Okotoks, AB (October 4, 2025) – The Okotoks Oilers are set to face the West Kelowna Warriors at Viking Rentals Centre for the first time during the 2025-2026 BCHL season tonight.
The Green and Gold will look to continue their hot hands on the power play as they sit in fourth place with a 30.8 percentage. The Warriors, however, have struggled on the power play, holding a 18.8 percent success rate, which is near the bottom of the BCHL to start the season.
The Oilers were able to pick up their first win of the season last Saturday when they came away with a 5-2 win in Prince George over the Spruce Kings. Holden Pajor (Eden Prairie, MN) and Eric Young (Mill Bay, BC) were standouts in the game as Pajor collected three points, including the game-winning goal, while Young picked up his first win in his first start of the season.
“It’s cool because (Young) has played in that rink before,” Oilers Assistant Coach Reid Hnatowich said about Young playing in Prince George last weekend. “It was a good setup where he was coming into it new with the team and stuff like that, and on a road game, which is tough, but I think what gave him a bit of composure is that he’s played out there before.”
“We actually went to him in terms of the pre-scout because he knows how they play the dumps and different stuff like that in regards to board play.”
Oilers Captain Brett Wilson (Calgary, AB) also complimented Young on his first start with the team.
“He was great, he was brilliant. You know, when the puck was coming down, we had confidence that he was going to back us up. Obviously, we had some lapses, and he bailed us out, which is what we needed from him. We kind of strive for goalies to be our best player in the game, and he was the best player,” Wilson said about Young.
Assistant Captain Jacob Goudreau (St. Albert, AB) agreed with Hnatowich’s and Wilson’s sentiments by giving praise to Young.
“He played unbelievably, bailed us out lots. We would like to keep his shots down even more and make sure he doesn’t have to bail us out at all, but it’s good to have a guy that I feel like can bail us out,” Goudreau added about Young.
Ben Vatis (Vancouver, BC) has also been a stud in net for the Oilers, proving that goaltending hasn’t been an issue to start the season. Just like the Oilers’ goaltending the power play has been a strong suit for the team, which the organization gives newly hired Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development Corban Knight credit for turning around since last season.
“We’ve worked on it quite a bit in practice here and just incorporated plays that we’ve been working on in practice. They have been working in games and finding the back of the net. It’s good, good teams have good power plays, so we need that to keep going,” Goudreau said about the Oilers’ power play success.
“He’s just been getting us to do a lot of repetition, walk-throughs, and talking. Knowing what plays will work and what plays won’t. Kind of knowing the other team’s penalty kill and where their holes are and where we can attack them,” Goudreau said about Knight.
Hnatowich, Wilson and Goudreau would all state that in the offseason, the power play was something they wanted to work on, as it did not click last season.
“So if you look at the two things, road games weren’t great, and then you look at our special teams last year, penalty kill, especially near the end of the season, was dailed in really good. But we weren’t able to capitalize where we needed to be on the power play. I think last year, for a lot of components, we were the lowest (with power play percentage), and it makes a huge difference,” Hnatowich said about last season’s special teams compared to the start of this season.
“We have been running a lot more meetings; we’ve been allocating a lot more time to it in practice. You know, Corban’s been new to the staff, and he’s played a lot of power play time in his life. He’s a different eye in the sense of what he’s doing.”
While the Oilers will be back at home tonight, the road game against the Spruce Kings last Saturday saw some positive improvements when facing a team away from Viking Rentals Centre.
“We were way better at the front of the net with our sticks, defending, just keeping more of an awareness, not getting caught following pucks,” Hnatowich added. Defensively, the biggest difference was our net-front play, and then I think the other component too, we had a lot of blocked shots. Like Hikida with a big blocked shot, he must have worse about four or five. So, I think it’s that desperation and taking more of an onus on getting their shots down.”
As for tonight, the Oilers will look to pick up their first win at home while stopping a tough Warriors team that enters tonight with a 4-1-0 record.
“Well, obviously, a different team this year, but sticking to the same game plan that we have and coming in and bringing that heart and soul into the game. Just keep playing off our first win and using the momentum into this game. Just get pumped and keep the energy going,” Wilson said about the mindset coming into tonight’s game.
“Expect a high-skilled and fast-paced team. They’re going to be very disciplined. They’re really good on draws, will be looking to attack off draws for sure, that’s what they were like last year,” Goudreau said about the Warriors.
“I think their power play will be pretty good; it usually is. So I think the keys are to just slow them down, get physical with them coming off the bus, a long road trip. So be physical, stay disciplined and just play our game and we’ll be ok.”
Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. MST tonight at Viking Rentals Centre.
