The Farm & Unincorporated Oil Country - December 6

Let’s check in with some of the less covered teams that may be of interest to Oilers fans, or fans of local hockey in Edmonton:

Bakersfield

Our last check in with the Condors was not a happy one. They were playing some of their worst hockey of the year. That continued in their next game, an 8-3 drubbing at the hands of the Tucson Roadrunners. However, the Condors did finish off the week with a couple of wins. They beat the Barracuda 4-3 in San Jose, thanks to a three-point night by William Lagesson. Then, they beat Ontario 3-1 on home ice, for their ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ game, which is always one of the better attended games of the season. Evan Bouchard, Kailer Yamamoto, and Cooper Marody led the way with two points each, while Josh Currie scored the ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ goal.

It’s obviously a very small sample, but Cooper Marody seems to be finding his game, with three points in two games last weekend, after only registering seven in his first 15. He just started playing on a line with Thomas Jurco, after being healthy scratched earlier in the season, and spending some time on the fourth line. The early returns show some reason for optimism.

In other news, Evan Bouchard continues to pass every test at the AHL level. In three games last week, the Oilers’ first rounder from 2018 had three assists, a +3 rating, and 13 shots on goal. On the season, he’s second on the team in shots, trailing only Josh Currie, and third in assists, behind Tyler Benson and Brad Malone.

The Condors only play once this weekend. They’re in Stockton on Saturday. They also have a midweek game next week, on Wednesday, in San Jose. The Condors may only have 21 points in 21 games, but they’re also only one point out of third in the Pacific division, as only Tucson and Stockton have separated from the pack.

Wichita

The Thunder had last weekend off, and thus haven’t played since our last check in. They are on the road to the Kansas City Mavericks tonight, and at home to the Tulsa Oilers on Saturday. They’re currently fourth in the Mountain Division. Three points behind Idaho, with a game-in-hand, for third place.

Alberta Golden Bears

The Golden Bears beat the UBC Thunderbirds twice, on home ice, last weekend. They won 5-3 on Friday night, and 5-1 on Saturday. The 10-4 cumulative score was very close to my 9-3 prediction from last week, though, obviously a bit higher scoring.

The Bears are now done for the Fall semester. Their next action will be the weekend after Christmas, when they take on the MRU Cougars on December 28th, in CWUAA play, then play an exhibition game the next day against the NAIT Ooks.

NAIT

The Ooks topped the MacEwan Griffins twice, in a home-and-home last weekend. They won 3-0 on Friday night, on home ice, and 2-1 at MacEwan University on Saturday. The Ooks’ 26 points in 14 games, and +44 goal differential are both best in the ACAC through the end of the fall semester.

Grant MacEwan

After dropping their last two games of the semester to the Ooks, the Griffins sit third in the ACAC, with 18 points in 14 games. Their +34 goal differential is second best in the conference, to only NAIT, and better than Red Deer College, despite being seven standings points behind RDC, in the same number of games played. The Griffins’ first game of the Winter/Spring semester will be at RDC, on January 10th.