OKOTOKS, AB (October 29, 2022) – Conyr Hellyer (Okotoks, AB) led the way with two shorthanded goals and two assists, as the Okotoks Oilers (10-5-2) rebounded from an early 1-0 deficit and beat the visiting Lloydminster Bobcats on Saturday night at Centennial Arena.
With the win, the Oilers are now five points back of Camrose for second in the AJHL South with two games in hand, and three points back of Blackfalds for third with one game in hand.
A Jayven Leslie rebound goal gave the visitors an early lead just 3:46 in, but the Oilers responded with a Kade Turner (Calgary, AB) shot from the half-wall that snuck in short side on goalie Freddie Halyk. The Oilers then went on the first two penalty kills of the game, but scored on both. Hellyer forced a turnover at centre ice, then received a perfect pass from Zeth Kindrachuk (Calgary, AB) for a backhand goal and a 2-1 lead at 10:38. At 17:55, Hellyer battled through three defenders at the neutral zone and sped in, firing a point blank shot home to make it 3-1 after the first.
A wild second period saw the teams combine for seven more goals. Brett Huxley (Calgary, AB) tipped in a Sam Huck (Calgary, AB) power play shot just 19 seconds in for a 4-1 lead, before Lloydminster responded on a Ben Bygrove netfront tip at 4:17. Connor Gourley (Calgary, AB) batted a puck out of midair and into the net on a rebound at 5:58, but Tyson Kowaluk got a goal for the visitors less than a minute later at 6:32 to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Huck got a goal of his own on the rebound of a Nick Wolfenberg (Calgary, AB) shot at 8:07, but Lloydminster got two quick goals from Matthew Swanson and Ryan Schendel off the rush at 17:44 and 18:39 to make it just a 6-5 game after the second.
But a much lower scoring third saw just one tally, a Ty Yoder (Tofield, AB) snipe from the left half wall to notch the 7-5 final score.
The Oilers outshot Lloydminster 36-23 in the game, and are now 6-0-2 in their last eight games. They’ll try to keep the regulation time unbeaten streak going on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Calgary to take on the Canucks at 2:00 PM. Pre-game coverage starts at 1:45 PM on The Eagle 100.9.