Despite a strong comeback after going down early, the Okotoks Oilers dropped a 5-3 decision to reigning national champion Brooks Bandits in Alberta Junior Hockey League action on Oct. 14 at Okotoks Centennial Arenas.
“I thought we played a pretty good game. We were dominating for a bit, then a couple bad bounces and they got a lead,” said Oilers forward Jagger Tapper.
After multiple plays blocked by Brooks netminder Johnny HIcks, the Bandits' Caelan Fitzpatrick and Luke Marshall drew first blood, which kicked the Oilers into gear.
“They got up 2-0, and we found a way to bounce back,” Tapper said. “We’re pretty good at dealing with adversity.”
Oilers forward Hunter Sawka got one past Hicks with an assist from Brody Maguire, followed by a power play goal by Jack Silverberg, assisted by Rylan Brown and Kade Turner.
Heading into the second at 2-2, the Oilers (7-4-0-1) took the lead when Jackson Rowland got the puck into Brooks' territory on a power play, handing off to Connor Gourley who set Tapper up for a back door shot.
HIGHLIGHTS: Okotoks and Brooks go toe-to-toe in another spirited #AJHL matchup on Saturday night, with Brooks slipping by 5-3 with an empty netter. pic.twitter.com/ccuwbV36Hm
— Okotoks Oilers (@OkotoksOilers) October 15, 2023
"We kind of got a little scrappy on the power play, we had to come back, regroup and put it up the wall to Gourley, he made a nice play and I was able to get to the back of the net,” Tapper said.
The lead was short-lived as Brooks took revenge two-fold with goals by Logan Sawyer and Fitzpatrick giving the visitors the lead after two periods. The first-place Bandits sealed the deal with an empty-netter in the third by Parker Lalonde.
“Base takeaway is that we can compete with them, and we think we can easily beat them, but we just got to keep going,” said Tapper.
While he obviously would have preferred a win, assistant coach Reid Hnatowich did see positives in how his players performed.
“Obviously, not happy with the outcome, but with regards to the process and some of the things we did, we were positive in things we were doing,” Hnatowich said in a post-game interview.
“(We) need to get their goals down, but with regards to our D zone and our aggressiveness in the neutral zone and how well we did offensively, I think it was a lot of building points.
“You got Huck, SIlverberg and Sawka, same type of thing with regards to yesterday, they were quite aggressive with pushing the pace, but you’ve got MacNeil in there too, heavy net front, creating a lot of things, then Rowland obviously, on the power play, generating a lot of stuff, but just bringing speed and pace."
OILERS POSTGAME: @miketgould talks to assistant coach @reidhnatowich after tonight's 5-3 loss to Brooks. #AJHL pic.twitter.com/7ReeTVk2LD
— Okotoks Oilers (@OkotoksOilers) October 15, 2023
Despite the score, he also had praise for goaltender Christian Green, who made 16 saves on 20 shots.
“I think early he was just getting comfortable with some of the speed, but then once the game progressed he settled in nicely, a lot of big saves in the sense of the things he was making playing pucks well, managing games,” Hnatowich said.
With last Friday’s 5-1 win over the Whitecourt Wolverines and Saturday’s strong showing, Hnatowich said he feels confident they’re on the right course.
“You look at our performance today, you look at what we did yesterday, we need to build off it,” he said. “If we play like that against the majority of the teams in the league, it’s going to be favourable in our outcome.”
The Oilers hit the road for three games, playing Spruce Grove (Oct. 20), Sherwood Park (Oct. 21) and Drumheller (Oct. 26).
“We have some heavy ones coming up here with the road trip, then seeing Drum again,” Hnatowich said.
“Some of the things we have done are positive and we’re treading in the right direction, we just need to keep up with the process.”
The Oilers return to home ice Oct. 27 to play the Lloydminster Bobcats and Oct. 29 against the Drayton Valley Thunder.
For more information visit okotoksoilers.ca.
