With great responsibility has come great power for the Okotoks Oilers top scoring line.
Third-year wingers Marc Pasemko and Zane Kindrachuk and second-year centre Jack Works have been together since day one this season and with all producing well over the point-per-game clip, don’t expect that to change any time soon.
“I think we’re all just hardworking, vocal guys,” Pasemko said. “Us coming together on the bench, talking after every shift, little things like that build the confidence. Jack was a rookie last year and I didn’t get to play with him and right off the bat here I told him things I like to do, tendencies.
“We just formed basically an identity of where we want everyone to be usually, we always have our third guy in one spot so it’s almost like a no-look, little things like that help us have success.”
Pasemko pointed to the AJHL Showcase weekend in late-September as a building block for the line when they took off as a trio. On a related note, Okotoks has not lost in regulation since the showcase.
“For myself, I have more confidence, it’s my third year now and I look at myself as one of the better players and having that edge of knowing the grind of the league and little things like that,” Pasemko said. “Zane and Jack are both really smart players, Jack’s starting to set up players, he’s always been the goal scorer and now he’s starting to look pass first. We’re all getting out of our shells, Zane and I are starting to shoot more.”
The centre in particular is swinging a hot-stick. Works scored hat-tricks in consecutive games on the weekend in wins over the Canmore Eagles and Drumheller Dragons.
Works was a standout rookie last season skating on an all-freshman line with Carson Dyck and Gibb Coady, producing 18 goals and 29 points in 56 games.
“Last year, being a rookie you’ve got to work for everything and this year (head coach Tyler Deis) obviously noticed that (Works) earned it last year,” Pasemko said. “He’s been getting opportunities and taking advantage of it.
“He’s a tenacious dude, he’s a crazy dude and he loves the game and he works very hard.”
The Yellowknife product has already surpassed his career high with 36 points (18 goals, 18 assists) in 23 games and can point to improved strength and acceleration along with opportunity for his leap in production.
“I worked a lot on my legs this summer, my stride is a lot more powerful this year,” Works said. “I worked a lot on it this summer because I did think my skating just needed some work.”
Works said the creation of the line came down to Deis finding similarities in their games, as forwards not shy about getting in the corners that fore-check hard and play fast.
“They do a great job setting me up and I try to do the same to them,” Works said. “I didn’t get a chance to play with them last year much, it was my first year in the league, but it’s been great. They’re two of my best friends on the team too, so that always helps.
“I’ve got a lot more opportunity this year and I’m just trying to run with it. It means a lot, I want to play as much as I can.”
All three skaters, along with blueliner Noah Kim, rank in the top 20 in AJHL scoring with Pasemko registering 11 goals and 31 points and Kindrachuk contributing 11 goals and 27 points.
“It’s a lot of responsibility, but as a hockey player you want to be the guy that goes out there when you’re up a goal or down a goal,” Kindrachuk said. “We’re all fast and gritty and we work hard. I think we’re able to wear teams down in the corners and take pucks to the net and score goals.”
For Kindrachuk, it’s been a thrill to move his move his way up the lineup and follow in the footsteps of Oilers graduates and current NCAA stars in Dylan Holloway, Quinn Olson and Austin Wong, to name a few.
“(Marc and I) played together a little bit last year and the year before so we’re kind of familiar with each other. I think we work really good together. I was happy to see I was playing with him this year,” Kindrachuk said. “Opportunity this year, we’ve both taken good advantage of it. Watching Holloway and Wong and Olson do it last year, now it’s our turn to take charge is kind of cool how we’ve worked our way up the lineup.”
After a pair of home wins over Drumheller and Canmore the Oilers (20-2-2) are now on a eight-game winning streak and sit just seven points back of first-place Brooks in the South Division standings with two games in hand on the Bandits.
“I think it’s our work ethic,” Pasemko said. “I think everyone wrote us off as not being as skilled and maybe we’re not, but we sure work harder than everyone else in this league. That’s what we have to do to be successful. We’re a hard fore-checking team and we create a lot of goals just off that.
“There’s just more depth this year. We miss the top-end guys Holls, Wong and Olson and all those guys, but we have the depth to keep the scoring up and we’ve shown that.”
This week Okotoks is home to Drayton Valley Thunder on Nov. 19 before hitting the road to skate against Brooks and Canmore on Nov. 22-23.
For more information go to okotoksoilers.ca
