Okotoks, AB (October 21, 2022) — After shooting out to a 5–0 lead in the first period, the Okotoks Oilers cruised to a 7–3 victory over the Canmore Eagles at Okotoks Centennial Arena on Friday night.
Second-year Oilers forwards Ty Yoder (Tofield, AB) and Sam Huck (Calgary, AB) both scored a pair of goals in the victory, with Yoder’s first of the game (and the 2022–23 regular season) coming just 29 seconds into the first period.
The Oilers held a 1–0 lead off Yoder’s opening salvo for more than 12 minutes until Huck scored a slick unassisted breakaway goal to make it 2–0. The hometown team kept piling on from there, adding another three goals in the next six minutes to take a huge five-goal cushion into the first intermission.
Yoder’s second goal, which gave the Oilers a 3–0 lead, came off one of his trademark Tofield Toe-drags from the slot. The 2002-born forward entered Friday’s action still goalless after scoring 14 of them in 33 appearances with the Oilers last season. In his first game back from the injury list, Yoder looked consistently dangerous and was named both the first star and the Okotoks Honda Hardest Working Oiler.
QUICK HITS: The Oilers get two-goal outbursts from Ty Yoder and Sam Huck, en route to a dominant 7-3 win over Canmore at home! #AJHL pic.twitter.com/JXc1Ciyt97
— Okotoks Oilers (@OkotoksOilers) October 22, 2022
Huck added his second of the night on the power play to make it 4–0 before Jagger Tapper (Calgary, AB) tipped a long-range Brody Maguire (Calgary, AB) shot past Eagles starter Andreai Proctor-Ramirez to increase the lead to 5–0.
Matthew Malin replaced Proctor-Ramirez between the pipes for Canmore to begin the second period. Riley Dekowny got the visitors on the board at the 6:33 mark of the middle frame, deflecting a Brody Tallman drive past Parker Sawka (Cochrane, AB) to cut the Oilers’ lead to 5–1 (despite protests from the home side about Dekowny allegedly touching the puck over the crossbar).
Eagles forward Owen Jones made it a 5–2 game shortly thereafter, cleaning up a rebound following a breakaway stop by Sawka on Vincent Scott. Kai Billey picked up his first AJHL point on the play, settling down the loose puck after Sawka’s big save and setting up Jones for a tap-in right on the doorstep.
But Oilers star Conyr Hellyer (Okotoks, AB) responded right back in the dying minutes of the second period to put the home team back up by four goals. After taking a clean feed from Huck in the low slot, Hellyer snapped a quick shot past Malin for his team-leading 11th goal of the season to make it a 6–2 hockey game.
The Eagles and Oilers traded goals in the third period, with Zeth Kindrachuk (Calgary, AB) scoring the final goal of the back-and-forth contest on a breakaway with 12:46 remaining in regulation time to make it 7–3.
Yoder (2 G, 1 A), Huck (2 G), Kindrachuk (1 G, 1 A) and Reschny (2 A) each recorded multiple points in the victory. Sawka stopped 18 of 21 shots, improving to 6–4–1 on the season with a .903 save percentage and a 2.55 goals-against average.
With the win, the Oilers (8–5–1) now sit in fourth place in the AJHL South Division; the Eagles (6–6–2) currently rank sixth. The Oilers will return to action on Sunday to visit the Sherwood Park Crusaders (7–3–2) before returning home on October 25 to take on the Fort McMurray Oil Barons (6–5–1). You’ll be able to hear the pre-game show for the Sherwood Park game on Eagle 100.9 FM starting at 6:45 p.m. MT, with opening puck-drop slated for 7:00.