The Oilers will dress a rookie squad for their pre-season opener in Drumheller on Monday (Photo Courtesy:Bryan Wilson)

The Okotoks Oilers begin practice today with their exhibition roster in preparation for the team's season opener against the Dragons in Drumheller on Monday.

Back behind the bench this season is Bobby Fox who served as an assistant coach for the Oilers between 2011-2013 before leaving to work as an assistant coach with the Mount Royal Cougars of the CIS. Fox's new role with the Oiler's is as an associate coach and assistant general manager to current coach/GM James Poole.

It's a role that Fox says allows him to help out in multiple areas of player development.

"I think I'm going to be beneficial in player recruitment and player evaluation. Obviously I think tactically I'll be able to help James with in-game and practices. You name it all. It's just how James and I co-exist, we are just going feed off each other and help each other out as much as we can."

This year should prove to be a younger, faster team with a lot of new faces in the fold. Fox says he and James make a great combination to push these players and each other towards success.

"Philosophy wise we have the same mindset. We're here to develop players and character people and we both have a desire to win. I think that's important when you have that competitive spirit within us. We're going to push each other to be better every day and we're going to push the players as well."

As far as success is concerned, the Oilers have been competitive in regular season play but have yet to make it past the third round of the playoffs in the ten years they have been in the league. They also suffered a disappointing defeat in rounds one last year against the seventh seeded Olds Grizzlies.

But Fox has a pretty good philosophy regarding the past when reaching for future success.

"It's going to be strictly focused on inputs. Taking it one day at a time being the best you can be in that day. Who cares what happens yesterday, who cares whats going to happen tomorrow? It's a process, you just focus on the inputs and results take care of themselves."