The Okotoks Oilers get back on the ice this week as they start their training camp in preparation for the AJHL season.

After an amazing campaign last year, that saw the Oilers lose out in the League Final to Spruce Grove in five games, and after setting a bunch of records, Head Coach Tyler Deis is quietly confident his team will do well again this year.

"I think it's pretty hard to duplicate the success we had in the regular season last year. But, you know the thing is we have a lot of guys coming back so we're going to be strong in areas and we're going to be young a little bit on the defensive part of it."

Deis said the same thing last year, except about his forward lines, where he had a young group up front that included the likes of Jacob Bernard-Docker and Austin Wong who went on to enjoy All-Star Seasons, with Docker ending up getting picked in the first round of the 2018 NHL draft by the Ottawa Senators.

In the meantime, the Oilers will have a brand new veteran goaltender in net when they kick off the pre-season next week.

Deis says Nolan Hildebrandt will take over for Riley Morris.

"We traded for a 1998 goalie. We just felt with our team and our defence we just wanted to make sure we had an older experienced goalie kind of helping our young guys along here on the back end."

The Oilers open their training camp Friday, August 24, while fans can get their first look at this year's squad Friday, August 31, when the Oilers host the Brooks Bandits in their pre-season opener at the Centennial Arena.