We are now 12 days into the year 2026, and your Edmonton Oil Kings are riding high. With no losses on the record in this calendar year, the team is carrying an 8 game winning streak back home to Rogers Place for a massive home-and-home set against the 1st place Medicine Hat Tigers this week. Before we get there, let’s catch up on what you may have missed in the last week.
Team Stats
The Oil Kings spotless record to start the 2026 year is highlighted by some promising developments in the special teams. The Powerplay has 6 goals over 16 opportunities through the last 5 games, and the Penalty Kill has killed off 19 out of 21 chances for the other guys while adding 2 shorthanded goals too. The team is now sitting at 62 points, only one point back of the incoming Tigers, and 2 points ahead of the Prince Albert Raiders.
With a 5-0-0 record, the Oil Kings are 2-0-0 at home and 3-0-0 at home over this stretch. They have outscored their opponents 24-12, have comeback from 2-0 deficits twice over this time and have scored 5 goals or more in 4 out of 5 games. The overall win streak dates back to December 27th, with the return of Gavin Hodnett and the arrival of Austin Zemlak coinciding directly with the team’s success.
We saw visits from the Red Deer Rebels and the Seattle Thunderbirds, and a trip through Saskatchewan with stops in Swift Current, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert, and none of them could slow the Oil Kings momentum train down. Can the train keep rolling through Medicine Hat and Tri-City this week? We’ve got the return of Weiner Wednesday, a friday trip down to The Hat and then Saturday night with the team wearing the “Fan-designed jersey contest” winning jersey.
Player Stats - Leaders
There may have been a lot of changes to the roster to start the year, but there’s no change to the guys leading this team right now. Holinka, Sawchyn, and Hodnett stay red hot as opponents have not found an answer to slow those 3 down yet. Holinka has 11 points through the last 5 games, and is carrying an 11 game point streak which has lifted him up to third in the Overall WHL Points Leaderboard. His 3 Shorthanded goals, and 7 game winning goals, are both good enough to be tied for first in those respective categories in the league.
Sawchyn has 9 points and Hodnett has 8 points over these games, as the top line trio continue to elevate each other in all situations. Max Curran had 3 goals (4 points) in 2 games since returning from World Juniors, and Ethan MacKenzie had 3 assists in the same 2 games.
Noa Ta’amu finally found the back of the net on Saturday against Prince Albert, for his first goal of the season. He now sits with a 1G, 5A, 6P stat line through 37 games, nearly identical to his 1-5-6 stat line through 43 games last season.
Parker Snell and Ethan Simcoe continue to rotate the crease and get the job done every night, with the help of their much improved defense. Austin Zemlak added 2 goals this week, but was more impressive with his +7 rating through the 5 games. Carter Sotheran arrived with assists in his first 2 games, and seems to be adapting well to the trade.
Snell got starts against Red Deer and Saskatoon, stopping 35 of 37 shots faced and securing a 1.00 GAA and a .946 Sv%. Against Red Deer, the lone goal came late in the 3rd period of a 5-0 game, and in Saskatoon with 3 seconds left in the second period of a then 2-0 game. His overall season stats are now at a 13-4-1-0 record, with a 2.59 GAA and a .898 Sv%.
Simcoe got his starts against Seattle, Swift Current, and Prince Albert and stopped 71 out of 81 total shots. While the raw numbers show a 3.33 GAA and an .876 Sv% over those games, context matters. Turnovers left him exposed on multiple occasions, and it often took Grade A chances to beat him. Despite that, he has looked strong and composed.. This brings his season numbers to a 16-3-2-1 record, with a 2.74 GAA and a .899 Sv%.
Milestones
January 7th marked a historic night for Miroslav Holinka, who joined the 100 point club in just his 82nd career WHL game with a two goal performance against Swift Current. He joins linemate Lukas Sawchyn, who reached the milestone last month. Holinka’s game winning goal against Prince Albert also pushed him to 61 points on the season, breaking the team's previous single season points record for an import player, previously held by Edgars Kulda and Tomas Soustal.
Carter Sotheran joined the Oil Kings from the Portland Winterhawks in a deadline trade. He played his first career game as an Oil Kings, and recorded his first Oil King point with an assist in that same Broncos game on the 7th.
Ethan MacKenzie (Canada), Max Curran (Czechia) returned from their World Junior trips with a Bronze and Silver medal respectively.
Injury Updates
No Changes to the Injury Report this week.
- Luke Powell continues to be out indefinitely with a listed Upper body injury. He has not played since November 2nd against the Swift Current Broncos.
- Rhys Pederson last played on December 16th in Lethbridge, and is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Interestingly, both Powell and Pederson were injured in games where they also dropped the gloves, which may or may not be coincidence.
- Adam Jecho last played on December 7 before heading to World Juniors camp. Though he was named to Czechia’s roster, a hand injury suffered during camp ruled him out of the tournament and he is currently listed as week-to-week.
- New arrival Jaxon Fuder last played on December 13th with Red Deer, prior to being traded to Edmonton on December 27th. His injury is listed as lower-body and also a week-to-week recovery.
- The other new arrival Aaron Obobaifo last played December 30th with Vancouver, prior to the blockbuster trade. He is also listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Roil Reserves
It was mostly status quo for the Oil Kings roster this week, though a few transactions did take place. First, Holden Wouters was returned to St.George’s U18 Prep on January 6th after playing 1 more game for the Oil Kings. Matheas Hejda was recalled on the same day, played in Swift Current, and was then sent back to NAX U18 Prep. Forward Matthew Williams has been with the team since his callup on December 16th, and the team announced on January 10th that Williams will be staying with the team for the remainder of the season.
Meanwhile, in the AJHL, Jensen Marsh played 4 games with the Drumheller Dragons this week where he scored 3 goals and added an assist to bring his season total to 17 points in 27 games. Tucker Tullikopf had 2 games with the Camrose Kodiaks and saw his 10 game point streak snapped against the Devon Xtreme on January 9th, but he did secure 1 assist on Sunday to bring his totals to 35 points in 32 games. Presley Kerner had 5 games with the Olds Grizzlies, and scored himself 1 goal and 2 assists to bring his season total to 10 points in 27 games.
Wouters has yet to return to game action with St. George’s due to a quiet stretch in their schedule, with his next opportunity coming on January 17th and 18th. Matheas Hejda, on the other hand, was returned to the NAX U18 Prep team in time to get into 3 games immediately. He scored 1 goal in his first game back and sits now at 10 points in 20 games for NAX. Cole Landreville had a quiet night in his lone game for Pilot Mound since the turn of the calendars, and Yale Hockey Academy has not played any games to see if Chris Kokkoris could potentially make his return.
Reserve Pulse Check:
- Kayson Anderson had 2 assists in 3 games for the Estevan Bears (SMAAAHL). He now has 28 points in 30 games played.
- Rail Schollar had one start for the Calgary Northstars (AEHL U18) and suffered a 6 goal defeat. He’s now 7-7-1 on the season with a 3.24 GAA and .901 Sv%
- Ezekiel Kaebel has not played yet in 2026, and still sits at 71 points over 45 Games with the Dallas Stars 16U AAA program
- Carter Nash had a quiet start to the year, as no games have been recorded for him since the start of January. He has a 31-10-0 record with 8 shutouts over 41 starts for the Honeybaked 15U AAA program, and a spectacular 1.84 GAA.
It’s a busy week ahead, with a crucial pair of games as the Oil Kings look to chase down the Tigers from Medicine Hat. Saturday night’s matchup against the Tri City Americans has all the makings of a potential upset, coming on the heels of an emotional home and home with the Tigers and following travel back from Medicine Hat on the second half of a back to back.
Things to watch for:
- Defenseman Ryan Gower has been performing admirably as a fourth line winger recently, but with no other moves being made it seems safe to guess that either Jaxon Fuder or Aaron Obobaifo, or potentially both, must be close to making their debut for Edmonton this week.
- Gavin Hodnett is currently tied with Henrik Samuelsson for 6th all-time in Oil Kings points, and is 2 points away from recording his 200th career WHL Point.
- Ethan Simcoe currently sits tied for 6th with 29 career wins, one more win this week would move him ahead of Torrie Jung and Dylan Myskiw for sole possession of 6th on the all time list.
- Miroslav Holinka is now 4 goals away from the single-season goals by an Import record, currently held by Edgars Kulda. His goal against Prince Albert on Saturday moved him ahead of teammate Adam Jecho’s 25 goals from last season.
- A win on Wednesday against Medicine Hat would be Edmonton’s 9th in a row. It would be the first time since the 2013-14 Memorial Cup winning season that the Oil Kings would have two separate winning streaks of at least 9 games in the same season.