There was only one broom-head on the ice after Wednesday’s tilt between the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades, but the outcome was not in doubt.
For the first time since 2019, the Raiders are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals after sweeping the Blades out of the playoffs with a 5-3 victory at the SaskTel Centre.
“Obviously, a great series here and you’ve got to give Saskatoon credit. They played us hard,” defenceman Daxon Rudolph said. “I know it was a sweep but it definitely wasn’t easy.”
“The Blades pushed hard,” added Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald. “That’s a real scrappy team over there and they didn’t go away. (They) kept pushing us, and got the game close. We had to buckle down and get back to our game. Give our guys a lot of credit getting to that third period where we locked things down.”
The Raiders entered Wednesday’s contest looking to do what they couldn’t in the first round—keep their opponents from forcing a Game 5. The start couldn’t have been better for Prince Albert—or any more disastrous for Saskatoon.
Braeden Cootes opened the scoring just 1:10 into the first period when he banked a wrist shot off Saskatoon goaltender Evan Gardner’s arm and into the net. The Raiders went ahead 2-0 nearly four minutes later thanks to another bank shot—this one from defenceman Brock Cripps who fired a puck that hit Maddix McCagherty and bounced into the Blades’ goal.
Defenceman Matyas Man made it 3-0 a little over a minute later with a bullet of a wrist shot over Gardner’s shoulder, and the Raiders had almost all the offence they needed.
“I thought it was unfortunate the way it started,” Blades head coach Dan DaSilva said. “I think our guys were excited and they were ready to go. A couple of bad breaks early and we get behind the eight ball right away, but as we’ve seen all year long there was no quit in our group.”
DaSilva called time out after Man’s goal, and the Blades quickly reorganized. Just 28 seconds late, they got a bounce of their own when David Lewandowski fired a wrist shot that appeared to deflect off a Prince Albert player and past Raider starter Michal Orsulak.
The Blades had a chance to make it 3-2 when defenceman Brayden Klimpke fired a wrist shot off the inside of the post and out. When a Saskatoon player did find the back of the net, it was at the wrong end.
Prince Albert went up 4-1 when Rudolph’s point shot snuck through Gardner’s equipment and rolled towards the net. The puck stopped inches away from the goal line, but defenceman Jordan Martin inadvertently knocked it across and the Raiders led 4-1.
“We were getting pucks in, getting behind them, playing a fast game, which is hard to play against,” Rudolph said. “I think sometimes pucks can get bouncing when you’re rushing plays and things like that. I don’t really know what the reason is but (it’s) fortunate for us to take those bounces in the first.”
After being outshot 15-4 in the first period, the Blades rallied for their best period of the series. They outshot the Raiders 16-9 in the second, and clawed their way back into the game thanks to goals from Hunter Laing and captain Tyler Parr.
However, the jubilation didn’t last. Max Heise put a dagger into Saskatoon’s hopes of a comeback when he wired a wrist shot over Gardner’s shoulder and into the top corner with 57 seconds to play in the second. It was Heise’s first goal of the playoffs after the Calgary product missed almost the entire first round due to injury.
“I was excited,” Raider captain Justice Christensen said when asked about Heise’s tally. “That was a huge goal for us and kind of gave us a little breathing room when they were pressing hard. Big goal by him.”
The Raiders held off the Saskatoon attack in the third, limiting them to six shots in a scoreless final 20 minutes. However, both sides had chances to add to their ledger.
Saskatoon centre Hayden Harsanyi had the best chance when he fired a puck off the cross bar with 13:38 to play in the third. Parr had the second best when he hit the outside of the goal post after a cross-crease pass snuck past the Raider defenceman and onto the Saskatoon captain’s stick.
At the other end, Heise had a chance for his second of the playoffs when he ripped a shot off the cross bar with 3:24 remaining.
The Blades pulled Gardner for the extra attacker with 2:15 to play in the third but Orsulak shut the door, securing a Prince Albert win and a spot in the Eastern Conference Final.
“I think from the last series we learned a lot—not to give teams life coming back and giving them an extra game,” Christensen said. “We wanted to jump on them early and kind of get after them. They threw everything they had at us tonight, so it was a tough game. I’m just proud of the group and how we responded.”
“It sucks losing to the Raiders, but I’m super proud of the effort over the year, super proud of the effort against Edmonton, (and) super proud of the effort in this series,” said Parr. “We fought right until the end, so I’m super proud of the guys.
“It was a two goal game, but a bounce here, a bounce there, and it could have been tied,” he added. “(I’m) just super proud of how we responded after the adversity in the first period, and I hope the guys can learn from that.”
The win means the Raiders will face the Medicine Hat Tigers for the second straight year. The Tigers also advanced on Wednesday with a 5-2 win over the Calgary Hitmen.
Christensen said the Raiders will take time to savour Wednesday’s victory … but not too much time.
“(The) guys battled hard tonight,” Christensen said. “(We’re) definitely enjoying it right now. We’ll move on here pretty quick, but we’ll enjoy it for the time being.”
News and Notes:
• Despite the bad bounces, DaSilva was quick to give the Raiders full credit for their win. “They’re a good hockey team,” Da Silva said. “They’re a deep hockey team. They come at you in waves. They play a really structured game—a really simple game—and they’re really, really good at it. It’s just good for our guys to see what a championship team looks like, and hopefully now are driven to want to be that next year.”
• The Raiders were 0/1 on the power play. The Blades were 1/4.
• Prince Albert outshot Saskatoon 30-26 on the evening.
• The announced attendance was 6,361.
