The Okotoks Oilers have picked up the sweep in their first playoff series in the BCHL.
Okotoks outlasted the Spruce Grove Saints 5-4 in Game 3 Saturday night at the Okotoks Centennial Arenas to take the best-of-five BCHL Wildcard Series in three games.
“It was a tightly-fought series, they brought their effort every night,” said Oilers captain Dean Spak. “And we’ve got a little motto right now where we’re trying to clamp everything down in the D-zone, that’s our biggest thing right now, making sure we’re all reliable in our own end and let the rest take care of itself.”
Spruce Grove got on the board first with Teo Pisano finding the back of the net at the 2:28 mark, a harbinger of things to come for the St. Albert forward.
Just over a minute later, Okotoks countered with Brett Wilson deflecting a Logan Magowan point shot as the teams went into the intermission tied at 1-1.
“We were just focusing on getting the win, so we were trying to be more desperate than them,” said Magowan. “Out-work them, out-shoot them and get more chances and focusing on the D-zone that was our mindset going into it.”
A wild second period saw Okotoks take its first lead through Jackson Rowland with Jagger Tapper then converting on an odd-man rush for his third goal in as many games.
Ryan Harvey cut the lead in half before Connor Gourley scored on another deflection past Saints netminder Ryan De Kok.
Pisani, the son of a legendary playoff performer in former Edmonton Oiler Fernando Pisani, then scored twice in a 2:18 span to complete the hat-trick to even the back-and-forth contest at 4-4.
In the third period, Spak delivered on an odd-man rush created by Tapper’s diligent pursuit of the puck before turning on the jets and setting up the captain for his second of the series.
“I got lucky coming off a change and Tapper stripped the puck off the guy at the blueline there,” Spak said. “He made a great play and I just drove the net and got a lucky bounce.”
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The Saints were held to just five shots on goal over the final 20 minutes as Okotoks beared down to preserve the one-goal triumph.
“After we scored that fifth goal, the focus shifted from scoring to locking in that D-zone,” Magowan said. “And just focusing on playing defence, limiting their opportunities, cracking down on their scoring chances to get the win and really just grind it out.”
The Oilers advance to the BCHL Alberta Division semifinal versus the first-seed Brooks Bandits. The best-of-seven set will get underway on Friday, April 19.
Playoff tickets can be purchased at tickets.okotoksoilers.com.
For more information, go to okotoksoilers.com.
