The Okotoks Peewee 1 Oilers’ remarkable undefeated season ended with a tough loss on Sunday.
The Oilers fell to the Lacombe Rockets 7-0 in the Alberta Peewee A final in Wainwright. The Oilers’ first loss in a meaningful contest was tough to take, said coach Ted Stewart. However, the players managed to gain some perspective on their way home.
“By the time we got on the bus to come back, (the team) were certainly satisfied with the way the year went,” Stewart said.
Oilers forward Graham Strang said once the team reflected on what kind of a season they had everyone was pleased with the end result.
“To make it to the finals is a great accomplishment,” he said.
The Tier 1 Peewee Central Alberta Hockey League champions rolled through their season with an 18-0-2 record. They also won all six of their playoff games on the way to a league title.
After winning all their games in the round-robin portion of provincials, Okotoks found themselves matched up against the host Wainwright Fusion in a semifinal match.
Playing in a hostile barn was an interesting experience, said the 12-year-old Strang.
“The crowd for them was insane,” he said. “It was very tense.”
The Oilers got goals from Travis Yee and Strang while Wainwright countered with two of their own to send it to overtime.
“I was nervous in overtime,” said 11-year-old Oiler defenceman Kale Hawryluk.
After some tense moments, the Oilers prevailed on a goal by Zachary Holyoake.
“I think we were able to control our nerves and just play the hockey game,” Strang said.
The Lacombe Rockets awaited Okotoks in the finals.
Led by gigantic forwards TJ Brown and Colby Sissons, the Rockets proved to be too much for the Oilers.
“Lacombe has got two guys (Brown and Sissons) that we just could not handle,” Stewart said. “We couldn’t get a break to get any momentum going.”
Despite the loss, Strang and his teammates had a mature perspective on the outcome.
“It feels good to win all the time but you can never go undefeated the entire time,” Strang said. “We just wanted to give it our all and play our game.”
In a season where you win all your games (save for two exhibition losses and tournament final), it is sometimes difficult to identify areas of growth.
Not so with the Oilers, coach Stewart insisted.
“We came a long way from the start,” he said.
With a team made up of second-year players who had tried out for Peewee AA and bright-eyed first-year players, the threat of a divided locker room was real.
However, Stewart said he was pleased his players were able to mesh as a unit and watch each other’s backs all season.
“There was no division in our team at all and that is a tribute to our second-year kids and the character of those kids,” he said.
Led by veterans Strang, Holyoake, captain Nick Vanderheyden, Booker Chacalias and Wyatt Derksen the Oilers demonstrated maturity beyond their years said their coach.
“All the teammates of mine are great,” Strang said. “They’re just fun to be around.”
For Hawryluk, this season was a big learning experience that will help him going forward.
“I learned a lot going through the year,” he said. “I had a couple of mistakes but I learned from them.”
Stewart said he was sad to see the year come to a close – especially considering how much he enjoyed coaching this group of players.
“They were good teammates right until the end,” he said. “I had a great time with these guys.”
