 |
| Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, centre, sizes up a situation on the ice. |
After four
games of their WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Prince Albert Raiders
and Saskatoon Blades have played straight up hockey, and it has been really
good. The best-of-seven series is tied 2-2 with each side winning their
respective home games.
Game 5 is
slated for Friday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.
Before their series began, Habscheid, who is the Raiders veteran
head coach, said in a number of media outlets that the Blades like to dive and
embellish to draw penalties.
He tried to paint the picture that the Blades players were the second coming of
former NHL forward Claude Lemieux when it came to diving.
After the
Raiders took a 2-0 lead in the series, Love, who is the Blades first year head
coach, accused the Raiders of dishing out tonnes of head shots before a large
media scrum in Saskatoon.
You had
visions of the Raiders players being like former Hockey Hall of Fame NHL defenceman
Scott Stevens, who went out and crushed all opposing players when they came
across the ice with their heads down.
The types
of hits Stevens delivered back in his playing days would be reviewed for suspensions
in the current day.
 |
| Blades head coach Mitch Love, centre, listens to a talk with a referee. |
Habscheid
fired back before Game 4 on Wednesday telling Trevor Redden of paNOW.com he thought
Love questioned the integrity of the league about player safety and did not
think that comment was appropriate.
Habscheid
told Redden it was all gamesmanship.
Love said
the same thing on the gamesmanship during his media scrum bringing up his
concerns in Saskatoon.
While the
coaches on both sides went at it verbally, it was hard to see if the posturing
had any effects on the first four games. It did not appear either side was able
to influence how the officials called the four encounters.
The
contests themselves were pretty intense rivalry games.
What the
back-and-forth speak did do was engage the fans on both sides. After each coach
said his piece, you could get lost seemingly for four hours in the comments
made by fans on social media lines.
The coaches’
war of words isn’t a central plotline to the series, but it definitely spices
things up.
Time to talk taunting
 |
| Blades C Tristen Robins (#11) has words with Raiders D Jeremy Masella. |
After the
Blades downed the Raiders 4-1 in Game 4 of their WHL Eastern Conference
semifinal series on Wednesday, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid dropped this
little nugget in his post-game media scrum.
“It was
interesting at the end of the game,” said Habscheid. “Our guys took notice they
were taunting us, and making motions to us.
“We will be
ready on Friday. That just fueled us. We didn’t expect that, but they were
taunting us so that is OK.”
Habscheid
was likely referring to a visible verbal exchange between Blades 17-year-old
rookie centre Tristen Robins and veteran Raiders defenceman Jeremy Masella that
happened after the third period clock expired.
On the
other end of things, Blades overage right-winger Max Gerlach thought his team
was staying out of the verbal confrontations outside of feisty forward Riley
McKay, who likes to get the opponents off their game.
“I don’t
think that is kind of our style of play,” said Gerlach after Game 4. “Obviously,
“Porks” (McKay) likes to get engaged with the other team.
“Tonight, I
thought we did a really good job of staying out of kind of the crap after the
whistle. When we don’t engage with them after the whistle, I think they kind of
really don’t know what to do about that. If we can stay away from them kind of
after the whistle and make sure we are not taking any penalties, we will be
just fine.”
 |
| Jeremy Masella (#3) and Riley McKay (#39) have battled. |
Raiders
fans will likely take what Habscheid said to heart. You can bet Raider
supporters will likely make even more creative signs and shout more creative
heckles at the Blades, when the two teams collide for Game 5 Friday at the Art
Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.
You can bet
there will be another sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators on hand at the 2,580
seat rink.
As for
taunts on the ice, the Raiders and Blades have now met 12 times this season
including action in the regular season and playoffs.
The Raiders
topped the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record and
were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. The Blades finish fourth overall in the WHL’s
regular season standings with a 45-15-8 record and earned honourable mention
status in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.
The two
teams have a heated rivalry and they are trying to end each other’s campaigns
in a heated series. You can be sure there is a lot of talking on the ice.
With that
noted, it seems like McKay and Masella are having some good heated one-on-one
battles on the ice to add another side plot to the series.
I doubt they
will go to dinner together at a Cactus Club Cafe near you to meet the very good
looking female staffers there.
Brook gets conference scholastic player
award
 |
| Jakob Brook is a conference scholastic player of the year. |
Brook, who
turned 17-years-old in March, has maintained a 92 per cent overall average in
his Grade 11 high school studies. On March 18, Brook was named the Raiders
scholastic player of the year for the 2018-19 campaign.
On the ice,
Brook has appeared in 61 regular season games with the Raiders posting six
goals, six assists and a plus-nine rating in the plus-minus department.
The Raiders
selected the Roblin, Man., product in the second round and 40th
overall in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.
Netminder
Dustin Wolf of the Everett Silvertips was named the scholastic player of the
year for the WHL’s Western Conference.
The WHL
will present its awards for the entire league on May 1 in Red Deer, Alta.
Bloski, Byblow call great Game 3
 |
| The officials had a good night on Tuesday in Saskatoon. |
The crew of
referees Adam Bloski and Adam Byblow and linesmen Sean Dufour and Tarrington
Wyonzek had a great outing on Tuesday when the Blades blanked the Raiders 1-0
at the SaskTel Centre in a contest that was shown live on Sportsnet.
In
overseeing any hockey game, officials aim to make their games have great flow.
Game 3 of the series between the Raiders and Blades arguably had the best flow
out of any games played so far in the WHL post-season.
The contest
moved so seamlessly the officials dropped the puck for just 45 total faceoffs.
The Sportsnet crew was actually worried if they would get all their commercial
stoppages in.
To show how
low that total is for faceoffs in one game, Game 1 of the series between the
Raiders and Blades had 66 puck drops. Game 2 had 59 faceoffs, while Game 4 had
62 faceoffs.
The crew of
Bloski, Byblow, Dufour and Wyonzek called only the penalties that needed to be
called. As a result, there were only five total minor penalties called and
three total power plays awarded in the game.
I know
there are fans on either side that scream for a penalty every time a player on
the team they cheer for gets touched by an opposing player. That will destroy
the flow of a hockey game.
Of course,
I post this mostly because fans like to beat up on the officials with
criticisms but never give credit when they do well.
With their
performance on Tuesday, Bloski, Byblow, Dufour and Wyonzek would have received
ovations from former veteran WHL referees Chris Schlenker, Chris Savage and
Devin Klein.
Leasons fall to 7-2 in post-season against
Saskatoon
 |
| Brett Leason has been held pointless in his last three games. |
The Leasons
were 7-0 before the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades tangled in Games
3 and 4 of their WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series in Saskatoon. After
the Blades won those contests against star right-winger Brett Leason and his
Raiders, the Leason family fell to 7-2 against Saskatoon based teams in the
post-season.
Brett
Leason is 2-2 against Saskatoon based teams in the playoffs. His father,
Darryl, posted a perfect 5-0 record as the starting quarterback of the Regina
Rams football team in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Brett
Leason, who led the Raiders in regular season scoring with 36 goals and 53
assists for 89 points, might be due for another explosive game.
In Game 1
of the Raiders series with the Blades in Prince Albert last Friday, Leason had
a goal and three assists as the Raiders thrashed the Blades 6-1. Since that
contest, Leason has been held pointless in the last three games of the series.
In Games 3
and 4, Leason has had golden chances to score and set up golden chances to
score. Those opportunities were thwarted by Blades star netminder Nolan Maier.
In Game 5
this coming Friday in Prince Albert, it feels like another big night could come
from Leason, if he is able to crack onto the scoresheet.
Oil Kings wait to find out foe
 |
| Vince Loschiavo and the Oil Kings wait to see who they play next. |
On Wednesday,
the Oil Kings blanked the host Calgary Hitmen 6-0 at the Scotiabank Saddledown
in Game 4 of their WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. With the win,
Edmonton sweeps the best-of-seven set 4-0.
In the
clinching game, Oil Kings star captain Trey Fix-Wolansky was held without a
point.
Edmonton
received goals from six different players with Scott Atkinson, Quinn
Benjafield, Jake Neighbours, Vince Loschiavo, Wyatt McLeod and Andrew Fyten all
netting singles.
Dylan
Myskiw turned away 18 shots in goal to pick up the shutout win in goal for the
Oil Kings.
Jack
McNaughton turned away 24-of-29 shots to take the setback starting in goal for
the Hitmen. Carl Stankowski stopped seven-of-eight shots playing the third
period in relief.
Loschiavo,
who is an overage centre, leads the Oil Kings in post-season scoring with five
goals and five assists.
The Oil
Kings finished fifth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a
42-18-4-4 record and were listed as an honourable mention in the final CHL Top
10 rankings. The Hitmen were 10th overall in the regular season with
a 36-26-5-1 mark.
With the
series win, the Oil Kings are in a holding pattern. They will face the winner
of the series between the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades in the WHL’s
Eastern Conference championship series.
The Raiders
and Blades are tied 2-2 in their best-of-seven series with Game 5 set for
Friday in Prince Albert.
It is always good to be frenemies
 |
| A frenemies moment between a Blades and Raiders fan. |
Those in
Prince Albert and Saskatoon are getting to experience what it is like to be
part of a great rivalry playoff series. At the end of the day, the teams these
fans cheer for are just playing a game.
The
players, coaches and staffers of both clubs are all great people, and it will
be sad to see one club’s season come to an end.
Still, it
is always fun to enjoy the company of the fans of opposing teams. Frenemies
interactions frequently develop between Saskatchewan Roughriders fans and
Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans in the CFL during the annual Labour Day Classic game
played between those two sides in Regina.
I admit I
enjoy seeing frenemies pictures of Raiders and Blades fans on social media. I
would love to see a few more of those types of pictures on social media as the
series closes in on a conclusion.
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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