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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