Ice, Oil Kings - Recipe for classic WHL conference final

The Ice celebrate scoring a goal on March 23.

The seemingly inevitable clash of WHL titans in 2021-22 is going to happen, and it could deliver a classic post-season series.

Throughout the 2021-22 campaign, the Winnipeg Ice and Edmonton Oil Kings seemed destined to be on a collision course to meet in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship series. The two squads pretty much sat either first or second in the overall league standing throughout the 2021-22 regular season.

When the regular season came to a close, the Ice finished first overall with a 53-10-3-2 record, while the Oil Kings were second overall with a 50-14-3-1 mark. The final CHL Top 10 rankings released on April 20 saw the Ice rated second overall, while the Oil Kings were listed third overall.

The Eastern Conference Championship between the Ice and Oil Kings was finalized on Friday night. That occurred when the Ice downed the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors 6-3 in Game 5 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

The victory allowed the Ice to take the best-of-seven series with the Warriors 4-1.

Game 1 of the series between the Ice and Warriors is set for this coming Friday at 7 p.m. local time at the Wayne Fleming Arena. Game 2 follows one night later on Saturday, May 21 at 7 p.m. local time.

Dylan Guenther led the Oil Kings in regular season scoring.

The schedule for the rest of the series is still to be announced. The series will be played in a two-three-two format thanks to the lengthy travel distance between the two cities with the Ice holding home ice advantage.

As the 2021-22 campaign motored along, it was easy for opinion to swing back and forth on which club was the best team.

The Ice were an impressive 18-1-1-1 in their final 21 regular season contests leading into the post-season. The Oil Kings were 6-3-1 in their last 10 games heading into the playoffs.

At that point, it appeared the Ice would be the favourites, if the two sides met in the playoffs.

In the WHL Playoffs, the Ice took out the Prince Albert Raiders 4-1 in a best-of-seven first round series and proceeded to eliminate the Warriors in one Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Oil Kings swept the Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-0 in a first round series and got the brooms out again for an impressive 4-0 of the Red Deer Rebels, who had a 45-19-2-2 regular season record. Including play in the regular season, the Oil Kings have won their last 12 straight games.

The two sides met four times in the regular season with the Oil Kings claiming three of those encounters. With that said, it would be hard to forecast a winner off those results.

Out of those four encounters, three of them occurred before Dec. 31, 2021. The last clash came on Feb. 21, where the Oil Kings posted a 6-3 victory on home ice at Rogers Place. That contest was also a lengthy time ago.

Zachary Benson had a big season for the Ice.

At this point, determining a favourite in a series between the two sides might be a tossup.

Both clubs have exciting rosters to watch.

For the Ice, the strength in their roster might be in their youth. Centre Matthew Savoie, right-winger Conor Geekie and netminder Daniel Hauser are eligible to play three more full campaigns each in the WHL. Centre Zachary Benson could potentially suit up for four more seasons of eligibility in the WHL.

Jonas Woo, who is a 15-year-old defenceman, plays regular minutes on the Ice’s back end through all the club’s 10 games to date in the 2022 post-season. He joined the Ice on a full-time basis after his Winnipeg Bruins under-18 AAA team was eliminated from their provincial playoffs.

Savoie led the Ice in regular season scoring with 90 points coming off 35 goals and 55 assists to go with a plus-54 rating in the plus-minus department. Geekie had 70 points in the regular season coming off 24 goals and 46 assists to go with a plus-49 rating.

Hauser appeared in 40 regular season games for the post recording a 34-3-1 record, a 2.00 goals against average, a .914 save percentage and eight shutouts.

Benson skated in 58 regular season games with the Ice posting 63 points coming off 25 goals and 38 assists to go with a plus-40 rating. He leads the Ice in post-season scoring with 18 points coming off eight goals and 10 assists to go with a plus-12 rating.

Kaiden Guhle was a huge addition to the roster of the Oil Kings.

Woo as a 15-year-old regular on defence has one goal, one assist and a plus-five rating skating in all of the Ice’s 10 post-season games to date. He appeared in 15 regular season games with the Ice recording one goal, two assists and a plus-18 rating.

The Ice have a number of star and standout veterans too in Connor McClennon, Mikey Milne, Jakin Smallwood, Benjamin Zloty, Jack Finley, Carson Lambos and seemingly the rest of the roster has made big contributions at some point during the campaign.

Zloty, who could return next season as an overager, led the Ice in defenceman scoring in the regular season posting 64 points coming off eight goals and 56 assists skating in 62 regular season games. He also had a plus-38 rating in the plus-minus department.

Ice head coach James Patrick and has staff have done an outstanding job ensuring the Winnipeg side place consistent on a nightly basis.

The Oil Kings head into the series with the Ice with an older roster. Edmonton is carrying 10 players who are skating through their 19-year-old campaign along with the allowed three overagers each WHL club can have.

The Oil Kings roster has eight players who have been a selection in the NHL Entry Draft. Edmonton’s notable acquisitions going all-in on the trade front for this season include centre and Florida Panthers draft selection Justin Sourdif, defenceman and Montreal Canadiens draft selection Kaiden Guhle and rearguard and Nashville Predators draft selection Luke Prokop.

Benjamin Zloty had 64 points in 62 games for the Ice.

Management for the Edmonton side made the aggressive moves with the team having lost two potential long post-season runs in 2020 and 2021 due to the WHL Playoffs and the CHL Championship Tournament – the Memorial Cup – being cancelled in each of those years due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

Right-winger Dylan Guenther, who can potentially return for two more WHL campaigns, led the Oil Kings in regular season scoring with 91 points coming off 45 goals and 46 assists to go with a plus-51 rating. Guenther tops the Oil Kings in post-season scoring with 12 points coming off nine goals and three assists to go with a plus-eight rating.

Overage import defenceman Simon Kubicek led all Oil Kings blue-liners in regular season scoring with 41 points coming off 14 goals and 27 assists to go with a plus-29 rating.

Star 19-year-old netminder Sebastian Cossa, had an outstanding regular season posting a 33-9-3 record, a 2.28 goals against average, a .913 save percentage and six shutouts in 46 appearances.

 The Oil Kings have plenty of other stars and standouts like captain Jake Neighbours, Josh Williams, Carter Souch, Jalen Luypen and Jakub Demek. Neighbours only appeared in 30 regular season games, but he posted 45 points coming off 17 goals and 28 assists to go with a plus-24 rating.

Head coach Brad Lauer guided the Oil Kings to the Eastern Conference final in 2019 when they fell to the eventual WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders. Lauer and his staff will do their best to ensure their club gets past the conference championship round this season.

The Oil Kings celebrate a goal on Jan. 1.

The Ice and Oil Kings potentially have a series that would be great to showcase the WHL on a national television sports network.

For ticket buyers in Winnipeg and Edmonton, they will be in for treat with what they see in the rink.

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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Oil Kings down Blades 4-1 in strange feeling game

The Oil Kings celebrate a second period power-play goal.

It was an odd night at the rink when you realized the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings had three players on the ice who should have been elsewhere.

On Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Oil Kings hit the ice for a WHL regular season clash with netminder Sebastian Cossa, centre Dylan Guenther and left-winger Jake Neighbours in the lineup as they faced the host Saskatoon Blades.

All three were suiting up for the Oil Kings for the first time since the remainder of IIHF’s world juniors were cancelled on Wednesday. Cossa, Guenther and Neighbours were all playing for Canada at world juniors, which were held jointly in Edmonton and Red Deer.

Dylan Guenther had two assists on Saturday for the Oil Kings.

With those three in the fold, the Oil Kings downed the Blades 4-1 holding a 40-16 advantage in shots on goal in a contest played before 2,827 spectators.  

Due to the fact world juniors were supposed to run thru to this coming Wednesday, the Oil Kings are in the middle of a seven-game road trip, which started when the club resumed action following the WHL Christmas break. Saturday’s contest against the Blades was the fourth game of that trip.

On Thursday, the Oil Kings downed the Wheat Kings in Brandon 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout in a contest that was played without fans in attendance at Westoba Place. Following the win over the Wheat Kings, the Oil Kings made the jaunt to Saskatoon and Cossa, Guenther and Neighbours joined up with the Edmonton club there.

Jake Neighbours was back in the Oil Kings fold on Saturday.

All of those events occurred because the world is still stuck in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which took root in North America in a big way in March of 2020. The emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is causing a rapid rise in new cases in North America.

Dealing with the Omicron variant has been challenging, because while it is supposed to be a variant that is milder than other strains of COVID-19, it is more transmissible than other variants.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of the remainder of world juniors after three days of games were held.

A WHL game was played in Brandon without fans on Thursday in order to best comply with the public health orders that current exist in the province of Manitoba.

Sebastian Cossa made 15 saves earning a win for the Oil Kings.

The Blades were holding their traditional New Year’s Day game on Saturday, which they weren’t able to do in 2021 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the Blades were able to hold that traditional New Year’s Day contest, the COVID-19 specter was there.

It was seen in the fact that that Cossa, Guenther and Neighbours were playing with the Oil Kings and not for Canada at world juniors.

The Oil Kings had two other players attend world juniors who were not in the lineup in defenceman Kaiden Guhle and centre Jakub Demek. The Edmonton club has both listed as not yet having rejoined the team.

The Blades can’t stop a Jalen Luypen (#23) Oil Kings power-play goal.

Guhle was the captain of Canada’s team, while Demek was skating for Slovakia.

It is possible both could be getting their respective Christmas breaks right now. Most major junior teams that have players take part in world juniors will find a spot to give those players a Christmas break.

With that said, the COVID-19 pandemic is the elephant in the room, so it makes you wonder.

On the Saskatoon side, the Blades were without star 20-year-old centre Tristen Robins and 19-year-old right-winger Noah Boyko, who was acquired on Tuesday in a trade with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, for undisclosed reasons.

Jalen Luypen had a goal and an assist for the Oil Kings.

Both suited up for the Blades on Thursday, when they downed the Prince Albert Raiders 6-4 at the SaskTel Centre. Robins and Boyko finished that contest, so the COVID-19 elephant is there in that instance.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, Boyko’s former team in the Hurricanes had 14 players placed on the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List. The Hurricanes road game on Saturday in Calgary against the Hitmen and home game on Sunday against the Swift Current Broncos were both postponed.

The absence of Robins and Boyko saw the Blades add 15-year-old associate player call up Zachary Moore to their roster. Moore made his WHL debut for his hometown team at forward.

Nolan Maier made 36 saves in goal for the Blades.

Belarusian import left-winger Egor Sidorov found his way back into the lineup since rejoining the Blades following the WHL Christmas break.

Once the game between the Oil Kings and Blades got started, it quickly felt like what a normal WHL regular season contest should feel like. When the action on the ice was going on, the focus for most in the building was on hockey.

The Oil Kings took a 1-0 lead at the 3:54 mark of the opening frame when import offensive-defenceman Simon Kubicek took a pass from centre Jalen Luypen at the point, skated down to the right slot and wired a shot to the top left corner of the Saskatoon goal.

The Blades evened things up at 1-1 scoring on the power play at the 7:37 mark of the first. Sidorov positioned himself at the right side of the Edmonton goal and one-timed a setup pass that came across the front of the Oil Kings net from star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic to even the score.

Egor Sidorov scored for the Blades on Saturday.

Saskatoon hit a bump with 3:39 remaining in the first period when 16-year-old rookie centre Lukas Hansen took a double minor for high sticking. The double minor will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for as possible suspension.

The Oil Kings were able to go back in front on the second half of that penalty.

With exactly 59 seconds remaining in the first, Oil Kings 19-year-old defenceman Luke Prokop put an off-speed point shot on goal that found its way thru a maze of bodies into the Saskatoon net for a power-play marker that gave the visitors a 2-1 edge.

The Blades ran into more troubles in the penalty department when 18-year-old centre Jayden Wiens took a major penalty for boarding at the 2:22 mark of the second period. Wiens was penalized after making an awkward hard hit into the boards on Oil Kings 19-year-old defenceman Carson Golder.

Zachary Moore made his WHL debut on Saturday.

Golder had to be attended to on the ice by the Oil Kings training staff. He left the contest and didn’t return.

Wiens’ infraction also triggers an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Oil Kings managed to score once on the five-minute power-play to go ahead 3-1 at the 3:33 mark of the second.

The scoring play saw Oil Kings 20-year-old right-winger Josh Williams hold the puck at the left side of the Saskatoon goal, and slide a pass across the face of the Blades net to Luypen. Luypen popped the puck into net just out of the reach of a sprawling Blades 20-year-old star netminder in Nolan Maier to give the visitors their two-goal edge.

The goal helped Luypen complete a two-point night.

A scrum takes place by the Saskatoon net in the second period.

A big scrum around the Saskatoon net occurred with 6:46 remaining in the second that amused the spectators. There were some wrestling and holding matches in the scrum, but no actual fights resulted from it.

The Oil King proceeded to seal victory scoring a big dagger goal just before the midway part of the third period to round out the 4-1 final thank to a nice setup play by Guenther.

Guenther passed the puck from the left back boards behind the Saskatoon goal to the front of the net to linemate Jaxsen Wiebe, who popped home his fourth tally of the season. Guenther finished the contest with two assists, while Wiebe had a helper to go along with his goal.

Jaxsen Wiebe had a goal and an assist for the Oil Kings.

Maier played heroically turning away 36 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades (17-14-1-1). Cossa stopped 15 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Oil Kings (24-8-2-1).

The Oil Kings return to action on Sunday, when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (6 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades return to action this coming Friday when they host the Regina Pats (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

A total of seven games got played in the WHL on Saturday night. At the moment, the majority of the circuit’s contests are still happening.

The COVID-19 pandemic specter is still there going forward with the Omicron variant seemingly taking centre stage. It is the back in everyone’s mind that more game postponements due to the pandemic will still happen.

Oil Kings C Jalen Luypen and Blades LW Kyle Crnkovic face off.

No one knows when the next postponements will be.

The teams are trying to do their best to prevent players and staff from contracting COVID-19, while still having reasonable but limited contact with the world outside the team environment.

That includes trying to do more media interviews via telephone and Zoom calls. Before the Christmas break, most WHL teams were still doing media interviews in person.

At the moment, most games are going ahead, but that potentially might not always be the case in the future even with everyone’s best efforts.

The Oil Kings celebrate their win on Saturday night.

Every time a game gets in, that in itself is a good little victory.

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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If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.