Semifinal Sunday is on deck for the Okotoks Bow Mark Oilers.
Okotoks extended its run at the Circle K Classic with a gritty 3-2 win over Ontario’s Burlington Eagles Saturday the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex in the D division quarter-final.
“There was a little bit more desperation, they want to play tomorrow, they want to keep playing,” said Bow Mark Oilers head coach Chris Beston. “There’s lots of scouts so it’s always nice to get another game another game in front of everybody and the fans.”
Okotoks will play the Pittsburgh Pens Elite after the flightless birds took out the Swift Current Legionnaires Saturday morning.
The D semifinal is a 10 a.m. start at the Max Bell Centre on Dec. 31.
“Being from around here, I got to come out and watch the tournament a ton as a kid and see some family friends,” said Okotoks forward Nathan Flanagan. “Having the opportunity to actually play in it is pretty surreal. Obviously, things haven’t gone our way, but having the opportunity to play in this is such a big deal and I’ve had a lot of fun.
“Even if it’s the D pool, just having the opportunity to play here at all, we want to be here as long as we can and the D pool is still something to play for so we’re still going to give it our all.”
That was the winning recipe on Saturday.
Flanagan opened the scoring midway through the opening frame with a deflection on the man advantage, Phoenix Flett doubled the lead with a breakaway tally and captain Brandon de Haas made it a three-goal advantage late in the middle stanza.
Flett, the second member of his family to play in the tournament, has a team best six points in four games.
“It’s a cool feeling, there’s lots of scouts, lots of eyes in the building. There is a little pressure at the start, but then it just feels like any other game once you’re in it,” said Flett, a 2007-born forward. “My dad (Cory) played in this about 30 years ago, so that’s pretty cool.
“He was nervous, but he said don’t let the scouts or anything get under you and just play like you can.”
The Eagles soared back in the third with Braydon Hobson and Owen Meli trimming the deficit to one with 6:58 on the clock.
Okotoks then had to showcase its penalty kill more than it would have liked to, stepping up to kill off a full two minute 5-on-3 advantage and another powerplay in the final three minutes.
“That was really exciting, those are two huge kills,” added Flanagan. “Our killers were able to get it done and we get to move on now and play another game tomorrow.
“Our goalie Michael (Makowsky) played unreal today, it starts with him, but I liked our forecheck, we were able to get ahead early and maintain that lead.”
Makowsky put forth his second strong effort of the tournament, stopping 36 of 38 shots.
“Mike has been playing really well for probably the last month or so,” Beston said. “We had a lot of faith in him that he would make the saves he needs to make and he got us the win.”
Okotoks finished the round-robin with an 0-3 record despite some strong efforts at times in pool play. The Oilers lost the opener 9-5 to the St. Louis Blues, played NAX tough in a 2-0 loss and were defeated in overtime 5-4 by the Valley West Giants out of B.C.’s Lower Mainland.
“It’s just been a lot of inconsistency,” Beston said. “We’ll play real good and then have a letdown, this tournament is top-end quality all throughout.
“We know we’ve got to play 60 minutes to compete with any team in this tournament.”
For more information go to circlekclassic.ca.
