WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Preview: Oil Kings at Saskatoon Blades

Published on October 4, 2023 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


EDMONTON OIL KINGS (3-1-0-1) @ SASKATOON BLADES (2-2-0-0) - October 4, 2023 - SaskTel Centre - 7:00 PM

Game Notes - Follow along on X - Live Box Score - Listen on iHeartRadio Canada

2023-24 Schedule vs. Saskatoon Blades

Tuesday, Oct 3 @ Prince Albert

Saturday, Oct 7 @ Edmonton

Friday, Jan 19 @ Edmonton

Friday, Mar 8 @ Prince Albert

2023-24 vs. Saskatoon: 0-0-0-0 Home: 0-0-0-0 Away: 0-0-0-0 PP: 0/0 (0.0%) PK: 0/0 (0.0%)

2022-23 vs. Saskatoon: 0-3-1-0 Home: 0-1-1-0 Away: 0-2-0-0 PP: 2/16 (12.5%) PK: 4/16 (75.0%)

Who We're Watching

#16 Aidan Litke

The Edmonton Oil Kings bolstered their forward group at last Spring's WHL Prospects Draft by making a trade with the Portland Winterhawks to acquire 20-year-old Aidan Litke. He brought with him 123 games of WHL experience and 67 career points (31G, 36A). Last season, he notched career highs in both points (36) and assists (23) in just 50 games with the Winterhawks. This season, he is well on his way to shattering both those marks after tallying eight points (2G, 6A) in the Oil Kings first five games of the season. He is currently riding a 3-game assist/point streak (0G, 5A) and sits 7th in the WHL scoring race this season.

"You can tell he's been around a program that plays the game the right way and takes it seriously. In our room he has a really good handle on when to keep things light and have fun but also when it's time to dial things in and be focused and he keeps our guys honest on the bench. He's been a really nice addition and his consistency game-to-game has certainly been helpful" - Oil Kings Head Coach Luke Pierce

Matchup Notes

Tonight marks the first of four meetings this season between the Oil Kings and Blades, and first of two over the next seven days with a return match set for Rogers Place on Wednesday, October 11.

The Oil Kings come in having picked back-to-back wins for the first time since January 7 & 10 of last season thanks to an 8-5 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon and 3-0 blanking of the Prince Albert Raiders last night at the Art Hauser Centre. The Oil Kings only won back-to-back games twice all of last season.

In last night's win, Kolby Hay turned in a rock-solid performance between the pipes stopping all 33 shots sent his way for his second career clean sheet. He becomes the first Oil Kings goalie in franchise history to shutout the Raiders.

Offensively, the Oil Kings were led by multi-point efforts from Adam Jecho (1G, 1A) and Aidan Litke (0G, 2A), while John Szabo tickled the twine for the second time this season as well.

The Oil Kings and Blades meet tonight for the 63rd time in the regular season, all-time. The Oil Kings hold a record of 32-25-3-2 in the all-time season series but have not defeated the Blades since February 29, 2022 (9-1) going 0-5-0-0 since. Their last win in Saskatoon came on January 1, 2022, by a 4-1 margin.

Last season, the Oil Kings were led offensively in the season series by Ben Wright who recorded his first career WHL goal against the Blades early in the season. Captain Rhett Melnyk also found the back of the net against the

The Blades come in with an even record of 2-2-0-0 on the season and are coming off a two-game Central Division road swing last weekend that saw them pick up a 3-2 overtime win in Medicine Hat on Saturday and fall 3-2 in Calgary on Sunday.

Milestone Watch

D Carter Kowalyk is 2 games away from 100 career games.

F Nathan Pilling is 8 games away from 100 career games.

F John Szabo is 10 games away from 100 career games.

F Ty Nash is 3 goals away from 50 career goals.

D Marc Lajoie is 4 points away from 100 career points.

Lineup Report

F Ty Nash, upper-body, month-to-month (Games missed: 5).

F Gavin Hodnett, upper-body, day-to-day (Games missed: 5).

F Treycen Wuttunee, upper-body, day-to-day (Games missed 5).

D Carter Kowalyk, upper-body, month-to-month (Games missed: 4).

Streaks

F Nathan Pilling is on a 3-game point streak (3G-1A-4PTS).

F Aidan Litke is on a 3-game assist and point streak (0G-5A-5PTS).

F Adam Jecho is on a 2-game goal, assist and point streak (3G-2A-5PTS).

F Marshall Finnie is on a 2-game point streak (1G-1A-2PTS).

Who's Hot

F Gavin Hodnett has 25 points (7G, 18A) in his last 33 games and 38 points (12G, 26A) in his last 46 games.*

F Rilen Kovacevic has 10 points (5G, 5A) in his last 15 games and 15 points (7G, 8A) in his last 22 games.*

F Ty Nash has 4 points (2G, 2A) in his last 6 games.*

F Marshall Finnie has 6 points (5G, 1A) in his last 6 games.*

F Aidan Litke has 8 points (2G, 6A) in his last 5 games.

D Parker Alcos has 4 points (0G, 4A) in his last 5 games.

F Adam Jecho has 6 points (3G, 3A) in his last 5 games.

F Rhett Melnyk has 3 points (0G, 3A) in his last 4 games.

*Dating back to last regular season

League Leaders

F Aidan Litke currently sits 7th in the WHL in points (8) and 3rd in assists (6).

F Adam Jecho currently sits 4th in WHL points by a rookie (6) and leads the entire WHL in GWG (2).

D Parker Alcos currently leads all WHL rookie defencemen in points (4).

D Marc Lajoie currently leads all WHL players in plus/minus (+9).

G Kolby Hay currently leads all WHL goaltenders in shutouts (1), SV% (.952 2+ games) and is 3rd in GAA (1.62 2+ games).

Check out the Edmonton Oil Kings Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from October 4, 2023


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