OKOTOKS, AB (March 22, 2024) — Okotoks Oilers captain Dean Spak (Calgary, AB) reached the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his tenure with the team in an 8-5 win over the Spruce Grove Saints on Friday night.
Spak scored twice and added an assist in the entertaining contest and moved into a tie with Jack Silverberg (Sherwood Park, AB) for the most points by an Oiler player since the team entered the BCHL. The University of Alaska-Fairbanks commit now has 17 points in 14 BCHL games and 39 points in 51 games overall this season.
Oilers defenceman Kade Turner (Calgary, AB) also scored twice on Friday, capping off the victory with an empty-net goal from long range that banked off the side boards and ricocheted off the post before finally crossing the goal line.
The hosts shot out to a 3-0 lead in the first four minutes of Friday’s game, with Sam Huck (Calgary, AB), Brody Maguire (Calgary, AB), and Connor Gourley (Calgary, AB) converting a total of 111 seconds apart to break the contest wide open.
But things started to unravel from there, with Spruce Grove scoring the next four goals in a row to eventually take the lead midway through the second period. Ethan Sundar tallied two of the Saints’ goals in that run en route to being named the game’s second star.
The Oilers finally drew even on Spak’s first goal of the game at the 13:29 mark of the middle frame — and they didn’t look back from there. Spak, Turner, and Brett Wilson (Calgary, AB) added goals in quick succession to put the Oilers up 7-4; despite Alexander Babich scoring a power-play goal late in the second period, the Saints still trailed by two entering the second intermission.
After two high-scoring periods to start the game, neither team was successful in finding the back of the net for the entire third period until Turner tacked on his second of the night into Ryan De Kok’s vacated cage with 40 seconds remaining. Oilers goaltender Christian Green (Boothwyn, PA) stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period to clinch the victory and improve to 14-10-3 on the year.
The Oilers outshot the Saints by a count of 28-25 in the contest and moved three points up on the Blackfalds Bulldogs for third place in the BCHL Alberta Division. The Bulldogs and Oilers will face off at Okotoks Centennial Arena on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. PT.
Recap: Mike Gould
Photo: Tayler Stroobant
