The Edmonton Oil Kings opened their 2024-25 common season with a back-to-back weekend in opposition to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday (Sept. 20) and the Medication Hat Tigers on Saturday (Sept. 21). Heading into the weekend doubleheader, the Oil Kings have been with out a number of gamers who remained at NHL camps together with Adam Jecho, Miroslav Holinka, Marshall Finnie, and Gracyn Sawchyn. With their lineup arrange in the very best means with the personnel that they had, let’s check out how their first video games of the Western Hockey League (WHL) season went.
Hurricanes Edge Oil Kings 3-1
The Oil Kings opened the scoring of their first sport on a objective from Landon Hanson 8:49 into the primary interval, with an help from Gavin Hodnett. The Hurricanes tied it up early within the second interval as Logan McCutcheon scored 4:27 into the center body, with assists from Hayden Pakkala and goaltender Brady Smith. Kale Tipler opened the scoring within the third interval giving the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead with simply over quarter-hour left within the sport, with Pakkala and Luke Cozens selecting up assists. Leo Braillard scored with 5 seconds left to deliver the lead as much as 3-1, with McCutcheon and Tristen Doyle getting assists.
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Goaltender Kolby Hay performed effectively in his first begin of the season, stopping 23 of 25 photographs and posting a .920 save proportion (SV%). Joe Iginla and Lukas Sawchyn performed effectively with one another of their respective WHL debuts, and it appears as if that duo may show to be fairly harmful offensively.
Tigers Defeat Oil Kings 4-2
Within the second sport of their opening weekend, the Oil Kings took on the present championship favourites within the Tigers. They opted to reward Iginla and Sawchyn for his or her sturdy play in opposition to the Hurricanes and moved them as much as the primary line, which proved to be a stable resolution, however the group couldn’t get the 2 factors they wanted. The Tigers opened the scoring 7:52 into the primary interval with a objective from Markus Ruck assisted by Nate Corbet. They didn’t cease there as they scored two extra objectives and entered the second interval up 3-0 with objectives from Matt Paranych and Liam Ruck.
The Oil Kings grabbed some momentum again halfway by the second interval when Sawchyn bought his first WHL objective with assists from Iginla and Hodnett, however the Tigers responded simply three minutes later and made the sport 4-1 heading into the ultimate body with a objective from Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll. Late within the third, Iginla scored his first of the season with assists from Hodnett and Josh Mori, and that will be the ultimate objective as they’d go on to lose 4-2 and drop their file to 0-2-0-0.
Takeaways From Opening Weekend
The Oil Kings could have misplaced each video games to open up their season, however there have been some positives to remove from the weekend. First off, Hodnett remains to be very deadly offensively and appears poised to be amongst their main scorers this season. His three assists in two video games have him atop the group in factors, and I doubt he’ll drop from that spot for some time. Second, Sawchyn and Iginla appear to be every little thing that followers have hoped for, and each of them may escape offensively as middle-six forwards and earn elevated roles because the season strikes alongside.
The Oil Kings could have a bolstered lineup for his or her dwelling opener subsequent weekend as Miroslav Holinka and Marshall Finnie have been launched from the Toronto Maple Leafs, and ought to be becoming a member of the group as quickly as this week. As they give the impression of being to bounce again from a troublesome 2023-24 marketing campaign and hope to make the playoffs this season, an 0-2 begin isn’t excellent, however there are nonetheless tons of video games left, so hopefully, they will discover some confidence and transfer again into the win column on Saturday (Sept. 28) after they tackle the Calgary Hitmen.
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