Young Oil Kings’ blue line shines

3-2 victory over Ice comes after rash of injuries

It seemed appropriate for the Edmonton Oil Kings to put their future on display in front of thousands of school kids.

Due to a rash of injuries, the Oil Kings were forced to ice an extremely young lineup for their annual Hockey Hooky contest Wednesday afternoon at Rogers Place.

And under the steady buzz made by more than 8,000 students bused in for the game, the Oil Kings battled back to defeat the Kootenay Ice 3-2 in overtime.

Colton Kehler scored the winner 1:18 into extra time after Trey Fix-Wolansky tied the game with 3:17 left in the third period.

“It was quite exciting, it was pretty loud and I think everyone wanted to put on a good show for the kids,” Fix-Wolansky said. “I actually was watching one of these games when I was in Grade 7 or 8. Just the atmosphere around it is huge, and I think that was important for these young guys stepping into the lineup to get a little bit of confidence and just run with it.”

The win was the Oil Kings’ second straight after enduring a gruelling 16-game losing skid. Davis Koch also scored for the Oil Kings, while goaltender Patrick Dea made 29 saves.

Edmonton went all-in on a full rebuild prior to the WHL trade deadline on Jan. 10 and shipped off their two best players in exchange for future assets.

One of those assets, defenceman Conner McDonald, 17, had a monster game, setting up the tying goal and finishing with a plus-3 rating.

McDonald helped anchor a ridiculously young blue line, also featuring Ethan Cap, 16, Anatolii Elizarov, 18, Jayden Platz, 16, and Matthew Robertson, 15.

Injuries forced the Oil Kings to play the contest with five defenceman, two of whom— Platz and Robertson — are affiliate players who joined the team five days ago.

“I thought five-on-five we did a pretty good job eliminating their opportunities, and that’s a lot to ask,” said Oil Kings head coach Steve Hamilton. “I think Conner McDonald played about 45 minutes (Wednesday). That’s a lot. He came from a situation in Kamloops where he was playing five or six spot minutes, and now he’s really embraced that.

“All those guys did a great job. Platz and Matt did a good job, too.”

Platz, a second-round pick — 32nd overall — in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft, was making his season debut for the Oil Kings. Outside of sporting a full face-shield, it was difficult to tell the St. Albert product had one previous game of WHL experience, which came last season as an underage player.

“I thought he looked very poised,” Hamilton said. “He had a couple of very nice shots from the point, where he was patient, slid down the blue line and found a new lane and just got it on net. Those are good signs when your panic level isn’t too high. He was able to make some good plays.”

The only time the Oil Kings’ defence looked exposed was on the penalty kill. Reed Morison and Vince Loschiavo gave the Ice a 2-0 lead in the second period, both scoring with the man advantage.

Morison took a pass from Ryan Pouliot in front of the net and was able to slide the puck in around Dea at 1:07 of the period.