CAMROSE, AB (December 3, 2022) — Conyr Hellyer (Okotoks, AB) scored twice, including his league-leading fourth shorthanded goal, while Alex Scheiwiller (Calgary, AB) made 29 saves for the win, as the Okotoks Oilers battled back from an early 1-0 deficit to beat the host Camrose Kodiaks 5-2 on Saturday night.
Rookie forward Shayne Tibbles (Calgary, AB) scored his first Junior A goal in the game as well, as Okotoks improved to 17-11-3 on the season, remaining in second place in the AJHL South division.
QUICK HITS: The Oilers come back from an early 1-0 deficit and score 5 straight in Camrose, downing the Kodiaks 5-2 on Saturday night. #AJHL pic.twitter.com/ysXnPrOMXE
— Okotoks Oilers (@OkotoksOilers) December 4, 2022
Camrose opened the scoring with a Callum Gau rebound goal just 35 seconds in, setting off their Teddy Bear Toss that delayed the game by a few brief minutes.
The Oilers seemed sparked by that, though, as Hellyer got his first less than 4 minutes later, finishing off a 2-on-1 setup from Brett Huxley (Calgary, AB) to make it 1-0. Late in the period, with the Oilers on the penalty kill, an errant Camrose pass to the point skipped off a Kodiak’s stick and back to the neutral zone, where Hellyer won a race, streaked in on a breakaway, and tucked a shot past goalie Robert Andreakos for his team leading 20th goal of the season and a 2-1 Oiler lead.
In the second, the Oiler power play had a long awaited breakthrough when it converted on two consecutive opportunities, the first a Kade Turner (Calgary, AB) wrister from the right circle at 3:28, and the second a Huxley one-timer goal at 4:13 after Nick Wolfenberg (Calgary, AB) had his point shot miss wide right but carom off the end wall to his teammate at the left side. Finally, Tibbles got his first in the AJHL with a low wrister off the rush from the right circle, chasing Andreakos from the net and giving Okotoks a 5-1 lead at 14:21.
The Kodiaks switched back their goalie to start the third, and held Okotoks at bay, but only broke through once on a Ty Sauer shorthanded goal. Camrose outshot Okotoks 31-29 in the game.
The Oilers return home Friday night to take on the Calgary Canucks at Centennial Arena at 7:00 PM. Tickets are available online at tickets.okotoksoilers.ca