Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings battled in the seventh and deciding game at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. The final game would decide who would travel in round two to Medicine Hat and who would just go home.
The Raiders got into a mosh pit in the Edmonton zone as Edmonton tried to clear it. The Raiders were able to hold the puck at the line where it was fired on net. The ensuing traffic at the goalmouth sent the puck off an Oil King but was credited to Aiden Oiring. Just over six minutes later, the Raiders went up by a pair. The Raiders capitalized on a giveaway in the Oil Kings’ zone as Ty Meunier stepped out in front of the Oil Kings’ net, put home his first of the playoffs, and put the home squad up by two.
The Oil Kings wouldn’t roll over as they continued to hammer away at the massive 6’5″ Max Hildebrand in the Raiders’ net. The Oil Kings fired everything but the kitchen sink, but couldn’t get on the board. The Raiders did. With a tip to the short side, the Raiders went up 3-0 on the play by Lucas Dragicevic. Immediately after, Edmonton was assessed a minor penalty for roughing. Edmonton then hit a breakaway with Miroslav Hollinka, but a massive save by Hildebrand kept the shutout. The Oil Kings were buzzing for the period’s final seconds, but couldn’t find the equalizer.
The Raiders got on the powerplay past the midway point of the third with a tip-in at the goal crease by Niall Crocker. Both teams took a timeout as Edmonton looked to get something going. However, out of that timeout, Edmonton took another penalty. Prince Albert then went on yet another powerplay and made the Oil Kings pay with a Rilen Kovacevic marker. Just as the puck dropped, it seemed to be in the net. At that point, it was just a matter of whittling down the time as the Oil Kings folded their collective tent and knew it was over. The Raiders would then take a shutout. at 5-0
The Portland Winterhawks announced the schedule for round two. They will play in Everett Friday and Saturday, with Tuesday and Wednesday in Portland. If necessary, Game 5 will be in Everett on Friday and then Portland on Saturday, with Game 7 set for the following Monday.
Victoria and Spokane will do 2-3-2, with Sunday and Monday in Spokane, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and if needed, Games 6 and 7 set for Tuesday and Wednesday in Spokane.
Out east, the Hitmen series begins Thursday, then Saturday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Lethbridge, Friday in Calgary, and Saturday in Lethbridge. A seventh game, if needed, would be in Calgary, still to be announced, but most likely Monday.
Medicine Hat will face Prince Albert, with the Raiders getting Wednesday and Thursday. Medicine Hat will get Saturday and Sunday to give the Raiders a day of rest. The other three games will be scheduled for Saturday and Wednesday, with Monday in between scheduled for Prince Albert.
The Ontario Hockey League will have all series start on Thursday, and then all will play on Saturday, with the exception of Brantford and Oshawa, who will play on Sunday. Most of the first four games will have one or several teams playing, with the exception of no games on Monday.
The QMJHL will start Friday, and all teams will play on odd days for the next week and a half.
Time for the predictions again.
Everett will finally defeat Portland, but if the Hawks play the way they have at times, this is a long series of six or seven games. Everett did have a tough time towards the end of the season, and their series with Seattle was far from easy. Everett is the Scotty Munro champion, and that makes a huge difference. Portland is very good, but maybe not THAT GOOD,
Spokane and Victoria should go to Spokane in six. When one looks at the scorers, Spokane has three in double digits with Victoria just one, and it tapers off heavily from that point. Spokane was a stronger dealer at the trade deadline, and that has helped them during the season and in the playoffs.
Calgary and Lethbridge are interesting. The Canes made some waves at trade deadline to obtain some top talent and moved heavily up the standings as a result was their fourth place in the regular season standings, but were not tremendously far back from top spot in the Central Division/The two squads are evenly matched in home and away regular season standings, so this could go either way. One would think a top seed would overtake a lower seed, but this may be a surprise. Figure seven games and I’ll nod to Lethbridge.
Medicine Hat versus Prince Albert is one to be sure that the Raiders, while elated, are going to be super tired, and the Tigers are well rested. This may go five games in the Hat’s favor>
A couple of Hawk notes. Dean “Scooter’ Vrooman has been awarded the Golden Microphone for his 32 years behind the microphone, calling well over 2000 games and logging over 1 million miles while calling those games. Scooter is the first award recipient named in honor of Bob Ridley, who was the Medicine Hat Tigers broadcaster and their bus driver for decades. Developed by the Western Canada Professional Hockey Scouts Foundation, the award honors the voices of the teams for their dedication to major junior hockey.
On a sad note, former Winterhawks player Chaz Lucius has had to retire from hockey. It was discovered that he had been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, not huge for regular folk, but in the hard-hitting game of hockey, it can be devastating. The disease causes the body to lack collagen and can weaken the skin, joints, and connective tissue. This causes elastic-type skin and fragility within that skin, which is then susceptible to irreversible damage. Lucius was just 21 in retiring. He played for the Manitoba Moose of the AHL and had just six games with Portland after initially being drafted by them in 2018. He joined the Hawks following a reassignment by the Winnipeg Jets and suffered an injury six games after arriving. He followed up with three short seasons with the Moose, and again plagued by injuries, was finally diagnosed. He decided to retire after consultation with family, the team, and others.
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