both years and that shows consistency and shows a good program.”
Okotoks won silver at the 2022 provincial event in Fort Saskatchewan. That team featured Milford, Hayes, Esler and Perry.
“Finishing second and third in the province in two different years is definitely quite the accomplishment,” Milford said. “You want to win it all, but even with that, finishing second in the province last year nobody thought we were going to be anywhere near there and then this year we had a chance.
“Being able to get to play in this tournament is an experience most kids might never get.”
