The Edmonton Oil Kings opened their 2024-25 regular season with a back-to-back weekend against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday (Sept. 20) and the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday (Sept. 21). Heading into the weekend doubleheader, the Oil Kings were without several players who remained at NHL camps including Adam Jecho, Miroslav Holinka, Marshall Finnie, and Gracyn Sawchyn. With their lineup set up in the best possible way with the personnel they had, let’s take a look at how their first games of the Western Hockey League (WHL) season went.
Hurricanes Edge Oil Kings 3-1
The Oil Kings opened the scoring in their first game on a goal from Landon Hanson 8:49 into the first period, with an assist from Gavin Hodnett. The Hurricanes tied it up early in the second period as Logan McCutcheon scored 4:27 into the middle frame, with assists from Hayden Pakkala and goaltender Brady Smith. Kale Tipler opened the scoring in the third period giving the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead with just over 15 minutes left in the game, with Pakkala and Luke Cozens picking up assists. Leo Braillard scored with five seconds left to bring the lead up to 3-1, with McCutcheon and Tristen Doyle getting assists.
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Goaltender Kolby Hay played well in his first start of the season, stopping 23 of 25 shots and posting a .920 save percentage (SV%). Joe Iginla and Lukas Sawchyn played well with each other in their respective WHL debuts, and it seems as though that duo could prove to be quite dangerous offensively.
Tigers Defeat Oil Kings 4-2
In the second game of their opening weekend, the Oil Kings took on the current championship favourites in the Tigers. They opted to reward Iginla and Sawchyn for their strong play against the Hurricanes and moved them up to the first line, which proved to be a solid decision, but the team couldn’t get the two points they needed. The Tigers opened the scoring 7:52 into the first period with a goal from Markus Ruck assisted by Nate Corbet. They didn’t stop there as they scored two more goals and entered the second period up 3-0 with goals from Matt Paranych and Liam Ruck.
The Oil Kings grabbed some momentum back midway through the second period when Sawchyn got his first WHL goal with assists from Iginla and Hodnett, but the Tigers responded just three minutes later and made the game 4-1 heading into the final frame with a goal from Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll. Late in the third, Iginla scored his first of the season with assists from Hodnett and Josh Mori, and that would be the final goal as they would go on to lose 4-2 and drop their record to 0-2-0-0.
Takeaways From Opening Weekend
The Oil Kings may have lost both games to open up their season, but there were some positives to take away from the weekend. First off, Hodnett is still very lethal offensively and seems poised to be among their leading scorers this season. His three assists in two games have him atop the team in points, and I doubt he’ll drop from that spot for a while. Second, Sawchyn and Iginla seem to be everything that fans have hoped for, and both of them could break out offensively as middle-six forwards and earn increased roles as the season moves along.
The Oil Kings will have a bolstered lineup for their home opener next weekend as Miroslav Holinka and Marshall Finnie have been released from the Toronto Maple Leafs, and should be joining the team as soon as this week. As they look to bounce back from a tough 2023-24 campaign and hope to make the playoffs this season, an 0-2 start isn’t ideal, but there are still tons of games left, so hopefully, they can find some confidence and move back into the win column on Saturday (Sept. 28) when they take on the Calgary Hitmen.
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