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| The Raiders celebrate a winning goal from Lukas Dragicevic last Saturday. |
Now, that experience will help them as they head into the WHL post-season as the league’s East Division champions taking on the Edmonton Oil Kings in a best-of-seven first round series. Games 1 and 2 of that series are set for Friday and Saturday respectively at the Art Hauser Centre with a 7 p.m. start time on both nights.
The series should be a tight one with the Raiders sporting a 39-23-5-1 record in the regular season, while the Oil Kings posted a 37-27-2-2 mark. The two clubs met five times in the regular season with the Raiders winning three of those contests. The Oil Kings play a gritty and feisty style that will make them a tough out in the post-season.
The Raiders received ample preparation for what awaits them thanks to the experience they gained closing the regular season in a home-and-home series with their archrivals the Saskatoon Blades. Last weekend, those two clubs entered their final two head-to-head matches with both sides knowing they would win the East Division, if they swept that series.
When the two sides met last Friday before a season high 10,990 spectators at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, that contest’s intensity felt like a playoff game. The energy both the Raiders and Blades showed on the ice was a step up from any regular season contest they played to that point.
This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.
