It was Hockey Hooky Day in Edmonton on Wednesday. A day where thousands of students, and overall, more than 11,000 fans packed inside of Rogers Place to watch their hometown Oil Kings battle the Winnipeg ICE.
Heading in, it was expected to be an exciting game. The Oil Kings beat Winnipeg 5-0 last week, so the ICE was looking for some redemption and at the end of the day, they’re one of the top teams in the Western Hockey League.
The game was no doubt an exciting one — if you’re an Oil Kings fan. Winnipeg will surely be seeing Dylan Guenther in their nightmares after the 16-year-old lit up Winnipeg for three goals — in the first 20 minutes. Add seven other goals and just one from the ICE and that makes the final 10-1 for the hometown Oil Kings.
From start to finish, the fans were treated to a dominating performance and things all kicked off with the 16-year-old Guenther. Who for your fun fact of the day has 52 points in his last 41 games. Guenther opened up the scoring with his 23rd of the season as Edmonton took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest and that started a barrage of goals.
On the power play at the 7:07 mark, Guenther tallied his 24th of the campaign and second of the game and that was followed by a goal from Jake Neighbours just more than three minutes later, his 22nd of the season.
Guenther, Neighbours, and Riley Sawchuk played on a line and they combined for nine points. Neighbours is in his second full season with the Oil Kings and he joined Guy Flaming on the Pipeline Show to comment on playing with the rookie, Guenther.
“Dylan’s a very mature kid, he knows his game and he knows what has to happen every night,” said Neighbours. “I’ve been here for Dylan with whatever he needed. I think he’s done a heck of a job stepping up and being a big-time producer for us. He’s had a great rookie season and he’s a great guy.”
Already up 3-0, Edmonton extended that lead before the first 20 was over. With 2:22 left in the first, Guenther scored his 25th of the season and third of the period as Edmonton was up 4-0 after 20.
Edmonton had 17 shots in the first while Winnipeg recorded just two.
Heading into the contest, Edmonton was averaging about 3.6 goals per game. That was surpassed in the opening 20 and the Oil Kings kept on coming during Hockey Hooky Day. First, however, Winnipeg did get some life as James Form netted his third of the season early in the second.
From that point on, it was all Oil Kings. Logan Dowhaniuk potted his second goal of the season and Samuel Stewart followed that with his third as Edmonton took a 6-1 lead with just about nine minutes left in the second.
At the 11:46 mark, Josh Williams beat Gage Alexander to give Edmonton a 7-1 lead heading into the third.
For noteworthy sake, Liam Hughes was pulled after 20 minutes after giving up four goals on 17 shots.
“We were on our heels the whole game and we didn’t have a good start,” said Head Coach of the ICE, James Patrick. “That’s on me, if the team isn’t ready, that’s on me. We were outcompeted and it wasn’t good enough, but that falls on my shoulders.”
“We’re going to need a long video session after this one and we’ll need a good session on the ice, we have to clean up a lot of areas,” he added.
Scott Atkinson would make it 8-1 for Edmonton with his 12th of the season, 8:58 into the third. Vladimir Alistrov made it 9-1 as he potted his 17th of the campaign a short time later. Carter Souch put Edmonton at double digits, also with his 17th goal at the 13:50 mark. Just as they were after 20, Edmonton cruised the rest of the way and Sebastian Cossa turned away 17 shots in all.
Gage Alexander, meanwhile, made 18 saves on 24 shots in relief.
“It was disappointing,” said Patrick.
“They’re a really good team, but we just didn’t come to work and it showed,” said Dawson Barteaux after the game. “We need to learn from this, but at the same time, we want to forget about it and we just want to move on.”
Edmonton’s win now puts them 12 points ahead of Lethbridge for first place in the Central Division. Winnipeg, meanwhile, failed to gain any ground. They’re still four points back of Prince Albert for the top spot in the East Division.
Winnipeg’s road trip continues on Thursday with a game against the Calgary Hitmen.
“We need to be better and work out what happened against Edmonton, that’s a huge game for us,” concluded Barteaux.
ICINGS:
- Early starts are something that the Oil Kings would enjoy playing in moving forward. In their Hockey Hooky Day game last year, they rolled all over Swift Current, 11-0.
- Edmonton went 1-for-1 on the power play while they went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
- With his four points, Guenther is now tied with Michal Teply in the rookie scoring race with 56 points.
