There’s no place like home for the Okotoks Oilers.
Okotoks made good on its third game in the BCHL and first on home ice with a comprehensive 6-0 victory over the Spruce Grove Saints led by two-goal efforts from Sam Huck, Rylan Brown and Hayden Fechner backstopped by a 16-save shutout from Mikael Kingo.
“It was a huge game for us,” said Oilers head coach Tyler Deis. “After those last two games we needed a pretty good bounce back and I thought that’s what we had today.
“We played well in all three zones.”
In the opening frame, Huck opened the scoring from a tight angle and Brown doubled the lead after pinching in from the blueline, deking out a defender and finding the back of the net.
A four-goal middle stanza put the result out of reach with Brown and Huck adding their second goals of the contest and fleet-footed forward Hayden Fechner also scoring a pair.
Huck hit the 30-goal mark on the season as part of a three-point effort.
https://twitter.com/OkotoksOilers/status/1756190201230070140
The other end of the ice was a particular source of pride with Okotoks allowing just 16 shots.
“That was one of the focuses going into the game, making sure that their score was down and making sure we played the right way,” Brown said. “Our forecheck was fast and we just really locked it down in the D-zone and didn’t give them much and Kingo played well when he needed to.”
Kingo, a midseason acquisition in his second start in BCHL action, secured the team’s first shutout in the league and improved his save percentage to .938.
“He played well and when we did screw up, he was there to save us,” Deis said. “We’re going to make mistakes and his job is to try and bail us out.
“With him, it’s the consistency, every game he plays, he’s consistently there and that’s one thing we needed.”
Okotoks (1-2) is back on the ice looking to get to the five hundred mark in the BCHL when it hosts Brooks on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 11 a.m. for the annual school day contest.
The BCHL schedule will see Okotoks, Brooks, Spruce Grove, Sherwood Park and Blackfalds each play 20 games to close the regular season.
“Guys just individually are making sure that in games like this, and the competition being tighter, that everyone steps their game up and is able to build on what they had at the start of the year,” Brown said.
“Each game is going to be harder, faster, more physical and it’s making sure that everyone follows the pace of the play and plays their game day by day.”
Okotoks Oilers ticket information can be found at https://tickets.okotoksoilers.com/
For schedule information on the team, click here.
