The Prince Albert Raiders have been merciless when it comes to taking advantage of the youth on the Red Deer Rebels defense.
One of the facts on life in the WHL is teams will capitalize on an area you can take advantage of in an opponent and keep doing it again and again and again until you pick up the win. That type of development becomes larger in a best-of-seven post-season series.
That is becoming evident in the best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs between the Raiders and the Rebels. The Raiders lead the series 2-0 with Games 3 and 4 to be hosted Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at the Merchant Crane Centrum in Red Deer.
During the regular season, the Raiders topped the Eastern Conference and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.
At this point in their development, they are an experienced and more veteran team that also has a youthful contingent who are proving to be special players. The steady veterans include 20-year-olds in captain Justice Christensen, Brayden Dube and Aiden Oiring along with Braeden Cootes, Brandon Gorzynski, Maddix McCagherty and Linden Burrett.
The youngsters who are playing beyond their age include Daxon Rudolph, Brock Cripps, Ben Harvey, Connor Howe and netminder Steele Bass. On Monday, the 16-year-old Cripps was named the WHL’s rookie of the week for posting two goals, two assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department in Prince Albert’s victories in Games 1 and 2 of the series at the Art Hauser Centre.
Of course, they have a trio of first import players who have also made a huge impact in netminder Michal Orsulak, Matyas Man and Alisher Sarkenov.
The Rebels finished eighth in the Eastern Conference with a 26-36-4-2 record, and they have a youthful roster as they focus on the reload. While the Rebels do have three solid overagers in Aleksy Chichkin, Tyson Yaremko and captain Talon Brigley, have no players in the 19-year-old age group. They have 11 players in the 17-year-old age group including five defencemen.
The Rebels dress Chichkin and 18-year-old import Matus Lisy on the back end as their older players, and the other four players they dress along the blue-line in the 17-year-old age group unless an associate player call up suits up. In Games 1 and 2 against the Raiders, the Rebels have used Jake Missura, Cameron Dillard, import Jiri Kamas and Nate Yellowaga as their 17-year-olds on the back end.
When a team is as young on defence as the Rebels are, it is common for foes to get the puck deep on clubs that have a young defensive group and put pressure on them to see if they can force mistakes. That is exactly what the Raiders have done to the Rebels resulting in the Rebels being pinned in their zone for long stretches of time.
That was increased further in the Raiders 6-0 win in Game 2 on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre, when they held a 33-22 advantage in faceoffs won. In that contest, the Raiders seemingly had the puck all the time and were holding it in the Red Deer zone building a 40-13 edge in shots on goal.
Along with dealing with an experience factor, 17-year-old players are just not as strong as those who are 18, 19 or 20, who have those extra years of off-season training behind them to get stronger and faster. The biggest thing that can help the Rebels youth on defence is taking part in workout programs to get stronger and faster in the off-season.
The quartet of Missura, Dillard, Kamas and Yellowaga along with Noah Chadi, who has been a healthy scratch to open the post-season, will be a lot better next season, when they are stronger and faster and have the experience they gained from the current campaign under their belts. That is how the cycle goes in junior hockey.
The biggest thing the Rebels can do to protect their young defence right now is gain the advantage in the faceoff circle, which is a department the Raiders have won in the first two contests. If the Rebels can gain the advantage in the faceoff circle, they can start with the puck and play with possession of the puck to change the dynamics of the game.
The Rebels coaching staff led by head coach Marc Habscheid could have their players throw something different tactically at the Raiders to see if it works. If it doesn’t, the Rebels still gain the experience of trying something new.
Right now for the Raiders, they just need to stick with what is working, and with the way things have been going, that could make this series a short one.
Blades giving Oil Kings trouble, other notes
It appears the Edmonton Oil Kings are not going to be a lock when it comes to taking out the Saskatoon Blades.
The Oil Kings finished third in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and fifth in the circuit’s overall regular season standings with a 45-18-3-2 mark. The Blades were sixth in the Eastern Conference and placed 10th in the overall regular season standings with a 34-27-5-2 mark. Edmonton also won three out of the four head-to-head regular season encounters with Saskatoon.
During the regular season, Saskatoon was a club that was consistently inconsistent. The Blades were able to go out and pick up victories against the top teams in the league and would turn around and lose to squads that missed the post-season and were at the bottom of the overall standings.
With these two squads going at it in a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs, one could see the Oil Kings prevailing in a quick series or the series could become an extended one if the good version of the Blades shows up. At the moment, the good version of the Blades has shown up and Edmonton had to fight to get a split in the first two games of that set on home ice at Rogers Place.
In Game 1 this past Friday, the Blades pulled out a textbook road win by a 3-2 score holding a 30-29 edge in shots on goal. They didn’t trail at any point in what was an evenly well-played game.
In Game 2 on Sunday, Hayden Harsanyi scored in the first period to give the Blades a 1-0 lead. The Oil Kings tied the contest 1-1 in the second and took a 3-1 advantage with 4:04 remaining in the third.
The Blades rallied with Harsanyi scoring with 3:04 remaining in the third, and star import left-winger David Lewandowski potting the equalizer to force a 3-3 tie with two minutes to play in the frame to ultimately force overtime.
Oil Kings star defenceman Ethan MacKenzie one-time home the winner on the power play with 3:06 remaining in overtime to deliver Edmonton to a 4-3 victory. Game 2 was another evenly played match that saw the Blades hold a 44-42 edge in shots on goal.
Blades star netminder Evan Gardner, who turned 20-years-old in late January, and Oil Kings 17-year-old rookie Parker Snell have been really solid in net. If both clubs keep playing the way they have, this could end up being a seven game series.
Games 3 and 4 are slated for Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at the SaskTel Centre at 7 p.m. on both nights. If the Blades can hold court on home ice, the upset watch will certainly be on.
- I have run into Raiders fans who are hoping the Blades upset the Oil Kings. The Raiders fans I have run into don’t fear their team playing the Oil Kings. Those folks of the Raiders faithful are hoping a Blades series upset means they can potentially play the Raiders in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal. These fans can then indulge in getting their humourous digs in on the archrival Blades.
- On Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome, right-winger Ethan Moore scored at the 5:11 mark of the third overtime period to lift the host Hitmen to a 1-0 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first round series. Hitmen netminder Eric Tu stopped 49 shots, while Filip Ruzicka turned away 64 shots for the Wheat Kings. At 105 minutes and 11 seconds, that contest was the longest 1-0 post-season contest in the history of the WHL in the Internet era dating back to 1996. It might be the longest 1-0 game ever played in WHL history. Up until the end of the 1975-76 campaign, the WHL Playoffs actually had tie games. The last tie game to occur in the WHL post-season was between the Blades and the New Westminster Bruins in the 1976 WHL Championship Series.
- On Saturday, the host Medicine Hat Tigers fell to the Regina Pats 4-2 in Game 2 of their best-of-seven first round series. Before that contest, the Pats had lost 12 straight head-to-head games to the Tigers including action in both the regular season and post-season. Regina’s previous victory was a 5-4 overtime win on home ice back on January 20, 2024. The Pats still face an uphill battle in this set. The Tigers finished second in the Eastern Conference and third overall in the WHL with a 50-10-5-3 record in the regular season. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Pats were seventh overall in the Eastern Conference with a 25-34-7-2 mark.
- Hitmen star left-winger Julien Maze was named the WHL player of the week on Monday. He had one goal, five assists and a plus-three rating. He put up those statistics in a 6-5 overtime victory over the Wheat Kings on Game 2 of their first round series on Sunday. Maze had six shots on goal in the Hit men’s marathon 1-0 triple overtime win over the Wheat Kings on Friday.
- On Monday, Harrison Boettiger of the Kelowna Rockets was named the WHL’s goaltender of the week. He posted a 2-0 record, 1.00 goals against average and a .962 save percentage to help the Rockets win their first two games of their opening round series against the Kamloops Blazers. The Rockets will host the CHL’s championship tournament – the Memorial Cup.
Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer with more than 25 years of experience covering the WHL. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.
