Oil Kings Skid Grows to Twelve
6 years ago
“We do a lot of good things and then we load up the shotgun and point it directly at our foot,” said Oil Kings Head Coach Steve Hamilton following his team’s 3-1 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings, their twelfth in a row.
The loss against Brandon was eerily similar to a large chunk of their 12 losses. They played a really solid game and managed to pin Brandon in their own end for long periods of time, they just couldn’t manage to bang home a goal. Offense has been a problem as of late as well for this group. After they scored with just 59 seconds left against Kootenay and then were shutout by Portland and needed a late goal in the third against Brandon to avoid being shutout for back-to-back games.
Over this losing streak, the Oil Kings have managed to outshoot their opponents on three occasions and keep the shot clock within five shots in six games. Captain Colton Kehler says that just putting up shots isn’t enough, “It’s not hard to put the puck on net but when you’re not getting any traffic or second chances it’s almost a false stat.”
At the beginning of the season, this looked like a young team with some jump and they got off to a good start as well. Before this slump sunk in, they held a record of 5-6-2 and were just a spitting distance from a playoff spot. Now, twelve games later, they sit eleven points back of the final wild-card spot.
If it’s not one thing, it’s another with this team. When their offense kicks in for a night, they’ll make a few bad turnovers and allow a few weak goals. On other nights, they’ll dominate the play and simply can’t find any puck luck. The frustration is clearly getting to the young group, and Kehler touched on that as well.
“We’re playing with little to no confidence right now. Just seems like we’re just waiting for things to go wrong”, said the 20-year-old.
At this point, it seems like it will take a perfect storm for the Oil Kings to finally get back in the win column and their game on Saturday may be exactly that.
They’ll be hosting the Prince Albert Raiders who aren’t exactly an elite group, sitting at 10-10-4-1. On paper, this should be a game that the Oil Kings can win. The Raiders sit third last in goals for and are middle of the pack when it comes to goals against.
Special teams have been a battle that Edmonton has found themselves on the wrong side of on most nights this season, and Prince Albert sits middle of the pack when it comes to both penalty killing and powerplay efficiency.
One big factor as well, this Saturday is also the organization’s annual Teddy Bear toss night and with the building expected to be sold out, and Steve Hamilton says there will be no excuses come game time, “If you can’t get jacked up for 18000 people here to watch you play there is something fundamentally wrong”.
Kehler on the other hand, mentioned that it’s on the veteran group in the room to ensure the Oil Kings bring their best in front of a sold-out arena, “Us guys who have been in the shoes of a full Rogers Place need to make sure the guys energy and emotions are channelled and make sure we’re ready to go”.
Puck drop will go just after 7 pm between the Raiders and Oil Kings. It’ll be the first of back-to-backs as Edmonton will host Oilers prospect Stuart Skinner and the Lethbridge Hurricanes of Sunday at 4 pm.
Recent articles from Tyler Yaremchuk
