The Okotoks Oilers and the Sherwood Park Crusaders met for the first time this season tonight (Nov. 2), with the Green and Gold leaving the ice with a 5-4 win at Viking Rentals Centre.
While it was the first meeting in the 2024-2025 BCHL season, the Oilers and Crusaders know each other very well, as they both were in AJHL not even a year ago.
Newly acquired forward from the Brooks Bandits, Brock Souch made his Oilers debut against his other former team in Sherwood Park and played on the first line with Jackson Rowland along with Hunter Sawka. This was Rowland's first game back after missing two due to injury.
Olivier Ciarlo made the start in net for the Oilers' lone game of the weekend and picked up his fifth win in seven games since he got his new Okotoks colour-inspired gear. Carlo made 27 saves in front of 997 fans for the win.
Kade Duell got the first star of the game after scoring two goals, followed by the Oilers captain Rowland, who found the back of the net twice, including the game-tying goal in the third period. Former Drumheller Dragons Coy Pighin and Jamie Hikida both added two points themselves, with Hikida scoring the game-winning goal.
The Crusaders got on the board first with a goal coming from Robin Benoit, but Okotoks responded with Duell banging home a goal near the Crusaders' crease. Brett Wilson and Otto Hanson picked up the helpers on Duell's powerplay marker.
Okotoks and Sherwood Park would trade goals again, with Poul Andersen getting a powerplay goal for his ninth tally of the season for the Crusaders. The Oilers were still down a man after the Andersen marker but got a shorthanded goal after Hakida made a nice pass on a 2-on-0 to Rowland, who added his team-leading sixth goal of the season to tie it up at two.
Duell ended the period with his second goal of the game and his third goal in three games to give the Oilers the 3-2 lead entering the second period. Spencer Rheaume added his fifth assist on the Duell goal.
The second period saw two goals from the Crusaders, as they took a 4-3 lead into the third period. Matthew Frost and Malachi McKinnon got the goals for Sherwood Park.
Rowland tied things up at 8:30 into the third period with his seventh goal on the season, finding open space on the powerplay and banging home the game-tying goal. Pighin and Sawka picked up the helpers on the goal.
Oilers would continue to hold momentum as Hikida picked up his second point of the night and the game-winning goal less than four minutes later. Pighin added his second point on the night with an assist, and Jacob Goudreau got his first point of the night as three former Dragons worked together for the game-winning goal.
The Green and Gold will play two games next weekend, with a road trip to Brooks to face the Bandits on Friday, and then the Oilers will host the West Kelowna Warriors for the first time ever at Viking Rentals Centre, with the puck drop scheduled for 6:00 p.m.