Sunday, September 29th, proved to ultimately be a turning point during the early days of the Edmonton Oil Kings season. Dylan Cozens rolled into Rogers Place and made it his own palace with a dominant four point game in a 5-2 win over the Oil Kings.
However, since that afternoon, the Oil Kings have never looked back.
With points now in 12 straight games, Edmonton sits right at the top of the Eastern Conference standings with 27 points and a 12-1-3 record. They earned that 12th win yesterday afternoon against the Calgary Hitmen. The Oil Kings proved to be resilient once again with two goals coming in the final five minutes of the game. David Kope scored the game winner with his fourth of the season.
The streak began on their week-long five-game road trip around Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Oil Kings walked away with a point in their first stop in Swift Current after Connor Horning netted the overtime winner with less than a minute to play. That was soon followed by a 7-0 thumping over the Winnipeg Ice and 2-1 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings in a game which saw Todd Scott make 39 saves. A comeback victory was then in the cards for the Oil Kings after they trailed 3-0 to the Regina Pats 20 minutes into the game. Edmonton responded with five unanswered goals from Liam Keeler, Jalen Luypen, Vladimir Allistrov, Ethan McIndoe, and Dylan Guenther. The trip came to an end in Moose Jaw where the Oil Kings fell 4-3 in overtime.
“We’ve continued to get closer as the year has progressed,” said Conner McDonald. “Getting on the road is grueling, but at the same time, I think that was good for us and brought us together a bit more.”
Edmonton returned home for a short two game homestand after that. In the first game of that stand, Carter Souch erupted for three goals in a 6-4 win over the Calgary Hitmen, giving the Oil Kings their first win in Edmonton since their home opener.
The next night, it was another Oil King’s turn to step up for his team. The rookie netminder, Sebastian Cossa, turned aside 31 of the 32 shots the Portland Winterhawks fired at him, along with three more in the shootout, as the Oil Kings won 2-1. Cossa has been superb during the early part of his WHL career. With six games now under his belt, the Fort McMurray, Alberta, native holds a 1.86 GAA and a 0.939 SV% which is right up there amongst the best goaltenders in the Western League.
“He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now, which is great,” said head coach Brad Lauer of his young netminder. “We had plans for him last year to be with us, and he ended up getting hurt. I think that him playing another year and playing some minutes and playing in different situations benefited him.”
The depth scoring continued for them as they made the trip down the Queen Elizabeth Highway to take on the Red Deer Rebels. They came away with a 5-1 victory as ten different Oil Kings contributed to the box score.
Three of their previous four games were back on home ice, and they made them count, taking maximum points in all three. Scott stole the show against the Medicine Hat Tigers, making 42 saves in 4-2 win. Guenther showed his hometown fans why the team took him first overall with a three point performance in a 6-2 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Then, there was a 4-3 victory against the Saskatoon Blades this past Friday when Josh Williams buried two goals for his seventh and eighth of the season.
And then of course, on Sunday afternoon down in Calgary, they defeated the Hitmen 3-2, thanks to a late winner from Kope.
“I didn’t like our team game at the beginning of the year,” mentioned Lauer when talking about his team’s run of success. “I thought we were just a little but off system-wise, but now I really think our players have really dialed into our team game. We have a better commitment to that right now, and when we do that, we’re a good team”.
Overall, whether it’s Riley Sawchuk scoring timely goals, the offence exploding for seven goals, or either Todd Scott or Sebastian Cossa stepping up between the pipes, the Edmonton Oil Kings have found multiple ways to win hockey games which makes them an extremely dangerous team to go up against.
Their spot in the WHL standings is no joke. They’re a team that means business, not only in the WHL but also the CHL.
