Playoff hockey is on deck for the Bow Mark Oilers.
The hottest team in the Alberta Elite Hockey League U18 AAA standings, the Okotoks Bow Mark Oilers’ (19-13-3) unbeaten run reached nine games on the weekend to solidify the third-seed and one of six postseason berths with three games left to play in the regular season.
“It’s just the boys have been playing well, they’re buying in and working hard and now they want it,” said Bow Mark Oilers head coach Chris Beston. “They want to compete, they want to win, they want success and they’re just buying into everything.”
For the head coach, the turning point came in early January following the team’s first weekend back of league action on the heels of the Circle K Classic tournament over the holiday season.
“That first weekend there, we didn’t have our best stuff,” Beston added. “We had some meetings, some heart-to-hearts and decided we want to be in this together.”
From playoff bubble to surefire postseason squad in third position in the South Division, it’s been a trend built on togetherness over the past month.
“We just came together here at a good time,” said Bow Mark Oilers captain Will Harris. “It was a little late, but right before playoffs here we’ve started to string some wins together and it’s really helped us.
“We were just in a slump there and just to know that our coaches were backing us really helped and really made us come together as a team.”
Okotoks made it eight games without a loss by doubling up the division-leading Calgary Buffaloes 6-3, defeating the top-seed in regulation time for the second time in less than a month on Feb. 4 at Centennial Arenas.
“It’s so fun coming to the rink when we get to play them,” said Harris. “You always know know it’s going to be a hard game and a great game to be a part of.
“It shows the character we have on this team. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we just come to play to win.”
Harris called it a great team effort built on everyone on the squad pulling their weight in every battle.
The Buffs took the early edge with William James scoring a pair of powerplay markers sandwiched by a highlight reel even-strength tally from Lochlan Tetarenko on a through the legs feed in front of goal from Luc Trevors.
“We bought into their game a little bit at the first period and then we just settled down,” Beston said. “We realized we’ve got to start playing our game and what’s made us successful and we turned it around.”
Calgary took a brief two-goal advantage before Kyle McDonough tallied on an improbable angle behind the net and Harris wired in a wrist shot.
Okotoks then took its first lead of the game late in the middle stanza on a Trevors powerplay marker.
In the third period, Ryan Williamson potted a rebound just 21 seconds into the frame and Charlie Goll added an insurance marker with a patient backhand deke on an odd-man rush.
In between the pipes, Marek Schlenker stopped 37 of 40 shots and played a huge role on the penalty kill to pick up his seventh win of the season.
“We’ve beat them twice now, we’ve beat the Flames, we’ve beat some good teams and it’s all down to the boys,” Beston said. “They’re working hard and they want it.”
Twenty-four hours earlier in Lethbridge, the Oilers skated to a 6-2 triumph over the Hurricanes.
Harris paced the offence from the back-end with a two goal, four-point effort with Conner Radke and Brandon de Haas adding a goal and an assist along with tallies from McDonough and Jacob Semeniuk. Tyson Endall had 20 saves in the contest.
On Sunday, the Oilers knocked off the Airdrie CFR Bisons by a 5-1 score. Goll scored twice, Wyatt Yule scored on a penalty shot with Radke and Brayden Schwartz tallying the other markers.
Okotoks closes out the regular season with three in a row on home-ice, starting this weekend versus the Calgary Royals and Red Deer Optimist Chiefs on Feb. 11 and 12.
For more information, visit u18aaa.ca.
