Raiders post-season life gets put on Ice

Winnipeg eliminates Prince Albert from WHL Playoffs

The Ice are all smiles to be moving on in the WHL Playoffs.

The stay of execution lasted one game for the Prince Albert Raiders.

The Winnipeg Ice had no intention of returning to the Art Hauser Centre in “Hockey Town North” with a further extension of the best-of-seven first round WHL playoff series between the two sides. In Game 5 of the series on Friday at the Wayne Fleming Arena in the Manitoba capital, the Ice stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the first period and rolled to an 8-2 victory to the delight of most of the 1,606 spectators in attendance.

The win allowed the Ice to take the series 4-1. They now wait to see who they will play in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Winnipeg took the first three contests of the series against Prince Albert. Facing their first elimination game, the Raiders posted a 3-1 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday at the Art Hauser Centre to make a Game 5 of the series back in Winnipeg necessary.

In Game 5, the Ice showed why they were massive favourites in the series in the runaway victory. The Ice topped the WHL’s regular season standings with a 53-10-3-2 record.

The Raiders won their last two regular season outings to finish eighth overall in the Eastern Conference and capture the conference’s final post-season berth with a 28-35-4-1 record. Prince Albert did win three out of the eight head-to-head meetings in the regular season with the Ice.

Connor McClennon scored twice for the Ice on Friday.

Including play in the regular season and post-season, the Ice, who were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings, are 22-2-1-1 in their last 26 games.

In Friday’s series clinching win, the Ice came out of the gates on fire. Raiders rookie import netminder Tikhon Chaika did his best to hold the fort early, but the dam burst right before the midway point of the frame.

At the 9:58 mark of the first, Ice 19-year-old power forward Jack Finley popped home Winnipeg’s first goal from the front of the Prince Albert net after collecting the rebound of a shot from linemate Owen Pederson. The tally was Finley’s first of the post-season after having netted 27 goals in the regular season.

Ice star 16-year-old centre Zachary Benson potted a close in backhander to increase the Ice’s edge to 2-0 at the 14:18 mark of the opening frame. Just one minute later, Ice 19-year-old star left-winger Mikey Milne netted his fifth goal of the playoffs to extend the Ice’s lead to 3-0.

Before the first period expired, Ice 19-year-old centre Chase Wheatcroft made a smart backhanded pass in the centre ice zone to spring 15-year-old Ice defenceman Jonas Woo on a breakaway down the left wing.

Woo sniped his first career post-season goal low right side to the Prince Albert net to send the Ice into the first intermission holding a 4-0 lead. Winnipeg held a 13-1 edge in shots on goal after the opening 20 minutes.

Reece Vitelli had the Raiders first goal on Friday.

Just 1:57 into the second, the Ice upped their lead to 5-0. Pederson had the puck at the right side of the Prince Albert goal and found star 19-year-old right-winger Connor McClennon with a backdoor pass, and McClennon slipped home a backhand shot to give the Ice their five-goal lead.

Following that tally, the Raiders pulled Chaika, who turned away 10-of-15 shots to take the setback in the Prince Albert net. Max Hildebrand played the rest of the way in the Raiders net in relief turning away 17-of-20 shots sent his way.

The Raiders broke through on the scoreboard with a short-handed tally at the 9:46 mark of the second. With the puck in the Prince Albert zone, McClennon fired a shot from the left shot that missed the net and the puck rimmed around the boards out of the Prince Albert zone on the left wing.

Raiders veteran right-winger Evan Herman chased down the loose puck and zipped down the left wing into the Winnipeg zone. Herman passed the puck across the face the Winnipeg goal backdoor to Prince Albert overage captain Reece Vitelli.

Vitelli popped home his third of the playoffs to trim the Ice lead to 5-1 heading to the second intermission. The miracle comeback wasn’t to be.

The Ice started the third with a three-goal surge pushing their advantage out to 8-1 by the 8:17 mark of the frame. Benson started the surge with his second goal of the contest, star centre Matthew Savoie netted his first of the playoffs for the second tally of the surge and McClennon capped the outburst with his second of the contest.

Jonas Woo scored his first career WHL playoff goal on Friday.

Raiders right-winger Sloan Stanick concluded the game’s scoring tipping home a point shot from standout defenceman Nolan Allan to round out the 8-2 final in favour of the Ice. Raiders star right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt also picked up a helper on Stanick’s tally.

Daniel Hauser stopped 11 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Ice.

During the five games of the series, the Ice outscored the Raiders 27-9. Winnipeg also posted a 10-1 blowout victory in Game 3 of the set, which was held on Tuesday at the Art Hauser Centre.

The last time a WHL Playoffs were held back in 2019 the Raiders captured the league crown with a powerhouse squad. They took Game 7 of the WHL Championship Series 3-2 in overtime at the Art Hauser Centre with Dante Hannoun scoring the extra time winner.

After the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic gripped the world in March of 2020, the WHL post-season set for that year and in 2021 were nixed.

Wiesblatt was the only regular left from the 2018-19 campaign still on the Raiders roster as Prince Albert was eliminated from the 2022 post-season. Herman and Allan are the only two other Raiders players who saw action during the regular season in the 2018-19 WHL title winning campaign.

The 2021-22 Raiders were in a reload campaign, so it was still big for them to make the post-season. Vitelli and overage defenceman Remy Aquilon both graduate after aging out of the major junior level for the Prince Albert side.

Ozzy Wiesblatt had an assist on the Raiders final goal.

As for the Ice, they move on in the WHL Playoffs as a powerhouse with incredible depth. They have a great opportunity to go all the way.

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Raiders stay alive with gutty 3-1 win over Ice

Winnipeg still leads WHL first round series 3-1

The Raiders celebrate Eric Johnston’s third period goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Is the dream alive like in 1979?

On Wednesday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Prince Albert Raiders staved off elimination in the WHL Playoffs pulling out a gutty 3-1 victory at the Art Hauser Centre in Game 4 of their best-of-seven first round series against the Winnipeg Ice. Prince Albert’s victory trims the Ice’s lead in the series to 3-1.

Due to the Prince Albert win, the series now shifts back to Winnipeg for Game 5 on Friday set for 7 p.m. local time at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

With their triumph on Wednesday, the Raiders took the first step in trying to rally back from a 3-0 series deficit, which is something they have done once in team history back in their junior A days.

In the 1979 SJHL Playoffs, the Raiders trailed the junior A version of the Swift Current Broncos that existed at the time 3-0 in a best-of-seven second round series. The Raiders stormed back to take that series 4-3 and moved on to win the Centennial Cup as national junior A champions.

Eric Johnston scored the winning goal for the Raiders in Game 4.

Current Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid gave a smile when told about the historic note but pointed out that was a great chapter in team history written in a different time.

“That is ancient history for us,” said Habscheid, whose team received a warm standing ovation salute from the 2,568 spectators in attendance as the contest’s final seconds ticked away. “We’re just trying to win a game, and we’re just trying to win a shift and worry about that.

“We’re not going to Winnipeg to participate, so they get another home date. We’re going there to win. We have a little bit of momentum and believability, and when you have that, that is pretty powerful.”

Raiders RW Harrison Lodewyk, left, battles Ice RW Evan Friesen.

Habscheid’s Raiders face a loftier challenge than the junior A version of the club took on in 1979. Heading into the 1979 post-season, the Raiders topped the SJHL standings with a record of 44 wins, 13 losses and 3 ties.

Swift Current had the circuit’s second best record in that campaign with a 40-19-1 mark. Due to the fact the Raiders and the Broncos were both in the then North Division of the SJHL, the latest they could meet in the post-season was the second round of the SJHL Playoffs.

The current day major junior Raiders are massive underdogs in their series against the Ice. The Ice topped the WHL regular season standings with a 53-10-3-2 record, and they were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

Matthew Savoie sets to fire a shot on goal for the Ice. 

The Raiders squeaked into the WHL post-season taking eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with a 28-35-4-1 mark. One night earlier in Game 3 at the Hauser, the Ice romped to a 10-1 blowout victory over the host Raiders.

Habscheid was proud that his team put in the effort they did in Wednesday’s win to rebound from the drubbing they took one night earlier.

“It is the Raider way (you) find a way, character all the way,” said Habscheid, who sits fifth all-time on the WHL’s career regular season wins list. “We got shellacked last night, and guys came back and laid it on the line.

“We deserved to win.”

Tikhon Chaika made 26 saves for the Raiders in Game 4.

In Wednesday’s clash, both teams jumped out of the gate with an intense start that saw them play through a scoreless opening 20 minutes with the Ice holding a slim 9-8 edge in shots on goal.

Just over three minutes into the first, Raiders winger Sloan Stanick broke into the Winnipeg zone on a breakaway, but he was stoned by Ice star netminder Daniel Hauser.

Raiders rookie import netminder Tikhon Chaika came up big too for the Raiders in the opening frame. He stoned Ice star centre Matthew Savoie and star left-winger Mikey Milne on close in chances.

Daniel Hauser makes one of his 20 saves in goal for the Ice.

Savoie returned to the Ice lineup after being injured blocking a shot in the third period of his team’s 3-1 victory in Game 1 of the series last Friday in Winnipeg.

Along with those two saves, Chaika came up with a big glove robbery on a slot shot from Ice star 16-year-old centre Zachary Benson.

The Raiders opened the game’s scoring at the 1:53 mark of the second period, when overage defenceman Remy Aquilon blasted home a point shot through a screen for a 1-0 lead. Aquilon’s goal marked the first time in the series the Raiders held a lead.

Ozzy Wiesblatt sets to fire a shot on goal for the Raiders.

As the Ice pressed for the equalizer as the second frame moved on, both teams started trading firewagon chances over the final five minutes of the period. 

Chaika had to turn away Ice star centre Conor Geekie on a rush down the right-wing and stoned veteran Ice star right-winger Connor McClennon on a shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal off a three-on-one rush.

“I’m always trying to stay under control,” said Chaika. “I’m always focusing on the game and the puck, and I just don’t think about it. 

“After yesterday’s game, we just talk with everybody and decided to be ready today.”

Just 66 seconds into the second, Raiders defenceman Eric Johnston received a gift at the right wing boards in the Winnipeg zone as Ice defenceman Tanner Brown, who was behind his own goal, blindly passed the puck to the Prince Albert rearguard. 

Remy Aquilon had the Raiders first goal in Game 4.

Brown immediately tried to take up a defensive position in front of the Winnipeg net after the giveaway.

Johnston quickly fired the gift off Brown into the Winnipeg goal to push the host’s lead to 2-0.

“Going into the dressing room second intermission there, we just said we have to win a period here,” said Johnston. “Luckily, that one (his goal) went off their D-man, so a lucky goal there.

“The fans were definitely electric there and got the team a lot of momentum.”

After going up two goals, the Raiders really ground down the game defensively as the Ice held a slim 5-4 shots on goal advantage in the third period. 

The Ice celebrate a goal from Mikey Milne (#24).

Still, there were dramatics at the end of the frame.

The Ice received a power play with 2:58 remaining in the frame as Stanick was called for slashing. 

With Hauser pulled for an extra attacker, the Ice cashed in with a power-play goal with 69 seconds remaining in the third.

Geekie had the puck on the right wing, and he found Milne with a backdoor feed, and Milne potted his fourth goal of the post-season to cut the Raiders lead to 2-1.

With 49.3 seconds remaining in the third, Stanick iced the victory with an empty-net goal that rounded out the 3-1 final in favour of the Raiders. 

The fans at the Art Hauser Centre salute the Raiders.

Stanick’s tally went to a video review to determine if Raiders right-winger Evan Herman was offside, but the replay officials ruled that the tally was good.

Chaika stopped 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Hauser turned away 20-of-22 shots to take the setback in net for the Ice.

If the Raiders find a way to pull out Game 5 in Winnipeg, the series will return to the Art Hauser Centre for Game 6 on Sunday for a 6 p.m. start.

After the salute the Raiders received their Game 4 win wound down and after the time elapsed on the clock, Habscheid believes his players received an extra incentive to try and get another home post-season game.

The Raiders celebrate their Game 4 win on Wednesday.

“I think what is important for our guys is with 20 seconds left the whole building got up, and you could feel the energy of the crowd and the appreciation of the crowd for what these guys are doing and the effort that they are showing,” said Habscheid. “That gives them a lot of motivation to comeback for Game 6.”

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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