With the Mac's Midget Tournament well underway, many patrons are watching great hockey for the entertainment value but there are hundreds of scouts in attendance trying to find that next big star or key piece to a team's future.

That's no different for the Okotoks Oilers who will have their entire scouting staff on hand to watch every game possible to look for potential recruits or check in on affiliated players.

Oilers Head Coach and General Manager James Poole says the Mac is by far the busiest time of the year for his scouts.

"The recruiting game is so aggressive, you get some teams that just sling lies at kids non-stop," he says. "For us we're in a situation where I think we're recruiting for a lot less next year, that said we really want to make sure we work hard this recruiting period to find the right kids that fit our program."

The Oilers currently have 11 rookies on this year's roster, with many of them being participants in the Macs Tournament last year.

Poole says this scouting period will also be focused on finding good character in future Oiler players.

"Not just on the ice but off the ice, we've kind of set fourth an identity this year more so than in previous years and we want to make sure to continue to build around that, I think there is some players we can compliment to bring our size up and maybe physicality up, we still want to stay with fast and hard working identity."

He says when it comes right down to it on the scope of players the team is looking for, Poole says they need to continue finding great players and even better human beings.

"We want to try and find the best of the best," he says. "That's going to create a lot of hard work because there's teams doing the exact thing we are they're looking for players and these players have essentially have a choice of multiple teams from province to province so it's something we have to work hard at and find right the right kids that fit our program and that we can really compliment of what we've built this year."

The Macs Tournament continues till New Year's Day.