Oil Kings optimistic after spirited rally in loss to Warriors
The Edmonton Oil Kings are looking to ride a wave of momentum following a good effort against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The Oil Kings host the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday (7 p.m.) at Rogers Place following a strong outing in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Warriors on Monday.
Edmonton battled back from a two-goal deficit in the third period before losing in the extra fame.
“It’s important to have some positives to build from,” Oil Kings head coach Steve Hamilton said. “With three minutes left in that game, we didn’t have anything to show for ourselves. To get it to overtime, it was a good team effort. It’s been a good couple of days of practice, there’s been an additional jump in their step, so it’s been good.”
Davis Koch and Trey Fix-Wolansky scored in the last 3:17 of regulation time to give the Oil Kings a well-deserved point. The Oil Kings out-shot Moose Jaw 38-30, but struggled to finish off their opportunities.
Having graduated a majority of their scoring from last season, the Oil Kings are searching for offence this year and need someone other than leading scorers Lane Bauer, Aaron Irving and Tyler Robertson to provide it.
“We had Lane playing with Davis and Trey earlier in the year and have since tried to spread out our experience and spread out our veteran presence on some different lines,” Hamilton said. “Hopefully, we can create a little bit of depth and get some matchup advantages at some point. Davis has been a natural centre through his younger days and we’ve used him there sporadically over the last number of years. I like him at centre. He distributes the puck well and has been a real driver of the play for us.”
In the Warriors, the Oil Kings went up against a team sitting third in the WHL Eastern Conference standings, a point back of both the Regina Pats and Swift Current Broncos.
Prince Albert comes to town a point back of the Oil Kings, tied for 10th place in the conference standings.
The two teams met earlier this season with Edmonton losing 5-2 in Prince Albert in the third game of a three-day road trip. Prince Albert has only managed one win since.
“I thought we played pretty well against them there, but we ran out of gas a little bit,” Hamilton said. “They’re a real honest, hardworking team. They block a lot of shots and their offence is driven by a couple of guys that have been really good for them.
“But we want to continue to take a step forward. I think it’ll be nice to get some traction in our homestand here, it’s a seven-game homestand and we need to have some results.”
Friday’s contest is the fifth game of the season’s longest homestand for the Oil Kings. They’ll host the Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday and Calgary Hitmen next Friday.
Hamilton said he hasn’t made a decision on his starting goaltender against the Raiders. Liam Hughes made a number of big saves for the Oil Kings in the overtime loss to the Warriors, and so far this season, has put up better numbers than incumbent Patrick Dea. Notes: The WHL announced its roster for the 2016 CIBC Canada Russia Series. The series begins in Prince George, B.C., on Nov. 7 and swings through Rogers Place on Nov. 8 before moving on to Ontario and then Quebec. No one from the Oil Kings was named to Team WHL, but Hamilton was named as assistant coach to Tim Hunter of the Warriors, while Oil Kings head athletic therapist Brian Cheeseman and head equipment manager Rogan Dean were also named to the squad.