OKOTOKS, AB (March 19, 2023) – The fourth-seeded Okotoks Oilers will take on the top-seeded Brooks Bandits in the 2023 AJHL South Semifinal best-of-seven playoff series, it was confirmed today.
The matchup was finalized after three-seeded Drumheller completed a six-game win over Canmore, advancing to take on second-seed Blackfalds.
The series will begin these coming Friday and Saturday nights in Brooks, with games three and four back in Okotoks on Tuesday, March 28th and Wednesday, March 29th. If necessary, Game 5 would be in Brooks on Friday, March 31st, Game 6 in Okotoks on Sunday, April 2nd, and Game 7 in Brooks on Tuesday, April 4th.
Game time will be 7 PM for all matchups in the series, with The Eagle 100.9 FM providing radio coverage of all games starting at 6:45 each night.
It will be the ninth time that the two teams have met in the playoffs; in only five playoff runs in franchise history have the Oilers not taken on Brooks at some point. Okotoks has won two of the eight series; a six-game win in the 2007 second round, and a six-game win in the 2018 South Final.
Okotoks will seek to become the first AJHL team to upset a #1 seed in the second round since the Sherwood Park Crusaders swept Fort McMurray in 1990.
Tickets for Games 3 and 4 are available online at tickets.okotoksoilers.ca.