Oil Kings’ Holinka hammers Blades with hat trick

Edmonton evens series with Saskatoon 2-2

The Oil Kings celebrate a hat trick goal from Miroslav Holinka (#92).

Miroslav Holinka is becoming the Edmonton Oil Kings version of Connor McDavid.

On Wednesday, the 20-year-old import centre showed why he has become one of the WHL’s superstars. In Game 4 of a best-of-seven first round playoff series against the host Saskatoon Blades, Holinka fired home a hat trick and was a plus-two in the plus- minus department to power the Oil Kings to a 5-2 victory to disappoint most of the 4,834 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

With the win, the Oil Kings even the series at 2-2. Game 5 is set for Friday at 6 p.m. local time for Rogers Place in Edmonton. Game 6 is slated for Sunday at 2 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Miroslav Holinka was on fire for the Oil Kings on Wednesday night.

Holinka, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, came into Wednesday’s contest having posted two goals, two assists and an even rating in the previous three games of the set. He nearly doubled his offensive output for the post-season in one contest.

Oil Kings head coach Jason Smith said Holinka gave his squad the boost they needed to even the series with the Blades.

“He is an experienced player in this league,” said Smith. “He is a 20-year-old guy, and he has expectations to play well and lead our team.

“His game tonight was outstanding, and it was a 200-foot game. He played well on both ends. He was out on the penalty kill and did a real good job.

Lukas Sawchyn had one goal and two assists for the Oil Kings.

“That is what you need from good players is good effort.”

Thanks to his hat trick performance, Holinka’s line had a great night. On Wednesday, Holinka for most of the contest centred a forward unit that contained rookie left-winger Kayden Stroeder, who turned 17-years-old in early March, and star veteran right-winger Lukas Sawchyn.

Stroeder finished with two assists and a plus-one rating, while Sawchyn posted one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating.

“They’re really skilled players,” said Blades head coach Dan DaSilva. “They are some of the best players in the league.

Kayden Stroeder had a pair of assists for the Oil Kings.

“They can make you look silly, if you’re not playing the body on them. I thought tonight we made it too easy on them and kind of let them off the hook a little bit. We’ve been doing a really good job on those guys.

“They are high-end players. They are going to have their nights, (and) they are going to get their looks. We’ve got to try and do a better job of limiting those looks and being more physical on them.”

At the 7:34 mark of the first period, Holinka opened the game’s scoring firing home a shot from the left slot to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

With 5:39 remaining in the first, Blades 18-year-old centre Kazden Mathies had a loose puck deflect off his skate from a rebound in front of the Edmonton net to even the score at 1-1.

Before the first came to an end, the Oil Kings would go back in front by scoring on the power play with 1:16 remaining in the stanza on a highlight reel effort by Holinka. Holinka skated through the Blades defence up through the centre of the Saskatoon zone and put home a close in backhand shot for his second of the contest to give the visitors a 2-1 edge.

Kazden Mathies had the Blades first goal on Wednesday.

Sawchyn said it is a blast to play on the same line as Holinka, especially when the Czech product makes plays like he does like on his second tally on Wednesday.

“He (Holinka) is a great player and super smart,” said Sawchyn. “He can pretty much throw from anywhere on the ice, so it is fun giving him the puck.”

At the 4:29 mark of the second, the Oil Kings top line rushed into the Saskatoon zone, and Stroeder dropped a smart pass to veteran star right-winger Lukas Sawchyn. Sawchyn fired a perfect snipe to the top right corner of the Saskatoon net to push the Oil Kings lead to 3-1.

The Blades would answer back with 4:27 remaining in the second with a goal from star right-winger Hunter Laing. Laing tapped home a puck at the left side of the Edmonton net after receiving a cross crease feed from veteran defenceman Tristen Doyle to cut the Oil Kings lead to 3-2.

Hunter Laing had the Blades second goal on Wednesday.

Just when the Blades seemed to have the momentum, Holinka would complete his hat trick at an absolute dagger of a time. After catching the Blades on a bad line change, Oil Kings captain Gavin Hodnett received a cross ice pass at the left side of the Saskatoon net from Sawchyn.

Blades star netminder Evan Gardner made a sprawling save but the puck rebounded out to Holinka at the right side of the Saskatoon net. Holinka popped home his hat trick tally with 21.5 seconds remaining in the frame to make the Oil Kings advantage sit at 4-2.

Mathies said his squad has to do a better job at playing against Holinka’s line.

“I think we have to be hard on them and not allow them to make just like the cute plays,” said Mathies. “We have to play physical and close the gap on them as quick as you can, so they can’t make those plays.”

Fans at the SaskTel Centre cheer on the Blades.

The Blades made a big push in the third outshooting the Oil Kings 14-7 in the frame, but they weren’t able to put any pucks past Oil Kings veteran netminder Ethan Simcoe. Saskatoon even got to work on a four-minute power play as Oil Kings centre Andrew O’Neill picked up a double-minor for slew-footing. That infraction will be automatically reviewed by the WHL Office for a possible suspension.

Oil Kings import right-winger Adam Jecho scored into an empty net with 2.2 seconds remaining in the third to round out the 5-2 final score in favour of the visitors.

Tristen Doyle had a slick assist for the Blades.

Gardner turned away 23-of-27 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Ethan Simcoe stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Oil Kings. 

The Oil Kings are without 17-year-old rookie netminder Parker Snell with an undisclosed ailment. Associate player call up Elias Mitrikas, who is a 15-year-old who played for the North Shore Warriors Under-18 Prep Club, dressed as Edmonton’s backup netminder.

The Oil Kings finished third in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and fifth in the circuit’s overall regular season standings with a 45-18-3-2 mark. The Blades were sixth in the Eastern Conference and placed 10^th in the overall regular season standings with a 34-27-5-2 mark.

During the regular season, Saskatoon was a club that was consistently inconsistent. The Blades were able to go out and pick up victories against the top teams in the league and would turn around and lose to squads that missed the post-season and were at the bottom of the overall standings.

Landon Hanson sets to shoot in the offensive zone for the Oil Kings.

At the moment, the Blades have shown they can compete at the same level as the Oil Kings. DaSilva is confident in his group going into Game 5, and he believes his players will be better than they were in Game 4.

“I think that we lacked a little bit of bite in our game,” said DaSilva. “It was not the game that you’ve seen from our group through three games in the series.

“They are a good team, (and) we knew they were going to push back. They were going to have their best effort here tonight. They didn’t want to be going home down 3-1.

“It is a best of three series. Anything can happen. We feel comfortable playing in Roger’s Place.”

Smith said his Oil Kings didn’t expect the series against the Blades would be a short one. As the two clubs head into the deep waters of the series, Smith said his squad will just focus on the next game.

The Oil Kings celebrate their Game 4 win on Wednesday.

“I think we kind of talked about it from the start of the playoffs that it is a game by game reset,” said Smith. “You’ve got to be prepared to play hard games.

“It is going to be very competitive, and you’ve got to be emotionally and physically involved in it to wear through it.”

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Tigers rebound in Regina

Medicine Hat praises youthful Pats in playoff battle

Keets Fawcett, left, of the Pats chases Noah Davidson of the Tigers.

REGINA, Sask. – It was a great night to be a fan of the Medicine Hat Tigers.

On Tuesday playing before 3,603 spectators at the Brandt Centre, the Tigers downed the host Regina Pats by a convincing margin of 8-2 in Game 3 of a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs. With the win, the Tigers take a 2-1 lead in the set with Game 4 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

The victory was a big one for the Tigers, who dropped a 4-2 decision to the Pats in Game 2 on Saturday at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat. Before that Game 2 encounter, the Tigers had beaten the Pats 12 straight times, where Regina’s previous victory was a 5-4 overtime win on home ice back on January 20, 2024.

Zach Moore was snake bitten with a disallowed goal.

While Medicine Hat won by a convincing final score on Tuesday, Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins saluted his team’s youthful foes in the Pats.

“I thought Regina played well,” said Desjardins. “They were right there early.

“I thought our goaltending played well early. They’re playing way better than they did in the regular season. It is a different team.

“They’re playing way better than they did in the regular season. It is a different team. We’re going to have to play good.”

Medicine Hat came into the first round series as heavy favourites to beat Regina. The Tigers finished second overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and third in the league’s overall standings. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Yaroslav Bryzgalov scored the Tigers first goal on Tuesday.

The Pats finished seventh overall in the Eastern Conference with a 25-34-7-2 mark. The Regina side is a more youthful side that is starting to see positive results from a rebuild. The Pats strength is in their younger age groups seen in forwards Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue, who are playing half-time with the squad as 15-year-old underage players.

Tigers captain Bryce Pickford has been impressed with the young Pats. He was happy his club came up with the rebound win on Tuesday night, but he said he is aware of what the Pats are capable of doing.

“They’re a really good team,” said Pickford. “They came into our barn for the second game, and they stole it from us.

Kade Stengrim scored the Tigers second goal on Tuesday.

“We can’t underestimate them. We knew they were going to be good tonight. We had all the energy.

“We knew what we had to do, and we did it.”

Just 1:48 into the contest, the Pats were snake bitten by some bad luck. Zack Moore, who is a 19-year-old centre, appeared to score on a backhand shot, but the goal was waved off as he scored it using a broken stick. He also received a delay of game penalty on the play for using the broken stick, but the Regina side was able to kill off the infraction.

Bryce Pickford posted one goal, one assist and a plus-three rating.

The Tigers weren’t deterred without being able to score on that power play. At the 7:47 mark of the first, import left-winger Yaroslav Bryzgalov sniped home a shot from low down in close to the left side of the Regina net to put the visitors up 1-0.

With seven minutes remaining in the opening frame, Pats left-winger Keets Fawcett drew a penalty shot on a rush to the Medicine Hat net. On his penalty shot attempt, he was stoned by Tigers starting netminder Jordan Switzer.

After that missed chance by the host side, Tigers left-winger Kade Stengrim scored with 6:06 remaining in the third and Pickford tallied with 34.7 seconds remaining in the frame to push the visitor’s advantage out to 3-0. 

Andrew Basha (#34) celebrates his first of two goals on Tuesday.

The Tigers exited the opening frame holding that 3-0 lead, while having a 13-12 edge in shots on goal.

Pickford said his squad caught a couple of breakings in the opening 20 minutes, especially with Moore’s disallowed goal early in the frame.

“I think that luck was definitely on our side there with that no goal,” said Pickford. “We got lucky.

“We’re lucky the stick broke there. We got a bounce, and then we bounced back and we scored. They’re a really good team.

“They started off hot. They played better than us in the first I thought, and we just found a way to win the game.”

Just 43 seconds into the second, import left-winger Ruslan Karimov scored for the Pats to cut the Tigers lead to 3-1. 

Liam Pue scored his first WHL post-season goal on Tuesday.

Tigers star 20-year-old left-winger Andrew Basha responded with a pair of goals coming at the 9:53 and 12:25 marks respectively to push Medicine Hat’s lead out to 5-1.

Following Basha’s second goal, the Pats pulled starting goalie Marek Schlenker, who turned away 14-of-19 shots taking the setback in net for Regina. 

Taylor Tabashniuk turned away 17-of-20 shots playing the rest of the way in relief in the Pats net.

Regina responded quickly to the netminder change. 

Just 29 seconds after Basha’s second tally, Pue netted his first career WHL post-season goal for the Pats to trim the Tigers lead to 5-2.

Maddox Schultz brings the puck up ice for the Pats.

The Tigers proceeded to stall any momentum the Pats gained. With 30.2 seconds remaining in the second, Tigers right-winger Carter Cunningham wired home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle to the top right corner of the Regina net to give the visitors a 6-2 advantage heading into the second intermission.

Noah Davidson and Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll added singles for the Tigers in the third to round out the 8-2 final score in favour of Medicine Hat.

Switzer stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers.

Pickford said his squad has to continue to be aware of what the Pats are capable of.

Markus Ruck congratulations Jordan Switzer on a good game.

“They’re a young team, but they played really good,” said Pickford, who had an assist to go with his goal and was a plus-three in the plus-minus department for the Tigers. “Their forwards are fast.

“Their “D” are good. We just have to keep it going. After the first game, we kind of let off and then they took the second game. I think the biggest thing that we’ve got to learn from this game is that we’ve got to keep it going more than just one game.

“They are a really good team over there. We’re going to get their best next game, so we’ve got to be ready.”

Desjardins said Tuesday’s game was a lot closer than the final score said it was. He has been impressed with the Pats’ battle, and he expects the Regina side to continue to play hard for the rest of the series.

“They’re giving us everything we can possibly handle,” said Desjardins. “We were worried coming in tonight for sure.

A group of Tigers players close the night with their prayer circle.

“We were taking nothing for granted. They played well at home and in our building. They’ll be playing hard tomorrow.

“We know that.”

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Raiders taking advantage of Rebels youth on defense

Jake Missura (#3) chats with Brandon Gorzynski and Justice Christensen.

The Prince Albert Raiders have been merciless when it comes to taking advantage of the youth on the Red Deer Rebels defense.

One of the facts on life in the WHL is teams will capitalize on an area you can take advantage of in an opponent and keep doing it again and again and again until you pick up the win. That type of development becomes larger in a best-of-seven post-season series.

That is becoming evident in the best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs between the Raiders and the Rebels. The Raiders lead the series 2-0 with Games 3 and 4 to be hosted Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at the Merchant Crane Centrum in Red Deer.

During the regular season, the Raiders topped the Eastern Conference and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

At this point in their development, they are an experienced and more veteran team that also has a youthful contingent who are proving to be special players. The steady veterans include 20-year-olds in captain Justice Christensen, Brayden Dube and Aiden Oiring along with Braeden Cootes, Brandon Gorzynski, Maddix McCagherty and Linden Burrett.

The youngsters who are playing beyond their age include Daxon Rudolph, Brock Cripps, Ben Harvey, Connor Howe and netminder Steele Bass. On Monday, the 16-year-old Cripps was named the WHL’s rookie of the week for posting two goals, two assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department in Prince Albert’s victories in Games 1 and 2 of the series at the Art Hauser Centre.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.

Blades split with Oil Kings in Edmonton to start post-season

Saskatoon hosts Games 3 and 4 of first round series

Ethan MacKenzie ensured his Edmonton Oil Kings avoided being in an unenviable position after their second game of the WHL Playoffs.

On Sunday afternoon, the Oil Kings and the Blades were locked in a 3-3 tie in overtime in Game 2 of a best-of-seven first round series at the Rogers Place. The Blades claimed Game 1 of the series on Friday at Rogers Place 3-2, where they also had a 30-29 edge in shots on goal.

In the later stages of overtime on Sunday, the Oil Kings were working on a power play that was nearing an edge. At that point, MacKenzie, who is the Oil Kings star 19-year-old defenceman, one-timed home a shot low in the right faceoff circle of the Saskatoon zone past Blades star netminder Evan Gardner to give the host Oil Kings a 4-3 victory.

MacKenzie’s goal came with 3:06 remaining in overtime and three seconds remaining on the power-play his club was working on. He converted a beauty setup pass from 20-year-old star import centre Miroslav Holinka. The tally sent the Oil Kings home crowd of 5,173 spectators into an ecstatic frenzy.

With the win, the Oil Kings even the series at 1-1. They are still facing challenging waters as the series shifts to Saskatoon for Game 3 and 4 to be held Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at the SaskTel Centre for a 7 p.m. start time on both nights.

The Oil Kings finished third in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and fifth in the circuit’s overall regular season standings with a 45-18-3-2 mark. The Blades were sixth in the Eastern Conference and placed 10^th in the overall regular season standings with a 34-27-5-2 mark.

During the regular season, Saskatoon was a club that was consistently inconsistent. The Blades were able to go out and pick up victories against the top teams in the league and would turn around and lose to squads that missed the post-season and were at the bottom of the overall standings.

In their first two contests of the 2026 post-season, it can be argued the Blades had a couple of their best outings in the overall 2025-26 campaign.

In Game 2 on Sunday, the Blades took a 1-0 lead on a goal from veteran centre Hayden Harsanyi with 2:32 remaining in the first period. The Oil Kings would even the score at 1-1 with a power-play goal coming from standout left-winger Aaron Obobaifo with 4:02 remaining in the second period.

Starting with 6:37 remaining in the third, the Oil Kings scored goals 83 seconds apart from each other to go ahead 3-1. Holinka tallied on the power play, while 17-year-old centre Dylan Dean scored at even strength.

The Blades didn’t go away. With 3:04 remaining in the third, the two clubs were playing four skaters versus four skaters due to off-setting minor penalties, and Blades pulled Gardner for an extra attacker. Harsanyi potted his second goal of the contest at that point to trim the Oil Kings lead to 3-2.

With Gardner back tending the Saskatoon net and both sides playing at full strength, Blades star import left-winger David Lewandowski fired home the equalizer with two minutes remaining in the third to force a 3-3 tie and overtime.

That set the stage for MacKenzie to score the winner in the extra session.

Gardner turned away 38 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Oil Kings 17-year-old rookie Parker Snell stopped 41 shots to pick up the win in goal for Edmonton.

Lewandowski had a pair of assists to go with his goal and finished with a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. Blades rearguard Tristen Doyle posted a pair of assists and a plus-one rating.

Holinka had a pair of assists to go with his goal, while MacKenzie had a helper to go with his overtime winner. Oil Kings star 20-year-old defenceman Carter Sotheran finished with a pair of assists.

The Blades were 0-for-5 on the power play, while the Oil Kings converted 3-of-6 chances with the man advantage.

If the Blades can now find success on home ice in Games 3 and 4 of this set, they can bring the upset watch up to another level.

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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Raiders run over Rebels with 6-0 win in Game 2

Prince Albert takes 2-0 lead in first round post-season series

The Raiders celebrate a short-handed goal from Daxon Rudolph (#10).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – When the dam burst, it burst big.

On Saturday, the Prince Albert Raiders found themselves being thwarted on numerous scoring opportunities by Red Deer Rebels star rookie netminder Matthew Kondro in the first third of Game 2 of a WHL best-of-seven first round playoff series. The teams exited the first period locked in a scoreless tie with the Raiders holding a 13-3 edge in shots on goal.

Just 1:37 into the second period, Raiders 16-year-old skilled rookie defenceman Brock Cripps scored a power-play goal on an end-to-end rush. From that point, the host Raiders added four more goals in the second to push their advantage out to 5-0. They would finish off the contest cruising to a 6-0 victory to the delight of a jubilant standing room crowd of 2,997 spectators at the 2,580 seat storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.

Brock Cripps had the Raiders first goal on Friday.

With the win, the Raiders, who were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings, take a 2-0 lead in the series. Going back to the regular season, they have won eight straight games.

“You know what, we have a game plan,” said Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald. “We have a process that we stick to.

“It hasn’t wavered all year no matter who we’re playing. The guys did a great job going out there executing the game plan tonight.”

During the first period, it appeared the Raiders might get snake bitten around the net for the night. Star centre Braeden Cootes had a backhand shot chance in close that was turned away by a paddle stop by Kondro.

The Art Hauser Centre faithful cheer on the Raiders.

Late in the frame, Raiders star defenceman Daxon Rudolph had a partial breakaway, but he fanned on his shot. The fanned shot was still a chance Kondro had to make an alert stop on.

The host side’s luck changed around the net, when Cripps scored on his end-to-end rush. On that play, the puck disappeared from sight underneath Kondro’s pads, but referee Adam Bloski was positioned behind the net and made the call of a good goal on the ice.

Following the goal call, the play went to a view review that lasted for about five minutes. After the review, the officials ruled the call on the ice stands.

“You look at the entry, the speed that Brock (Cripps) possessed getting into the zone, it was a great move to get around the stand,” said McDonald. “He took the puck right to the net and got rewarded.”

Ben Harvey had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

Just two minutes after Cripps’ goal, the Raiders pushed their advantage to 2-0, when 16-year-old rookie right-winger Ben Harvey fired a shot from the front of the net to the top right corner of the Red Deer goal. Harvey converted a sweet setup feed from Rudolph.

“Dax (Rudolph), obviously, made a nice play coming down the wall and found me in the middle,” said Harvey. “I kind of just popped up and tried to get it past the first layer there, and I don’t think their goalie saw it.”

Just under five minutes later, the Raiders picked up a short-handed tally from Rudolph to push their lead out to 3-0. Cootes sent a smart pass to Rudolph to spring the rearguard into the Red Deer zone on a rush. Rudolph charged to the front of the net and ripped home a shot to the top right corner of the goal.

Daxon Rudolph had one goal and two assists for the Raiders.

With 3:52 remaining in the second, Raiders sophomore centre Riley Boychuk potted home a loose puck during a net scramble for a power-play goal that made the Raiders lead sit at 4-0. With 2:05 remaining in the second, Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube sniped home a power-play marker from inside the right faceoff circle in the Red Deer zone to give the Raiders a 5-0 edge.

Prince Albert’s momentum proceeded to carry over to a right between rookie 16-year-old left-winger Connor Howe and Rebels 17-year-old defenceman Cameron Dillard. The bout was a spirited one that ended with Howe, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 155 pounds, getting the take down on the much larger Dillard, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 218 pounds. The Art Hauser Centre faithful rained down thunderous applause for Howe, who is a hometown product.

Brayden Dube had a pair of goals for the Raiders.

“Everyone is just playing the right way,” said Harvey, who had an assist to go with his goal. “We’re just sticking to our game and playing fast.

“It is just eventually they’re going to come.”

Dube proceeded to score his second of the contest taking a drop pass from Cootes and wiring home a shot from the right faceoff dot in the Red Deer zone to round out the 6-0 final score in favour of the Raiders.

“I was just in the right spot at the right time it felt like,” said Dube. “It was nice to get a couple.”

Following Dube’s second tally, the Rebels elected to pull Kondro. Kondro took the loss in the Red Deer net turning away 30-of-36 shots sent his way. Peyton Shore played the rest of the way in the third in relief turning away all four shots sent his way.

Fans at the Art Hauser Centre do the wave.

Overall, Dube was pleased with his team’s effort and thought it was a good follow up to their 4-1 victory over the Rebels in Game 1 on Friday at the Hauser.

“I think we played similar to yesterday,” said Dube. “The goals didn’t come that quick, but I think we wore them down.

“They started making mistakes, and we capitalized on them.”

Raiders star 18-year-old import rookie netminder Michal Orsulak stopped all 13 shots sent his way to pick up his first career post-season shutout in the WHL. He also had an assist on Cripps’s goal.

While the Raiders had the Rebels pinned in their own zone for a large part of Saturday’s game, Orsulak had to come up with a huge sprawling glove save on a Rebels left-winger Poul Andersen inside the final seven minutes of the third to preserve his shutout.

Michal Orsulak made 13 saves for the shutout win on Saturday.

“He was sticky and tidy when called upon,” said McDonald. “It was just a real solid night from him tonight.”

Rudolph finished with a pair of assists to go with his goal and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department. Cootes had a plus-two rating to go with his two helpers.

The Raiders were without breakout star centre Max Heise, who was injured after being hit into the boards by Rebels right-winger Owen DeWitt early in Game 1. McDonald said Heise is listed as day-to-day when it comes to possibly returning.

The series between the Raiders and Rebels now shifts to Red Deer. Games 3 and 4 will be held Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at 7 p.m. local time on both nights at the Marchant Crane Centrium. In looking forward to those contests, Dube said his Raiders need to keep doing what they have been doing so far in the series.

The Raiders celebrate their win on Saturday.

“I know they’ll be better in Red Deer,” said Dube. “We just have to stick to our game and clean some things up that we can work on and just keep it going.”

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Raiders playoff opening win a Hauser crowd pleaser

Prince Albert downs Red Deer 4-1 in intense clash 

Braeden Cootes (#34) battles Jake Missura (#3).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – It was a playoff victory that was a blast for the faithful of the Prince Albert Raiders.

On Friday, the Raiders downed the visiting Red Deer Rebels 4-1 in Game 1 of their first round WHL best-of-seven playoff series before a standing room crowd of 3,078 spectators at the storied and historic 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The victory to open the post season was a sound one by the Raiders, who gradually pulled away in the contest.

The contest also was an intense one played between a pair of teams whose cultures are grounded in some good old school hockey values. The contest had physical moments where both sides will likely have to agree to disagree on how they viewed those instances.

Braeden Cootes had two goals and an assist for the Raiders.

The Raiders started the night entering the ice to Airbourne’s “Live It Up” drawing a call back to their last WHL championship winning campaign in 2018-19. That tune was the squad’s entrance song for that campaign.

The host side kept the pre-game nods to their past coming by having Carole Ring come out to sing the national anthem. Ring has lifetime links to the Raiders being best known for being a longtime billet mom for a number of the club’s players and serving for a time as the team’s secretary way back in the early 1980s.

During the opening faceoff, both teams tried to set the tone as the starting centres in Raiders 20-year-old Aiden Oiring and Czech import Matej Mikes, who turned 19 in February, butted into each other before referee Josh Grimm could drop the puck.

Braeden Cootes had plus-two rating in the plus-minus department.

The contest’s next big moment was one of the spots of the night the Raiders fans weren’t happy with. About 90 seconds into the first period, Raiders breakout star centre Max Heise was battling for the puck in the right corner boards of the Prince Albert zone against Rebels import defenceman Jiri Kamas. As the puck battle was going on, Heise got slammed awkwardly into the boards by Rebels centre Owen DeWitt, who jetted into the hit with speed.

Heise fell down to the ice and was helped to the dressing room and didn’t return to the contest. That meant the Raiders had to play without the man that led the squad with 29 goals during the regular season and finished with 63 points in 63 regular season contests. The officials didn’t call any penalties on the play causing the moment to be a missed potential charging call on DeWitt.

Michal Orsulak stopped 22 shots in goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders proceeded to push on after that development.

With 5:17 remaining in the first, they broke through on the scoreboard while working on the power play. Star centre Braeden Cootes got the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle and fired a blast past Rebels star 18-year-old rookie netminder Matthew Kondro to give the host side a 1-0 edge.

About a minute later, a moment happened that the Rebels weren’t happy about. Rebels right-winger Patrick Sopiarz was coming out of his zone with the puck, when he got hit knee-to-knee by Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett.

The collision happened right in front of the Red Deer bench, and most of the Rebels players were up in arms voicing their displeasure to the officials. The officials didn’t call any penalties on the collision making the moment another missed call, but they did give an unrelated tripping minor to Raiders sophomore right-winger Riley Boychuk just about 15 seconds later.

Matthew Kondro made 35 saves in net for the Rebels.

Sopiarz ended up being alright after the hit by Burrett and was out to play on the Red Deer power-play after Boychuk took his tripping minor.

Between those two physical moments in the opening frame, both teams locked into focusing on playing their systems in transitioning the puck up ice and trying to create turnovers forechecking in the offensive zone.

Just 2:03 into the second period, the Raiders pushed their lead out to 2-0 off a positive bounce goal by star defenceman Daxon Rudolph. Rudolph circled around behind the Red Deer net with the puck coming out on the left side of the goal. He slid a shot into the crease of the Rebels net and had the puck deflect off Kondro into the goal to give the hosts their two-goal edge.

Outside of that moment, Kondro had an outstanding period making 19 saves as the Rebels were outshot 20-7 in the second period. One of his best stops came late in the frame on a close in screen shot opportunity by Boychuk.

Daxon Rudolph celebrates scoring for the Raiders.

The physical play continued in the second too. Before the midway part of the stanza, Raiders captain Justice Christensen hammered Rebels 20-year-old defenceman Aleksey Chichkin into the Prince Albert bench. That drew a huge roar from the Raiders faithful.

Later on in the frame, Raiders 17-year-old right-winger Jonah Sivertson delivered a crowd-pleasing hit on Rebels 17-year-old left-winger Cameron Kuzma.

During the second period, Raiders star import netminder Michal Orsulak, who turned 18 in early January, had to be sharp even if he wasn’t as busy as Kondro. With just over 10 minutes remaining in the second, the Rebels sprung 17-year-old right-winger Kalder Varga into the Prince Albert zone on a breakaway. Varga was stoned by Orsulak.

Poul Andersen scored for the Rebels on Friday.

In the third, the Rebels pushed back, and they broke through on the scoreboard at the 7:35 mark of the frame with a positive bounce goal on the power play. Rebels left-winger Poul Andersen shot a puck from the left side boards in the Prince Albert zone, and the puck deflected off a Raiders defenceman into the Prince Albert goal cut the host side’s lead to 2-1.

The Raiders ensured the Rebels wouldn’t complete the comeback. With 9:02 remaining in the third, Cootes got the puck on a rush into the Red Deer zone, and he fired home his second of the contest from just under the right faceoff dot to give the Raiders a 3-1 advantage.

Right after scoring that goal, Cootes got tangled up with Rebels 17-year-old defenceman Jake Missura causing a scrum to develop. The officials promptly got the players on both sides untangled and sent to their respective benches.

Brock Cripps had the Raiders fourth goal on Friday.

With 3:14 remaining in the third, Cootes gave the puck to Raiders skilled 16-year-old rookie defenceman Brock Cripps with a slick pass just inside the Red Deer zone. Cripps skated to the top of the right faceoff circle and drove home a shot to round out the final 4-1 score in favour of the host side.

An oddity proceeded to occur with 28.4 seconds remaining in the third as Raiders import left-winger Alisher Sarkenov and Rebels 20-year-old centre Tyson Yaremko got tangled up and had a holding match. That ultimately was the end of the extracurricular activities for the night.

At the final buzzer, both sides made a point to give a quiet nod of respect to each other and skated away from each other to their respective ends.

When the dust was settled, Orsulak had stopped 22 shots to pick up his first career WHL post-season win in goal for the Raiders. Kondro turned away 35 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels.

The Raiders salute their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.

Both sides will go at it in Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. While Friday’s Game 1 had some good intensity, one can expect that factor to keep increasing as the series goes on.

As for the Raiders faithful, they will be hoping to see another crowd pleaser in Game 2 where, of course, the home side prevails once again.

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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Raiders to face playoff intensity out of gate in Rebels

The Raiders salute their fans at the Art Hauser Centre last Friday.

Getting the Red Deer Rebels first in the WHL Playoffs might be a good thing for the Prince Albert Raiders.

After topping the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 52-10-5-1 mark finishing the regular season with six straight wins, the Raiders will face real playoff intensity against the Rebels, who finished eighth in the conference 26-36-5-2. Two sides are set to engage in a best-of-seven first round series with Games 1 and 2 set for Friday and Saturday respectively at 7 p.m. at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.

By tradition, the Raiders and Rebels are mirror images of each other. When they are at their best, they play with great skill offensively, grind out games, play physically, bring a strong work ethic and possess a never quit mentality. The Raiders traditional style dates back to when Terry Simpson was the team’s head coach and general manager, and the Rebels traditionally mirror in the image of their longtime general manager and owner in Brent Sutter.

The Raiders do go into the series with an edge in the experience department. Prince Albert is carrying a roster with five players in the 17-year-old age group and three players in the 16-year-old age group before adding in associate player call ups.

The Rebels are carrying 11 players in their 17-year-old seasons, and five of those players make up the seven skaters on their defensive unit. One of those overall 17-year-olds in centre Beckett Hamilton led the Rebels in scoring with 62 points coming off 24 goals and 38 assists, while 17-year-old right-winger Kalder Varga had 21 goals and 37 points.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.