Overtime magic has propelled the Okotoks Oilers to a fifth win on home ice.
Spencer Rheaume scored his third of the season at the 3:16 mark of overtime as Okotoks eclipsed the West Kelowna Warriors 3-2 Saturday night in front of a season best crowd of 1,176 at the Viking Rentals Centre
“I just had my feet moving, got into the zone and made a little cut move,” said Rheaume, a first-year Oilers centre from Beaverlodge. “I knew I needed to get some more shots on, just put it on the net and it found its way in.
“It was awesome, the fans are happy to see the win, we want to win for the fans.”
The BCHL features a 10-minute overtime session at 3-on-3, making quick shifts and a deep bench added emphasis in the extra-session.
“Possession is important,” Rheaume added. “You’ve got to move your feet and take a guy one-on-one to score, just make lots of switches and make plays.”
Spencer Rheaume calls game! #BCHL pic.twitter.com/flVrSMlr2J
— Okotoks Oilers (@OkotoksOilers) November 10, 2024
The Warriors forced overtime with the extra-attacker through Jack Pridham with two minutes left in regulation. Earlier in the frame, West Kelowna’s Sam LeDrew and Okotoks’ Jacob Goudreau traded markers. Coy Pighin opened the scoring early in the middle stanza.
“I like how we stuck together as a group,” said Oilers defenceman Cyle Clayton. “One of those goals might have been a bit controversial on that icing, we stuck together and kept going. They score 6-on-5 and we didn’t let them take the momentum and then took it to them in overtime.”
Okotoks improved to 7-9, ninth in the BCHL’s Interior Conference, with games in hand on the three teams directly ahead of them in the standings in Spruce Grove, West Kelowna and Sherwood Park.
“It’s huge, we go into every game in our conference thinking it’s a playoff game,” Clayton said. “That’s what we talk about before the games, it’s a huge game, this game is worth a lot of points for us so we had to get it.”
Olivier Ciarlo made 36 saves for his seventh win for the Oilers.
On Friday, fellow netminder Simon Westling was strong in a 22-save effort as Okotoks challenged the first-placed Brooks Bandits in a narrow 2-0 loss.
“We’ve been a lot more desperate in our D-zone,” added Clayton, a 2004-born blueliner from Strathmore. “Playing a good opponent last night in Brooks, I thought we had a good game and just couldn’t score, but you hold them to two goals and you’ve got to be happy with that.”
Okotoks travels west next week with stops in the Okanagan locales of Vernon and West Kelowna on Nov. 15-16. The Oilers’ next home date is Nov. 22 versus the Trail Smoke Eaters.
For more information, go to okotoksoilers.com.
