Special teams prowess and a stellar goaltending performance was the recipe for a third consecutive win for the Green and Gold.
Jack McNaughton made 23 saves and the Okotoks Oilers (20-19-2) killed off seven penalties to edge the Sherwood Park Crusaders 2-1 on Jan. 14 at Pason Centennial Arena to move above the .500 mark in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
"It was one of those games where we didn't necessarily have our A-game," said Oilers captain Tucker McRae. "But we did a good job of closing out a 2-1 game. Those are the kind of games we're going to have to start winning heading into the playoffs."
The Crusaders came out with more jump in the opening frame and if not for McNaughton would have taken the early lead.
Instead it was the hosts who struck first against the run of play and while shorthanded as leading scorer Rieger Lorenz broke free for a breakaway marker, his 27th goal of the season midway through the period off a stretch pass from blueliner Logan Magowan.
Zac Maxwell evened the score for the in the second period on the powerplay with the visitors finishing 1-for-8 on the man-advantage. Eight minutes later Oilers forward Ty Yoder notched his 11th goal, in his return to the lineup after missing 13 games, on a wicked wrist shot on an odd-man rush.
"Our start we struggled a little bit then picked things up a little bit," McRae added. "And we have to tidy up on the penalty-kill, we took a few too many tonight."
The Oilers conclude the weekend on the road in Drumheller on Jan. 15 with a busy week to follow with three games in five days starting with a home date on Jan. 18 versus the Olds Grizzlys.
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Draft Buzz
Two Okotoks Oilers continue to be on the watch list for the scouting community as 2004-born forwards Rieger Lorenz and Bowden Singleton were ranked 24th and 192nd, respectively, among North American Skaters in NHL Central Scouting's Mid-Term Rankings, released on Jan. 12.
Lorenz, the AJHL Player of the Month for December, is the highest ranked player in the Canadian Junior Hockey League and sits fourth in the AJHL scoring race with 64 points in 41 games. The smooth-skating Singleton is also among the AJHL scoring leaders with 48 points in 41 games and has been a special teams ace with seven powerplay tallies, a team best three shorthanded markers while also pacing Okotoks with four game-winning goals.
Both skaters are headed to prolific NCAA Division I programs with Lorenz a Denver Pioneers commit and Singleton bound for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
Brooks Bandits blueliner Zach Bookman was slotted 208th among North American Skaters in the mid-term rankings.
The 2022 NHL Draft is July 7-8 in Montreal.
