De La Gorgendiere eyes up long playoff run with Golden Bears

U of A pulls out 5-4 OT win over Huskies in Game 3

Aidan De La Gorgendiere (#6) shields the puck from a checker.

Welcome to the world of U Sports men’s hockey Aidan De La Gorgendiere.

The Abbotsford, B.C., product, who is best known for being a career member of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, is making an immediate impact with the storied University of Alberta Golden Bears. On Sunday playing a series deciding Game 3 of a Canada West Conference quarter-final set against the Golden Bears “forever rivals” in the University of Saskatchewan Huskies at Merlis Belsher Place, De La Gorgendiere scored his team’s first goal and picked up an assist on the overtime winner in a 5-4 victory.

The win allowed the Golden Bears to take the best-of-three set 2-1. The Huskies took Game 1 of the series 4-2 on Friday at Merlis, and the Golden Bears claimed Game 2 by a 3-2 final on Saturday at the same venue.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere had the Golden Bears first goal on Sunday.

With the series win, the Golden Bears advance to face the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series with the dates and times to be determined for this coming weekend.

“It obviously feels awesome,” said De La Gorgendiere. “We didn’t play near to our best on Friday there.

“I feel like the last two games we kind of figured it out and got back to what makes us successful. We were skating good. We were moving our feet out there.

“It feels awesome to get the win.”

Aidan De La Gorgendiere drives a shot on goal for the Golden Bears.

When Sunday’s clash between the Golden Bears and Huskies went to overtime locked in a 4-4 tie, it seemed like the visitors found another gear holding a 5-1 edge in shots on goal. At the 4:53 mark of the extra session, De La Gorgendiere, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 188 pounds, got the puck over to rookie right-winger Connor McClennon on the right wing.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere assisted on the OT winner on Sunday.

McClennon fired a shot on goal that was redirected by Golden Bears fourth-year left-winger Daneel Lategan past Huskies netminder Roddy Ross to give the visitors their dramatic 5-4 victory to the disappointment of most of the 1,236 spectators in attendance.

In May of last year, De La Gorgendiere and McClennon were on opposite sides of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series. De La Gorgendiere was skating for the Blades and McClennon was playing for the Winnipeg Ice. The Ice swept the best-of-seven series 4-0 to bring an end to De La Gorgendiere’s WHL playing days.

Just a little over nine months later, De La Gorgendiere and McClennon were teaming to set up an overtime series winning goal for the Golden Bears.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere, left, gets in a net front battle.

“It is pretty crazy to think about,” said De La Gorgendiere, who will turn 22-years-old this coming Thursday. “Me and Connor have played against each other it seems like our whole lives.

“Being on the same team with him is pretty nice. Obviously, he is a pretty talented player and a skilled player. It is awesome to have him out there.

“We’re looking forward to the next round.”

De La Gorgendiere came to the Golden Bears after trying to find the right opportunity in the professional ranks. After he exhausted his WHL eligibility with the Blades, he went to camp with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche before the start of the current campaign.

When things didn’t work out with the Avalanche, De La Gorgendiere went to camp with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL. The Admirals are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators.

Cade Hayes scored the Huskies first goal on Sunday.

De Le Gorgendiere was then sent down to the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL. He played 10 games for the Gladiators posting one goal, four assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.

During that time, it crossed De La Gorgendiere’s mind that maybe he should put his professional hockey aspirations on the back burner and make sure he has something to fall back on in going the university hockey route to get a degree.

“Probably mid November, I kind of decided I should reconsider my schooling package I got with the Western Hockey League,” said De La Gorgendiere, who is in the arts faculty at the U of A. “I am here now.

“I’m focused on winning a championship. Obviously, I still want to play pro.”

Dawson Holt (#16) had the Huskies second goal on Sunday.

De La Gorgendiere began playing with the Golden Bears after they returned from their Christmas break. In 10 regular season games with the Golden Bears, De La Gorgendiere recorded one goal, 10 assists and a minus-two rating. In the three-game series victory over the Huskies, De La Gorgendiere posted one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating.

He added he got swayed to joining the Golden Bears due to the fact they had a number of his former Blades teammates on their roster including Blake Gustafson, Wyatt McLeod, Noah Boyko, Eric Florchuk and Josh Paterson.

Alex Thacker had a pair of goals for the Golden Bears on Sunday.

“It did for sure,” said De La Gorgendiere about joining the Golden Bears due to the presence of numerous Blades alums. “Obviously, the program speaks for itself the history of guys signing pro deals and NHL deals, American League deals and whatever it may be out of this program.

“It was a pretty easy decision for me.”

As for Sunday’s game between the Golden Bears and Huskies, momentum seemed to jump constantly between the two sides. The Huskies got out to a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by rookie centre Cade Hayes, and the hosts pushed their edge out to 2-0 early in the second on a tally from third-year right-winger Dawson Holt.

Ty Prefontaine had a short-handed goal for the Huskies.

At the 4:20 mark of the second, De La Gorgendiere scored for the Golden Bears to get them some traction and cut the Huskies lead to 2-1. Golden Bears rookie left-winger Alex Thacker followed with a pair of goals to put the visitors up 3-2.

With 5:09 remaining in the second, Huskies third-year defenceman Ty Prefontaine scored a short-handed goal to even the score at 3-3.

De La Gorgendiere said the intensity of the clashes between the Golden Bears and Huskies was similar to what he experienced in the rivalry games in the WHL played between his Blades and their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders. He said the momentum changes in Sunday’s contest between the Golden Bears and Huskies were noticeable.

Vince Loschiavo gave the Huskies a 4-3 lead in the third.

“I think on our end we probably could have been a little more tight in our neutral zone and defensive zone there,” said De La Gorgendiere. “We had a couple of breakdowns there.

“It is the ebbs and flows of hockey. It seems like it happens in every game. This one seemed to be a little more I guess.

“All in all, I thought we competed hard and played well.”

The Huskies went back out in front 4-3 at the 6:44 mark of the third after third-year star right-winger Vince Loschiavo scored on the power play. The host side finished the contest 1-for-4 on the power play.

Tyler Preziuso scored for the Golden Bears to force OT.

The Golden Bears would even the score at 4-4 with a power-play goal of their own coming at the 10:49 mark of the third off the stick of third-year right-winger Tyler Preziuso. The visitors were 1-for-7 on the power play.

That set the stage for the Golden Bears to get the game and series winner in overtime from Lategan.

Second-year netminder Ethan Kruger made 29 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Golden Bears. Ross turned away 29 shots to take the setback in net for the Huskies.

Going into this Canada West quarter-final series, the two sides weren’t separated by a whole lot. The Huskies, who are rated eighth in the U Sports Top 10 Rankings, finished fourth in the Canada West regular season standings with a 20-6-1-1 record. The Golden Bears placed fifth with an 18-8-2 mark.

Daneel Lategan scored the OT winner for the Golden Bears.

U of A will be an underdog in a semifinal series against the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds, who are rated fifth in the U Sports Top 10 Rankings, topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 22-4-1-1 mark. They also won three out of the four head-to-head meeting with the Golden Bears in the regular season.

With that noted, De La Gorgendiere believes the chemistry of his Golden Bears side is coming around, and he has faith his squad will give the Thunderbirds a good battle.

“They are a skilled team,” said De La Gorgendiere. “Obviously, they have some high end talent up front and some good D-men as well.

The Golden Bears celebrate their OT win and series victory on Sunday.

“We just have to bring our A-game. We have to come ready to skate and come ready to play, and I think we should find success.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Giants outlast Raiders 5-4 in WHL final opener

The Giants celebrate a goal from Dylan Plouffe.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – It was an old school WHL classic in an old school rink.

    Before a sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, the visiting Vancouver Giants and the host Prince Albert Raiders engaged in an all over the place war in Game 1 of the WHL Championship series.

    The clash included a lot of big hits, momentum swings and goals by both sides. When the dust settled, the Giants escaped with a 5-4 victory allowing captain Jared Dmytriw and right-winger Dawson Holt to have a memorable Saskatchewan homecoming.

Dawson Holt had a pair of goals for the Giants.

    Dmytriw, who had a large contingent of supporters from Craven, Sask., had a goal and two assists for the Giants. Holt, who had a huge following of supporters from Saskatoon, Sask., had a pair of goals including the eventual game-winner before a large gathering of followers.

    “It is pretty exciting to be back here in Saskatchewan for me and Dawson (Holt),” said Dmytriw, whose club will face the Raiders in Game 2 of the WHL final on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time at the Art Hauser Centre. “To be in the WHL final is special and to play anywhere, but to have friends and family in the stands is always nice.

    “It is awesome to get the win tonight is the biggest thing. It felt good out there tonight and we’re proud of the way the guys played to finish it off like that.”

Captain Jared Dmytriw celebrates scoring for the Giants.

    Holt was pumped to get a couple of big goals at key times. He scored at the 6:06 mark of the first to give his side a 2-0 lead, and he tallied with 16.5 seconds remaining in the second to give the Giants a 5-3 advantage going into the third period.

    “It is super cool,” said Holt. “Obviously, I had a lot of family and friends here.

    “To be able to get the win in front of them is obviously pretty special. Obviously, their crowd is loud. There is no secret about it.

    “To get some momentum and kind of quiet them down a little bit, it was big.”

    The Giants had all the momentum early in the first period and found themselves working on a two-man advantage. On that power play, Giants star defenceman Bowen Byram found his defensive partner Dylan Plouffe down in the right slot with a pass, and Plouffe one-timed home a goal to give the Giants a 1-0 at the 4:20 mark of the opening frame.

Giants fans cheer one of their team’s goals.

    A short time later, Dmytriw fired a shot that deflected off the boards behind the Prince Albert goal to Holt at the right side of the net. Holt popped home his first of the game to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

    Giants head coach Michael Dyck said early excitement helped his squad jump out to a good start.

    “Honestly, I think their crowd helped,” said Dyck. “We could hear a buzz before we got out.

    “We knew what we were coming in to. Anytime you get a chance to play in the finals, you have to take advantage of it. I know everybody was really excited about getting going.

Parker Kelly had a pair of assists for the Raiders.

    “It was great that we got off to a good start.”

    Raiders star right-winger Brett Leason fired home a power-play goal at the 3:20 mark of the second to cut the Giants lead to 2-1.

    At the 5:13 mark, Dmytriw scored off a rush for the Giants to extend Vancouver’s edge to 3-1.

    Just 64 seconds later, Raiders star centre Noah Gregor sniped home a beauty set up pass from linemate Parker Kelly from the front of the Vancouver goal to cut the Giants lead to 3-2.

    With 3:15 remaining in the second, Raiders speedy overage centre Dante Hannoun backhanded home the rebound of a shot taken by Kelly to pull the Raiders even at 3-3.

Dante Hannoun scored a second period equalizer for the Raiders.

    Hannoun said his team never panicked, when the Giants jumped in front.

    “I thought we just stayed calm, and we just worked hard,” said Hannoun. “Shifts after goals are pretty huge here in playoffs, so we focus on that and just a shift at a time here.”

    Before the second ended, the momentum swung back in favour of the Giants. With 30.9 seconds remaining in the second, Giants import right-winger Yannik Valenti drove home a power-play goal from the front of the Prince Albert net to give Vancouver a 4-3 lead.

    Holt followed by scoring his second of the contest with 16.5 seconds remaining in the second sneaking a bad angle shot by Raiders star netminder Ian Scott to give the visitors a 5-3 lead.

    “A little bit of the elephant in the room, I think Scotty (Scott) wants a few of those goals back there is no doubt,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. “We win as a team. We lose as a team.

The Raiders faithful cheers one of their team’s goals.

    “We could have done some things better. He (Scott) will be better tomorrow. We’ll be better tomorrow.”

    Still, the Raiders attempted to battle back in the third. At the 2:50 mark of the third, Raiders veteran defensive defenceman Jeremy Masella did his best imitation of hockey legend Bobby Orr.

    Masella got the puck at the left point of the Vancouver blue-line, zipped across the blue-line, drove down the right wing, cut to the front of the Vancouver net and slipped home a goal between the legs of Giants star netminder David Tendeck. Masella’s highlight reel goal cut the Vancouver lead to 5-4.

Bowen Byram had four assists for the Giants.

    Prince Albert was unable to find the equalizer after that beauty effort.

    Tendeck stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Giants. Byram picked up assists on four of the Giants goals.

    Scott turned away 21 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders.

    Habscheid said his club was a little too nervous in the first period, but he wasn’t disappointed in the effort put in by his side.

    “I liked a lot about our game,” said Habscheid. “We did a lot of real good things.

    “I liked our speed. I liked the way we moved the puck. They are a good team, but we’re confident in our game and in our team.”

    Raiders captain Brayden Pachal expected the intensity that came out of Friday’s clash.

    “It is the WHL final,” said Pachal. “We are in each others’ way here for a championship here.

    “Obviously, there is no love out there.”

    Despite the setback, Pachal came away optimistic about a lot of aspects of Friday’s encounter.

Zack Hayes controls the puck at the point for the Raiders.

    “When we were using our speed and the guys were into it, we were a force tonight,” said Pachal. “I think we can build off some things, and obviously, improve some things.

    “We just have to look forward to tomorrow.”

    Dyck thought Friday’s opener was fitting of a contest between the teams that topped the WHL’s regular season standings.

    The Raiders finished first overall in the regular season at 54-10-2-2 and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    The Giants finished second overall at 48-15-3-2 and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    Dyck said his club has to keep playing their style of a play going forward with a touch more focus.

    “I don’t think that we’re going to tweak much,” said Dyck. “We have to do what we do more consistent and better in some spots.

The Giants celebrate their victory in Game 1 of the WHL final.

    “Again, you have to give them some credit too. I thought they came at us at times in the second period. That is why they are one of the top teams in the country.

    “They play on their toes, and they are a very good transition team.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Art Hauser madhouse to be cranked to give Raiders edge against Oil Kings

WHL Eastern Conference final heads to critical Game 5

The Art Hauser Centre crowd will be ready to back the Raiders.

    The Prince Albert Raiders faithful is going to be ready to pounce.
    On Wednesday, the Raiders pulled out a gritty 2-1 road win at Rogers Place in Game 4 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship series against the Edmonton Oil Kings.

    With the win, the Raiders evened the best-of-seven series up at 2-2.

    After dropping a 5-1 decision to the Oil Kings at Rogers Place in Game 3 on Tuesday, the Raiders rebounded playing their best game of the series to earn victory in Game 4.

    The series now shifts back to “Hockey Town North” for Game 5 on Friday for a 7 p.m. local start time.

The Raiders will get a warm reception at home on Friday.

    After having some spotty performances over the first three games of the series against the Oil Kings, the Raiders looked more like themselves on Wednesday night.

    They skated like a team that finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season posting a 54-10-2-2 record and was rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    As a result, Friday’s crowd at the Art Hauser Centre has the potential to be the most frenzied it has been this post-season, and the Raiders wouldn’t have it any other way.

    “They (the Raiders fans) are awesome,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. “We got home ice advantage back.

    “We respect this team (the Oil Kings), but it is up to us to hold home ice, and we like our chances.”

    Raiders fans have a tendency to get energized to back their team in moments when they feel that something underhanded happens to the club.

The Raiders faithful will try and give their team an edge.

    One of those moments happened around the midway point of the second period on Wednesday, when Oil Kings star captain Trey Fix-Wolansky pulled a UFC leverage style takedown on Raiders rookie defenceman Kaiden Guhle in front of the Prince Albert net. That happened in front of a referee and no penalty was called.

    Seconds later, Raiders rookie right-winger Jakob Brook was called for a cross-checking penalty behind the Prince Albert net. The Raiders killed that penalty.

    Fix-Wolansky’s take down will likely make him an even bigger villain in Prince Albert. Still, he believes his squad has handled the Art Hauser Centre crowd just fine.

Brett Leason had a big goal for the Raiders on Friday.

    “It is a little bit different,” said Fix-Wolansky. “I thought we were pretty good with it, pretty even keel.

    “We didn’t let the highs get to high or the lows get too low.”

    Fix-Wolansky, who has an NHL entry-level contract signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets, said his team does get motivated to silence the Art Hauser Centre crowd.

    “You want to try to silence them as soon as you can,” said Fix-Wolansky. “Their emotion and how loud they are, that kind of feeds into us too on the bench.

    “Guys are talking. You want to silence the crowd.”

    Raiders star right-winger Brett Leason, who scored his first goal of the series against the Oil Kings in Wednesday’s win, believes the crowd at the Art Hauser Centre will hit yet another peak with the noise.

Oil Kings captain Trey Fix-Wolansky will likely be the target of jeers in P.A.

    “It will just be another level up,” said Leason. “The crowd is always great back home.

    “Coming back for Game 5, a pivotal Game 5, it is pretty much must win, and we have to treat it like that.”

    Leason and star overage centre Noah Gregor came up with clutch goals on Wednesday night.

Habscheid believes another one of the Raiders star players is due for a breakout game.

    Left-winger Cole Fonstad has been held without a point in his last eight post-season games. The Estevan, Sask., product last hit the scoresheet offensively back on March 27, when he had a goal and two assists in the Raiders 4-1 Game 4 victory that wrapped up a first round series win against the Red Deer Rebels in Red Deer.

Raiders fans will be on every Oil Kings misstep.

    Fonstad missed the Raiders final two games of their six-game victory over the Saskatoon Blades in a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series with an undisclosed injury.

    In 67 regular season games, Fonstad recorded 29 goals, 44 assists and a plus-32 rating in the plus-minus department. He has one goal, three assists and is a plus-four in 12 post-season games.

Habscheid liked how Fonstad played on Wednesday.

    “I thought that was Cole Fonstad’s best game of the playoffs,” said Habscheid. “He was good.

Cole Fonstad might be due for a breakout game.

    “He had some chances, and he is a good player. We need him. He plays like that he will score his goals.”

    On the Oil Kings side of things, head coach Brad Lauer said his squad’s team play slipped in Wednesday’s Game 4 loss from where it was when his squad won Games 2 and 3 against the Raiders.

    The Oil Kings had a strong regular season topping the Central Division and finishing fifth overall in the WHL standings with a 42-18-4-4 mark, and they were an honourable mention in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    “Did we think we were going to win two, three or four games in a row against these guys, probably not,” said Lauer. “Again, we missed the opportunity to take advantage of this series, so we have to go back there and get another win.

    “I think we just need to be better as a group. I didn’t think our team game worked very good.”

    Still, the Raiders believe they are in a good place. Gregor said the players on his team always believed in themselves, but the gritty road win in Game 4 helped re-energize the team.

Noah Gregor loves the passion Raiders fans bring to the game.

    “I think the confidence is always there,” said Gregor. “I think after a win it might go up a little bit.

    “We like playing at home. That crowd is great for us, and I think we know how to play well there. We’re looking forward to Game 5.”

    As for the WHL’s Western Conference Championship series, it has the potential to wrap up on Friday night, when the Vancouver Giants host the Spokane Chiefs in Game 5 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.

    In Game 4 of Wednesday night at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, fourth-year veteran centre Dawson Holt scored at the 7:07 mark of overtime to deliver the Giants to a 4-3 victory over the Chiefs and give Vancouver a 3-1 edge in that best-of-seven series.

Raiders fans hope to be celebrating another win on Friday night.

    The Giants finished first in the B.C. Division and second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 48-15-3-2 record. The Chiefs finished eighth overall in the league with a 40-21-2-5 mark.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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