This week was about responses, and the Edmonton Oil Kings did not disappoint. Last month’s back-to-back series against Medicine Hat saw Edmonton come up just short at home and then get manhandled in Medicine Hat with a short-staffed roster. So Edmonton rolled into Medicine Hat this week with a newly fueled determination, and rolled out of the Tigers building with an all-around team effort to secure the victory. Last week, Edmonton went through Moose Jaw and got lit up like a New Year’s fireworks display. They battled hard but could not complete a comeback. So they came back home to welcome the Warriors for a rematch, and proceeded to light the lamp so often it felt like birthday candles being lit for Louie the Lion’s birthday bash.
Wednesday in Medicine Hat, the Oil Kings battled hard for the victory. Still missing some key players, the roster brought some momentum with them from the energetic atmosphere in Swift Current, and held together in front of one of the most dangerous teams in the league. An all-around team effort that started with Ethan Simcoe’s brilliance in the net, and filtered through the entire lineup. It was such an all-around victory, that the team decided to give the “Performer of the Game” jacket to Head Coach Jason Smith instead of any of the players. This was a statement, a response, and potentially a unity moment for the team to close out their road trip in this way.
Friday night back at Rogers Place, the message was even louder. The Oil Kings were not happy with how things ended in Moose Jaw the week before, and that frustration poured directly into their play. Edmonton scored early and often, finishing the night with eight different goal scorers, 15 players recording at least one point, and 11 goals on the scoreboard. Carter Sotheran completed his hat trick with just 4.6 seconds remaining, a final punctuation mark that sent tempers flaring on the Moose Jaw bench. With the outcome long decided, the Warriors took exception to the late dagger and tried to turn the closing moments into something unnecessary. The Oil Kings had already made their point.
It’s a busy week ahead, as the Oil Kings will play 4 games in the next 7 days. The action starts Wednesday with the WHL leading Everett Silvertips making the trip into Edmonton for a heavyweight showdown, the weekend will see a back-to-back with the dreaded Calgary Hitmen as Edmonton heads to the Saddledome on Friday before the Hitmen come to the Kingdom on Saturday for a Valentine’s Day Croc Party, and the week will finish with the Family Day game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Lots to look forward to, but before we get there, let’s catch up on what you may have missed in the last week.
Team Stats
The Oil Kings powerplay kept their strong stretch going with goals in each game this week. They are now up to 4 consecutive games with at least 1 Powerplay goal, as they went 2 for 6 this week. With a 22.1% success rate on the season, they have now moved up into the middle of the pack and sit 13th in the league for Powerplay.
Discipline was key to the 2 big victories this week, as Edmonton largely reduced the amount of time they were spending in the penalty box. Only 4 times did Edmonton find themselves killing a penalty this week, and they went 4 for 4 on the kill. A perfect week managed to cancel out last week’s drop off, and has Edmonton back to an 80.9% Penalty Kill, good enough for 3rd in the league.
A strong powerplay, a perfect penalty kill, and a perfect week for the Oil Kings. With 2 games, and 2 wins, they go 2-0-0-0 to start February. The win over Medicine Hat made up some ground on the Tigers, but ultimately the Oil Kings are still 5 points back as they now have one less game played than the Tigers after the week. The big win over the Warriors put Edmonton at 73 points on the season so far, with the current playoff clinch line sitting at 79 points. 3 wins this week would clinch a trip to the postseason.
Don’t expect those wins to come easy with the schedule ahead, though. The Everett Silvertips come to town on Wednesday, and are on the verge of being the first Western Conference team to clinch their spot. They play first in Red Deer on Tuesday night, a win clinches their spot to the playoffs and knocks the East clinch line to only 77 with a Rebels loss, but a Rebels upset victory would send a hungry Everett team into Rogers Place looking to clinch their playoff spot. Friday and Saturday’s battles with Calgary are getting into critical territory for Edmonton. The Oil Kings have not been able to solve the Hitmen at all this season, and now is the time they need it. 2 Hitmen wins could put them only 4 points behind catching Edmonton in the standings. Edmonton figured out how to respond to Medicine Hat and Moose Jaw, now they need to give a resounding response to Calgary. Finally, the Family Day matchup should be great fun for all families in attendance as the Oil Kings welcome the lowly Lethbridge Hurricanes for an afternoon showdown.
Player Stats - Leaders
We have been slowly monitoring the arrival of Carter Sotheran ever since the trade that brought him from Portland in December. This week, he finally had that breakout moment that Oil Kings fans can see why he was worth bringing into the locker room. He completed the hat trick against Moose Jaw to top off his 5 point night, and with 2 points against Medicine Hat he finished the week leading the team at 7 points through 2 games. He now has 18 points through 13 games since joining Edmonton.
Almost everybody got in on the action this week, as 16 different players recorded at least 1 point. Miroslav Holinka had a big return with 3 points against Moose Jaw, and Adam Jecho put in an assist in his return against Medicine Hat. Lukas Sawchyn had 4 points, Dylan Dean provided the opening goal in both games, and Gavin Hodnett, Ethan MacKenzie, and Kanjyu Gojsic each put in identical 3 point performances for the week.
An important side note to watch for was the performance of the 4th line against Moose Jaw. Dylan Dean, Cage Smith, and Matt Williams appear to have found some chemistry together and were buzzing all night. Dean and Williams each had a goal, Smith had 2 assists, the line was on the ice for 3 goals for and none against and heavily dictated zone time on every shift. This development is very promising as the Oil Kings 4th line has consistently managed possession well all season, but has struggled at times to convert it into points. Keeping this line together would be another weapon to add to Jason Smith’s expanding arsenal.
Hodnett has extended his point streak up to 8 games with 15 points over that time. Lukas Sawchyn is up to13 points on his current 6 game streak. Landon Hanson is at a 5 game streak, and both MacKenzie and Sotheran are at 4 game streaks, Sotheran with 11 points, MacKenzie with 8 points on their respective streaks.
Ethan Simcoe made the start against Medicine Hat and stopped 25 of 27 shots, many of which were high danger opportunities. Plenty of highlight saves on breakaways and clean looks for the Tigers to lead the Oil Kings to the victory. His save percentage makes a slight increase to .897, and he climbs to a 2.69 GAA.
Parker Snell’s night didn’t go quite as well statistically, but he gets the win on the back of one of Edmonton’s most dominant offensive outbursts. With 16 saves on only 20 shots, the numbers don’t look great, but Edmonton’s defense smothered Moose Jaw all night long so those 20 shots were mostly dangerous opportunities as the Warriors had to work just to get shots through. The numbers drop to a 3.07 GAA and a .879 Sv% but this is a case study on how goalie stats don’t always tell the whole story.
Milestones
Carter Sotheran’s hat trick on Friday was only the second hat trick by a defenseman in the modern history of the Oil Kings. Sotheran also celebrated his 250th consecutive WHL game on Friday, showing off his durability and reliability all in one night.
With 2 goals on Friday, Miroslav Holinka has now tied Edgars Kulda’s record for most goals in a season by an Oil Kings import player. He already holds the record for most points this season, and continues to build on his record with each point he adds.
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.
- Austin Zemlak is still listed as day to day with a lower body injury. He last played January 30th against Moose Jaw.
- Noa Ta’amu also last played against Moose Jaw, but he has been removed from the Injury Report.
- Aaron Obobaifo has found himself back on the injury report again. He played Friday against Moose Jaw, but is now listed as day to day with an upper body injury
- Cage Smith took a hard hit at the end of Friday’s game and left the game in a lot of pain. He is now listed as week-to-week with a lower body injury.
- Jaxon Fuder served out his 3 game suspension this week and is eligible to return for Wednesday’s game against Everett.
- Miroslav Holinka made his return from injury on Friday against Moose Jaw.
- Adam Jecho made his return from illness on Wednesday in Medicine Hat.
Roil Reserves
As suspected, Jensen Marsh and Matheas Hejda were indeed called up to join the team in Medicine Hat this week. Jensen played in the game, while Hejda remained with the team as an emergency replacement if needed. Marsh played the one game, had minimal impact, but was responsible enough to not get burned, and then was returned to the Drumheller Dragons. In his return to Drumheller, Marsh scored a first period goal in his first game back as his only point of the 2-game weekend. He’s up to 22 points through 34 AJHL Games this year.
Matheas Hejda sat out Wednesday, was sent back to NAX, then called back up for Friday’s game but again sat in the press box as an extra option if needed. With all the movement Hejda did not see any game action at any level this week, and remains stagnant at 13 points through 25 games in the CSSHL. At this time, Hejda has been officially returned to NAX to start this week.
Reserve Pulse Check:
- Tucker Tullikopf provided an assist through 2 games this week with the Camrose Kodiaks. He’s now up to 44 points through 42 games this year.
- Presley Kerner had 2 goals for the Olds Grizzlys on Sunday, bringing his personal totals to 14 points through 35 games. That victory against the Drayton Valley Thunder officially moved the Grizzlys ahead of the Thunder, and out of last place in the standings.
- Holden Wouters started February hot, with 2 goals and an assist through 2 games for St. George’s U18 Prep. With that production Wouters moved to 18 points over 21 games in this season.
- Christopher Kokkoris added another assist to keep up his hot streak in 2026. This brings his total to 8 points in 10 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.
- Recently signed Zeke Kaebel did not have any games this week for the Dallas Stars 16U, he’s still sitting at 80 points through 53 games.
- Carter Nash also did not play this week. He remains at a 38-12-0 record with 9 shutouts over 46 starts for the Honeybaked 15U AAA program, and a spectacular 1.83 GAA.
Wednesday NIght is another Weiner Wednesday in the Kingdom, as the Oil Kings welcome the CHL’s Top-Ranked team in one of the most anticipated matches on the Schedule. Friday’s trip to Calgary will be short, as the Hitmen come to Rogers Place for Valentine’s Day on Saturday. Bring your sweetie, wear your crocs, and show some love because nothing says Valentine’s Day like a Battle of Alberta on a Saturday Night. Lastly, hop in your Mystery Machine, load up the whole family, and don’t forget the Scooby Snax because the Oil Kings will be rocking their special Scooby-Doo themed jerseys for a Family Day afternoon against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Monday.
Things to watch for:
- Miroslav Holinka scored his 29th & 30th Goal of the season on Friday, which has now tied him with Edgars Kulda for the most goals in a Season by an Oil Kings Import player. 1 More goal will break the record. With the way Holinka has been playing, expect to see this happen this week
- 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. With a 3 point week he is now at 97 career points, as his current pace has him headed towards his 100th point in the very near future.Will he hit it this week?