A team that sticks together, wins together.
The Okotoks Oilers completed a dream season and unbeaten playoff run to claim the Rocky Mountain Female Hockey League U18 A division championship on March 19.
“Gelling right away, that’s the key thing, there was no drama on the team,” said Oilers head coach Darcy Williams. “I’ve seen it on some teams where certain players want all of the attention, there’s none of that on this team.
“They all work together to the common goal of having team success and we’ve talked to them about having team success it’s not about on the scoreboard, it’s just about doing your best on the ice.”
In the final, captain Tasia Miller delivered a clutch four-goal, one assist performance to lift the Oilers to the 5-3 victory in Game 2 of the RMFHL final on March 19 in Olds.
Ella Glubish had the other Oilers goal while netminder Paige Williams made 30 saves on 33 shots.
“You get captains that are all rah-rah and they’ll say stuff, (Tasia) is a quiet leader and just takes the team on her back and just goes and they follow,” Williams said. “She’s so humble, for a third-year player this is her last year on the team and she’s going out the way you want to.
“She’s ending her time in minor hockey the way you want to go out. This is the best hockey I’ve seen her play and I’ve had the privilege of coaching her a few times in hockey as well as softball over the years.”
Okotoks took Game 1 of the final by a 3-2 count with Elsa Owen, Nicole Avis and Mackenzie Aasen providing the offence in the March 12 contest on home ice.
“(Aasen) ended up getting injured in the last 30 seconds of the game, she ended up going to the hospital with significant injuries,” Williams said. “That put a sombre mood on the bench because the girls were more concerned with her going off, not in good shape and then having to hold down the fort for the last 30 seconds.
“Olds threw everything at us and we came out on top.”
In the second round, the Oilers were pushed to the edge with Camrose serving up terrific competition in the two-game series.
The teams tied Game 1 of the semifinal 3-3 and were knotted at 3-3 once again with the second game of the set decided on a shootout after overtime settled nothing.
Goaltender Paige Williams, in her first full season between the pipes as a converted forward, stood tall in the series clincher.
“It was tough for her because you’re kind of on an island as the goalie in the shootout,” the coach added. “She came off the ice and was in tears and said, ‘I’m never doing that again.’
“That was a tough way to decide a very close series like that. Camrose probably played us as well as any team has all year consistently so it really pushed our girls to learn through adversity.”
Okotoks took the first round series with Red Deer in two games and finished the regular season with a league-best record of 17-2-1 with the top goals for and goals against numbers in the eight-team division.
“The playoffs were not easy, every single series we had were tight, close games,” Williams said. “Where a couple players came through at the right time at the end of the games to seal the win.”
The Oilers are through to provincials, March 31-April 3 in Sherwood Park.
Okotoks is pooled alongside Calgary’s Inferno Silver and Inferno White with the host Sherwood Park, Edmonton Silver and Olds in the other grouping.
“We have played every team but one through the course of the year and they’ve all been really close games,” Williams said. “ I’m looking forward to some really good hockey.
“This won’t be our usual regular season where we will be able to walk in there and dominate, we’re going to have work hard for it and I think we’ve prepared them for that.
“With everything towards the end of the season, qualifying for first and then the three series we went through were not easy wins by any means, we had to win in different ways and I think that’s best prepared us for that.”
For more information on the provincial tournament go to u18femalea.haprovincials.ca
