The Okotoks Bow Mark Oilers are going the distance in their first-round playoff set.
Okotoks scored a 5-2 do-or-die victory in Game 2 on the road on Feb. 26 to draw back even at 1-1 in the Alberta Elite Hockey League U18 AAA opening round series with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and force the win-or-go-home Game 3 back on home ice.
“We played loose, which was nice,” said Bow Mark Oilers head coach Chris Beston. “We realized we have nothing to lose now and might as well throw it all on the line.
“We got down one, but we scored quickly to tie it back up and never really looked back after that.”
In Game 2, Okotoks scored twice in the second and third periods to turn a 1-1 contest through 20 minutes, on goals from the Canes’ Chase Bambrick and Oilers sniper Conner Radke, on its head.
Captain Will Harris and centre Charlie Goll scored goals 11 seconds apart late in the second period with affiliate player Trip Jensen and Okotokian Brayden Schwartz tallying in the final frame.
Luc Trevors and blueliner Ned Ceklic each had two helpers while Tyson Endall turned aside 19 shots to backstop the Oilers to victory.
In Game 1, the Hurricanes took a 2-1 victory on Feb. 24 at the Centennial Arenas.
“It was a little bit of nerves and we didn’t have our A-game, for sure,” Beston said. “Their goalie played well, we outshot them, but we weren’t getting the quality shots, weren’t getting the second chances.
“Being a young crew, I think we were a little bit intimated at that point.”
Okotoks had the first seven shots and carried the play in the early going.
But it was the Canes who got on the board first with a Kaden Phillips powerplay marker on the visitors first shot at the 9:04 mark. Undaunted, the Oilers were square within 39 seconds on the next shift.
Wyatt Yule won a puck battle down the ice and used his silky-smooth mitts to pull off a backhand deke in tight.
Lethbridge regained the lead midway through the second period when Alex Westlund stuck with it to cash in a rebound on an odd-man rush, in what held us the game winning tally.
“We’re a crew that’s battling, we’re down a few guys and those that are still here are battling hard,” Beston said. “Even the affiliates are working hard and we’re giving it everything we’ve got to get out of this first round.”
The Bow Mark Oilers will be getting some reinforcements up front in short order.
Forwards Kyle McDonough, from Langdon, and Lochlan Tetarenko, from Bragg Creek, are fresh off a fifth place showing with Team Alberta at the 2023 Canada Winter Games on P.E.I.
McDonough had one goal and three points in five games at the event which saw Alberta go 2-1 in round-robin with wins over Nova Scotia and Ontario and a loss to B.C. before its 8-2 quarterfinal loss to Quebec and 4-1 triumph over Manitoba in the fifth-place match.
The series decider is a 6:30 p.m. puck drop on Feb. 28 at the Centennial Arenas.
Series schedule:
Feb. 25. Lethbridge at Okotoks. Lethbridge wins 2-1
Feb. 26. Okotoks at Lethbridge. Okotoks wins 5-2
Feb. 28. Lethbridge at Okotoks.
