With four games remaining before the Christmas break, the Okotoks Oilers are looking to catch second place Calgary Canucks before the season starts up again in the New Year.
The Oilers are coming off of a split of their home games this past weekend. It was a frigid weekend in Okotoks but both games were well attended. The fans were treated to some good exciting Junior A hockey.
They took the Camrose Kodiaks to double overtime on Friday night when Kyle Reynolds feed a perfect pass on a two on one to Brandon Hoogenboom and Brandon made no mistake in finding the back of the net to allow the Oilers to come away with the 2 points.
A slightly different story on Saturday night when the Olds Grizzlys came to town. A three goal outburst by the bears proved too much for the Oilers and they lose a close one by a score of 4 to 3.
The team hits the road for the next three games. Starting off on Tuesday, the guys travel to beautiful Canmore to take on the fourth place Eagles for a 7 pm start time. Canmore are right on the heals of the Okotoks Oilers so it should be a good intense game.
Next up is a tilt at the Max Bell Arena on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. and the Calgary Canucks. These two teams are creating quite a good rivalry between themselves as the Canucks are 2 points ahead of the Oilers for second place. Both teams are quite alike in their stats, so it should be a close and hard fought game.
The Oilers close out this road trip on Saturday Night when they meet the Drumheller Dragons at 7:30 pm. This is the first of a home and home series with the Dragons before the break. Drumheller are having their difficulties, but play tough against the Oilers as proof of their last meeting where they took the Oilers to overtime.
The Okotoks Oilers stand tied for second place in the Southern Division with the Calgary Canucks at 41 points a piece. Chris Duszynski still leads the team in points with 38 points in 35 games played. That is good for 19th spot overall in the league. Brandon Hoogenboom leads in goals scored at 18 and that is good enough for 18th position in the league.
Next home game will be Tuesday night, December 22nd. when the Drumheller Dragons comes to the Okotoks Centennial Arena to wrap up their games in 2009.