YOUNG STARS: Chaulk excited for Oilers Rookies to embrace their opportunity

PENTICTON, B.C – It’s a great day to show what you’re made of if you're Head Coach Colin Chaulk.

When the Oilers Rookies arrived at the South Okanagan Events Centre on Thursday for their first on-ice session of the Young Stars Classic, Chaulk couldn’t help but express his excitement to the group for the opportunity that lies ahead for each and every one of them as they reached the most important juncture of their Rookie Camp experience.

Over the weekend, three games against the rookies of the Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks will challenge their abilities, teach them their teammates' tendencies, push them to their competitive edge, and bring them closer in line with some of the philosophies and ideas that are forming the basis of their understanding behind what they can expect over the coming years as they develop further within the Oilers organization. 

All of that sounds like a great way to spend a weekend when you're trying to make your mark as a prospect, or a coach, who's hungry to grow.

“It was the first thing I said when I walked in yesterday,” Chaulk recalled. “I said, ‘Hey, how exciting is this that there's meaningful eyes on you? It's an exciting time and you've worked your whole life to have moments like this.’”

“So, we meet it head-on.”

For many of the 25 players attending Oilers Rookie Camp who’ve either been drafted by the club, acquired via trade, signed through free agency or brought in as a Camp invite, Friday will be the first time they’ve shared the ice alongside one another in competitive action within an Oilers system that’s equally as fresh to them as their new teammates.

For some, it'll be the first time they've ever pulled on an NHL sweater; or the first time they've donned the famous Blue & Orange and the club's iconic Oilers crest.

Ultimately, Chaulk is expecting that level of emotion, combined with a lack of familiarity with one another and the organization's tendencies, to lead to some moments of pause this weekend in Penticton for him and his coaching staff to provide some important teaching moments.

“We had a moment in practice yesterday,” Chaulk added. “We got about halfway through and they started to freeze, because it was something new.”

The Bakersfield Condors bench boss is anticipating a few mistakes in this weekend’s matches, with his coaching staff preparing their young Oilers rookie squad to play to their individual strengths but with the collective mindset of winning the hard battles in every facet of the game.

“We had a lot of success last year,” he said. “We tried to draw on those experiences and be simple and concise. We want to be hard to play against, and it's an overused term, but if you're hard to play against, it takes hard acts and hard moments.”

Chaulk hopes that if there are mistakes made by his group, they'll be made when playing with the right intentions.

“If we're going to make mistakes, we want them to be aggressive and we want to be hard on pucks, heavy in blue paint areas, and at the same time, we don't want them freezing.”

"We'll draw on those experiences and after Game 1, we'll look at the film and we'll decide where we need to go from there.”