The Edmonton Oil Kings had something to prove this week, and they had to prove it the hard way. In the hunt for a playoff spot, Edmonton didn’t want to back their way in, they didn’t want to rely on help from other scoreboards, or continue to see opportunity slip away. The Edmonton Oil Kings chased their clinch, stumbled under the pressure, and then answered it themselves. After falling flat against the Everett Silvertips on Wednesday, and then continuing to struggle against the Calgary Hitmen on Friday, Edmonton had to respond on Saturday. Despite Moose Jaw’s loss giving them that playoff spot, Edmonton finally exorcised their rivals from Calgary, securing the win on their own terms instead of allowing another team’s result to define the moment.

Everett came to Edmonton on Wednesday ready for a fight, and the Oil Kings clearly were unprepared for what the Silvertips brought to the table. Everett scored early, made Edmonton play the Silvertips game, and controlled the pace from start to finish. The Oil Kings only managed 18 shots on goal, and could not find a way to solve goalie Anders Miller. If Edmonton has serious championship aspirations this year, this was a trial run to learn from if they face Everett again in the Finals.

Friday and Saturday against Calgary followed a familiar script. Edmonton has developed a frustrating habit this season of building early leads against the Hitmen, only to allow their rivals to claw back and seize control late. Friday’s loss came on the back of untimely turnovers that handed Calgary momentum at key moments. Saturday provided the opportunity for redemption. Though the third period once again tightened and threatened to slip away, the comeback fell short this time and Edmonton finally secured their first win against Calgary this season.

Monday’s Family Day matchup against Lethbridge brought a packed Rogers Place and the debut of the Oil Kings’ special Scooby-Doo themed jerseys. Edmonton built a comfortable 3-0 lead through two periods, looking as though the mystery had already been solved. But the third period turned into a chase scene. Lethbridge stormed back with two goals, pulling their goaltender and pressing hard in the final minutes. Edmonton held firm, closed the door, and escaped with a 3-2 win to cap a week that tested them in multiple ways.

What was a busy week is followed by a relatively quiet one. The league has a gap in the schedule for the WHL Prospects Game in Vancouver on Wednesday. Edmonton heads out East this weekend for a 2-game road trip through Regina and Brandon. Friday in Regina is a chance to take on the same Regina Pats who could have helped Edmonton clinch last week but continually denied them. Saturday in Brandon could be a potential playoff matchup still, so it’s an important opportunity to gauge the competition.

An important road trip on the way, but before we get there, let’s catch up on what you may have missed in the last week.

Team Stats

This week was a rough outing for the powerplay as they ended up finishing through 4 games with 2 goals on 15 powerplay attempts. The telling part was where those goals came, though. After going 0 for 4 against Everett, and 0 for 3 in the first game against Calgary, the powerplay connected on its first chance Saturday to give the Oil Kings the early lead in the rematch with the Hitmen. The second goal ended up being the game-winning goal on Monday against Lethbridge. The overall Powerplay falls to 21.5% on the season, but it’s encouraging that they righted the ship after a rough couple of games. 

The Penalty Kill unfortunately also had a very tough week, killing only 11 of 15 penalties. Goals allowed vs Everett and Calgary were responsible for the losses Wednesday & Friday, and the attempted comeback on Saturday. The fluctuation continues with up and down weeks, as the season Penalty Kill percentage drops back to 80.4%, which is still good enough for 3rd in the league.

Two important losses, a resilient win, a clinched playoff spot, and a Family Day victory made for a very interesting week. The Oil Kings go 2-1-0-0 on home ice, and 0-1-0-0 on the road in this stretch. The Medicine Hat Tigers did lose a couple overtime games over the week, but Edmonton still needs to make up some ground again if they hope to win the division. Splitting the home-and-home with Calgary secured the Oil Kings position to stay ahead of the Hitmen for 3rd Overall in the East.

With only 2 games this week, against teams below Edmonton in the standings, this is an important stretch to keep pace in the standings. The Tigers have a relatively easy upcoming schedule, and the Hitmen are still chomping at their heels. With only 14 games left in the season, can Edmonton climb to 2nd place, will they stumble to 4th place, or will they simply hold ground and finish in 3rd place? 

Player Stats - Leaders

Oil Kings fans, I think it’s safe to say we are living in the era of Carter Sotheran, for as long as it lasts. After 7 points last week, he kept his strong performance going with 4 more points this week, including a 2 goal game against Lethbridge on Monday afternoon. Being an over-age player, this will be our only season to witness the 20 year old in the Kingdom, so let’s continue to enjoy it for as long as we can. Joining Sotheran at 4 points this week was another 20-year-old, as Miroslav Holinka provided 1 goal and 3 assists this week.

The lines saw some major shake-ups after being shutout by Everett on Monday, so for the first time in a long time we see Holinka, Gavin Hodnett, and Lukas Sawchyn spread throughout the lineup instead of together on the top line and it looks like it’s worked to spread the scoring around. Sawchyn and Hodnett each provided 3 points this week, as did Adam Jecho and Blake Fiddler.

13 players reached the score sheet this week, while others like Kanjyu Gojsic and Landon Hanson had Grade A opportunities but were not able to find the twine. Kayden Stroeder deserves some recognition for putting up 2 big goals against Calgary, and continuing to give hope for what this team will look like next season.

With the shutout on Wednesday, everybody’s point streaks came to an end and started back at zero. Blake Fiddler, Adam Jecho, and Lukas Sawchyn all put up points in the other 3 games this week, to enter the new week on 3 game point streaks. 

Ethan Simcoe got the heavy lifting this week, as the Oil Kings leaned heavily on him to try to secure that playoff spot for them. He started 3 consecutive games, allowing 4 goals to Everett and 4 more to Calgary through the 2 losses before allowing 3 in the victory over Calgary on Saturday. He finished the week with a 3.71 GAA and an .849 SV%. He now has a 21-7-2-2 record for the season, with a 2.78 GAA and .893 Sv%

Parker Snell got his only start of the week on the Monday afternoon against Lethbridge, and played over 49 minutes of shutout hockey. With 2 goals in the third period, it made the finish feel more stressful than it maybe should have, but Snell was celebrated by his teammates after the game for his performance. He stopped 27 of 29 shots, bringing his season record to 15-6-1-0 with a 3.03 GAA and .882 Sv%

Milestones

Jaxon Fuder finally got the monkey off of his back this week, recording an assist on Friday in Calgary for his first point since joining the Oil Kings in December. He followed it up by scoring his first goal as an Oil Kings on Saturday Night at Rogers Place, this was also his first goal since November 15th of this season when he scored a hat trick as a member of the Red Deer Rebels.

Kanjyu Gojsic recorded his 100th WHL Game on Saturday. Landon Hanson celebrated his 200th WHL Game on Monday afternoon.  

With his 31st goal of the season on Saturday, Miroslav Holinka has officially set the new record for most goals in a season by an Oil Kings import player. With 14 more games to play, how many more will Holinka put up before the season is done?

Injury Updates

Moving pieces all over the board 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.
• Max Curran continues to be out with a listed upper body injury after leaving the January 14th game clutching his arm/wrist. He was listed as month-to-month with an upper-body injury.
• Aaron Obobaifo last played February 6th against Moose Jaw, he is now listed as day to day with an upper body injury
• Cage Smith took a hard hit against Moose Jaw on February 6th and left the game in a lot of pain. He is now listed as week-to-week with a lower body injury.
• Austin Zemlak amde his return to the lineup on Friday Night in Calgary.
• Noa Ta’amu made his return to the lineup on Wednesday Night against Everett.

Roil Reserves

All of the reserves spent the week with their respective minor franchises, as the Oil Kings had enough bodies to fill their own roster for the week. No call-ups, and no re-assingments makes for an easy Pulse check this week.

Reserve Pulse Check: 

• Jensen Marsh was inactive for the Drumheller Dragons after being reassigned from Edmonton. He’s still sitting at 22 points through 34 games for the season.
• Tucker Tullikopf provided 2 assists through 3 games this week with the Camrose Kodiaks. He’s now up to 46 points through 45 games this year.
• Presley Kerner had 1 assist for the Olds Grizzlys through 2 games this week, bringing his personal totals to 15 points through 37 games. 
• Kayson Anderson had 3 assists through 3 games for the Estevan Bears in the SMAAAHL this week, bringing him to 39 points through 41 games. 
• Holden Wouters had 2 assists through 2 games for St. George’s U18 Prep. With that production Wouters moved to 20 points over 23 games in this season.
• Christopher Kokkoris added another 2 assists to keep up his hot streak in 2026. This brings his total to 10 points in 13 games played for the Yale Hockey Academy this season.
• Pilot Mound Hockey Academy is in a quiet portion of their schedule, with no upcoming games until February 27th. Cole Landreville has 18 points in 17 games this season and will hopefully be on the ice when his team returns to action.
• Matheas Hejda provided 2 assists in 2 games for NAX U18 Prep, bringing his season totals to 15 points through 27 games.
• Zeke Kaebel has recorded 4 more games for the Dallas Stars 16U, and is now up to 90 points through 57 games. 
• Carter Nash has recorded 4 more games and increases to a 41-13-0 record with 9 shutouts over 46 starts for the Honeybaked 15U AAA program, and a spectacular 1.73 GAA.

The Oil Kings are on the road all week, and will return home for a couple important games next week. Keep up with all things Edmonton Oil Kings by following us here at The Roil Line, and watching every game live for Free on Victory Plus.

Things to watch for: 

• Keep an eye on the WHL Prospect Game on Wednesday night, as 4 Oil Kings will be representing Team East. Noa Ta’amu, Andrew O’Neill, Ethan MacKenzie, and Dylan Dean will all be celebrated in that game before joining the Oil Kings in Regina for Friday’s game.
• Holinka is also now tied for first in most shorthanded goals in a season for the Oil Kings, 1 more will give him the record. 
• Holinka, Landon Hanson, and Gavin Hodnett each have 4 career shorthanded goals, and sit 2 away from the Franchise record of 6. 
• Hodnett also has 59 Career Powerplay assists, currently sitting in 4th all-time on the Oil Kings records. Dylan Wruck’s record of 66 Powerplay Assists is within reach this season.
• Ethan MacKenzie is the next Oil King eying a major points milestone. He added 1 more point this week and he is now at 98 career points, as his current pace has him headed towards his 100th point in the very near future. Will he hit it this week?