3 youngsters vie for role as No. 1 goalie
A year ago, Todd Scott and Boston Bilous were Western Hockey League rookies trying to make an impression with the Edmonton Oil Kings.
This season, the two goaltenders are battling for the starting job, trying to impress a new general manager and head coach.
Scott, 18, Bilous, 17, and Sebastian Cossa, 15, are the three remaining goaltenders in training camp and will share the crease during the exhibition season, which begins Friday at a tournament in Red Deer. The Oil Kings play the Red Deer Rebels on Friday (7 p.m.) and Kootenay Ice (3 p.m.) on Saturday.
“They’ve very young and I think at training camp they’ve been good for us,” said Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer. “There is competition there for sure and I think going into the exhibition games, they’re all going to play, they’re all going to get some minutes to play. It’s a good problem to have when you have three good goalies. We’ll evaluate them game-by-game and we’ll see at the end what happens. For me, to have three goalies in an organization is important and we definitely have that.”
Scott may be the front-runner for the starting position as the oldest of the three. The Albertville, Minn., product was acquired in a trade with the Vancouver Giants midway through last season. He played 13 games for the Oil Kings, posting a 4-5-0 record with a 3.89 goals against average and .883 save percentage.
Prior to arriving in Edmonton, Scott had an 8-7-4 record with the Giants with a 4.11 goals against average and .869 save percentage.
“We have three goalies still in camp and it’s exciting battling every day,” Scott said. “I try not to focus on what they’re doing. I just try to play my best game. Obviously, it’s exciting to see what I can do during the season and see how many games I can get in. At the end of the day, though, all that matters is whoever is in the net needs to get the win and that’s how we’re going to go far.”
Goaltending proved to be an issue for the Oil Kings last season as they rotated through five goalies due to injury problems.
Veteran Travis Child sustained an injury midway through the season, leaving the position in flux for the remainder of the season. Neither Scott or Bilous were able to solidify themselves as the undisputed starter, while sharing the duties with Josh Dechaine. Liam Hughes played seven games with the Oil Kings last season before being traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
“Last year, it was definitely an up and down season. We were a young team and we had a lot of adversity thrown our way,” Bilous said. “At times I think we could have handled it better, but I think learning from those defeats last year we’ll only be better for it this year. You can see a lot of growth in every player who went through adversity. You never want to go through a season where you’re out of the playoffs and you’re kind of one of those teams at the bottom of the standings, but it happens and I think we’ll be for sure better for it and I can already see it.”
This year Scott and Bilous came in more confident and more assured of themselves. They are both capable to earning the starter’s role and will be pushed through the exhibition season by Cossa, who turns 16 in November and is eligible to play on a full-time basis this season.
The Fort McMurray product was selected by the Oil Kings in the second round (36 overall) of the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft. He played with the Fort Saskatchewan Midget AAA Rangers last season.
Cossa has had a strong camp thus far and having a new coaching staff at the helm this year could play to his advantage.
“Potentially, with two returners, Todd and Boston, I’m coming in with a clean slate and showing them what I can do,” he said. “I’m not worrying about it too much, though, I’m just trying to play my game, and hopefully, that will be enough to make the team.”
Ideally, junior teams look for a veteran and rookie to make up their goaltending tandem. In the Oil Kings case, however, Lauer is going to go with the two who perform best during the exhibition season.
“They’re all young, so I don’t think the age part of it comes into play, it’s going to be how you’re playing that comes into play,” Lauer said. “I know we’ll be good defensively and responsible, so for me, goaltending is going to be how the exhibition seasons goes and how they develop through that.”