Whitecourt, AB – The Whitecourt Wolverines (28-13-5) had their three-game win streak snapped on Saturday night dropping a tight-checking affair to the Okotoks Oilers (39-6-2) by a score of 3-1.
The Wolverines got off to a quick start with Ben Evanish firing home his team-leading 25th goal of the year after being set up by Yannik Bertrand on a two-on-one rush just under six minutes into the game. The Oilers elected to use their timeout after giving up the game's opening goal and were able to regroup and get their legs back under them as they carried much of the play for the remainder of the period but could not solve Xavier Potvin as the Wolverines held a 1-0 lead heading to the first intermission.
The Oilers continued to press in the second period and would finally breakthrough late in the frame as Kyle Gordon redirected in a Jacob Bernard-Docker point shot on a 5 on 3 power play with 2:59 left in the period.
The Oilers pulled ahead in the third period just under four minutes in as Austin Wong took advantage of a Wolverine defensive zone turnover and busted in alone on Potvin snapping a shot past his glove. The Wolverines played with desperation but could not find a game-tying goal before Nick Blankenburg would score an empty-net goal with 26 seconds left in the game.
The Wolverines return to action Sunday afternoon as they play host to the Olds Grizzlys (15-30-3) at 2:30 p.m.
Scoring Summary
1st Period:
WCT Goal – 5:49 – Ben Evanish(25) from Yannik Bertrand (EV)
2nd Period:
OKO Goal – 17:01 – Kyle Gordon(21) from Jacob Bernard-Docker and Carson Beers (PP)
3rd Period:
OKO Goal – 3:40 – Austin Wong(21) from Marc Pasemko and Tanner Laderoute (EV)
OKO Goal – 19:34 – Nick Blankenburg(15) unassisted (EV/EN)
Shots – WCT 16 (5-7-4) OKO 37 (10-16-11)
Power plays – WCT 0/3 OKO 1/4
Goalies:
WCT – Xavier Potvin (21-10-4) 34sv/36sh
OKO – Ben Howard (19-3-0) 15sv/16sh
Three Star Selection:
1. OKO-Austin Wong
2. WCT-Xavier Potvin
3. OKO-Jacob Bernard-Docker
Hardest Working Wolverine: Ryan Grant.
Recap presented by:
