The Okotoks Oilers got off on the right foot to start the second half of the AJHL season sweeping the Canmore Eagle over the weekend.

Okotoks now has a bit of a gap on the Eagles from 3rd to 4th spot in the South Division.

With just 21 regular season games left before the playoffs, Oilers Head Coach James Poole says getting two regulation wins against Canmore is big for his team going into the rest of January.

"It was an important series against them, to try and spread some distance between yourself and the pack that's chasing you for that 3rd place seed," he says.

With a 22-15-2 record the Oilers will look to add to their six point lead over the Eagles this Friday and Saturday at home when they welcome the lowly Calgary Mustangs and the Drayton Valley Thunder.

Despite a 12-6-1 record at Pason Centennial Arena, Poole says he'd like to see his club come away with better performances at home.

"Its nice to get that first weekend out of the way and now we have a full week of practice that we can really push the envelope here in terms of getting ourselves to another level," he says. "We've got games coming up at home that hopefully we can get some more confidence and start playing some better hockey in front of our home crowd."

The Mustangs and Thunder are in the lower echelons of both the South and North Divisions and Poole says they can't take them lightly this weekend.

"With our expectations going up and with so many young players trying to get past that rookie mind set and making sure that everyone knows they have 35 plus games under their belts and now its time to starting pushing and hitting our potential."