SHERWOOD PARK, AB – Former Sherwood Park Crusader Tanner Laderoute had a career day for the Okotoks Oilers as he scored four goals in his team's 8-5 win over the Sherwood Park Crusaders Sunday afternoon.
The top team in the AJHL picked up their 12th win in a row and their 40th of the 2017-18 regular season.
Laderoute would open the scoring for the Oilers early on in the hockey game as he buried a rebound in tight past Crusaders Goaltender Brandon Vogel at 2:19 of the first period.
The Crusaders would answer back on a 5 on 3 power play as Ty Readman ripped a shot over the shoulder of Ben Howard on the right wing side, tying things up at one at 8:31.
The joy was short lived when Oilers Defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker would score short-handed on the 5 on 4 situation right after the Readman goal. The North Dakota commit would beat Brandon Vogel on a backhand on a breakaway.
Okotoks would add to their lead in the opening frame courtesy of Laderoute again less than two minutes later on a power play of their own, giving the Oilers a 3-1 after the first.
The Crusaders came out hungry in the middle frame, as Dylan Stewart would score his 26th of the season on a power play that carried over from the first.
Sherwood Park would tie things up at 14:02 on an excellent rush from Arjun Atwal who was able to find a loose puck in the neutral zone and work his way into the Oilers zone from right to left and beat Howard for his eighth of the season.
The deadlock wouldn't last long as Oiler Forward Quinn Olson redirected a Jacob Bernard-Docker point shot in past Vogel to give the Oilers a 4-3 lead after forty minutes.
There was a ton of optimism heading into the third period with the Crusaders only down by a goal to Okotoks.
But the wheels would fall off.
Okotoks would score 1:01 into the third courtesy of Austin Wong to go up by a pair of goals.
Laderoute would complete the hat-trick at 12:07 to put the game out of reach at 6-3.
The Oilers seventh goal would come on a wild bounce of a stanchion as Nick Blankenburg would wrist one into the Crusaders zone as he gained the redline. Crusader netminder Brandon Vogel began to exit his crease only to have the puck bounce toward his goal and cross the redline.
Laderoute's fourth goal would be sandwiched between a second goal from Dylan Stewart and Jacob Franzcak all within a span of two minutes near the end of the game.
Sherwood Park will now head out on the road for their next four games, all against Viterra South Division opponents. Their first one, Tuesday in Camrose against the Kodiaks.
BOXSCORE: Oilers 8 Crusaders 5
VIDEO: Post Game Wrap
VIDEO: Highlights