Great
expect ations
Okotoks Oilers
look to improve on
last year’s results
If the Okotoks Oilers have a theme for the 2009-10 Alberta Junior Hockey League season, it’s this: taking care of unfinished business.
“It was a disappointing playoff run last year,” Head
Coach and GM Dan MacDonald says, referring to last
season’s playoff loss to the Olds Grizzlys.
“But when you talk about the 2009 season, I can’t
help but think about our returning players. Last year,
we were talented, but inexperienced. We had a young
team with 15 new faces who are all returning this year »
— they’re coming into this season bigger, stronger, and
better-conditioned, and they now know what it takes
to play in this league at a high level. That’s significant
— and that’s improvement that you can’t measure.”
Joining star forwards James Bannister and Chris
Duszynski as high-impact returnees will be forwards
Corban Knight, a 19-year-old from High River who
was drafted by the Florida Panthers (135th overall) in
the 2009 NHL draft, and Derek Rodwell, drafted 144th
overall by the New Jersey Devils.
