Oilers Rookies Prove To Be Too Much For The NAIT/MacEwan All-Stars

Oilers Rookies Defeat the NAIT/MacEwan All-Stars 9-1

Oilers Rookies Prove To Be Too Much For The NAIT/MacEwan All-Stars
September 12, 2018

EDMONTON, ALTA.- The NAIT/MacEwan All-Stars were defeated by the Edmonton Oiler Rookies 9-1 Tuesday night at Rogers Place.

In the first period, the Oilers Rookies came out of the gates flying; the storm was weathered by MacEwan goaltender Marc-Olivier Daigle who faced 20 shots. The Rookies were finally able to solve Daigle when Ryan McLeod found the back of the net with 3:40 remaining in the period.

The Rookies kept the pressure in first ten minutes in the second period adding three more goals, two of which were on the power play (Caleb Jones, Tyler Benson PP, Colin Larkin PP). Halfway through the second period, the Griffins' Marc-Olivier Daigle was replaced by the Ooks' Brendan Jensen who was able to shut out the Rookies for the last half of the period.

In the third period, the Oilers would again get on the attack early with a goal from Kirill Maksimov two minutes into the period. The Rookies would then add four more goals including one power-play goal (Tyler Vesel PP, Luke Esposito, Ryan McLeod, Caleb Jones). The NAIT/MacEwan All-stars would, however, get on the board late to spoil the Rookies shutout when Jake Mykitiuk setup Ryan Baskerville for a back door tap in goal.

All in all the Oilers Rookies would prove to be too much for the NAIT/MacEwan All-Stars to handle in the 9-1 defeat. Shots were 68-16 in favor of the Rookies. "Their group as a whole plays with pace. We couldn't handle their speed in all three zones of the ice," said Ooks head coach Tim Fragle following the game.

The NAIT Ooks now head to Vancouver where they will play back to back games against the UBC Thunderbirds (USPORTS). Upon returning from B.C., they will play the University of Alberta Golden Bears (USPORTS) and Augustana Vikings at the Athabasca Hockey Challenge. The Ooks will then turn friends to foes when they face the MacEwan Griffins on September 29th. NAIT closes out their preseason schedule with a game against the Concordia Thunder, before opening up their regular season on October 5th in Red Deer where they will take on the RDC Kings.