PREVIEW: Oil Kings and Raiders First Round Series Comes Down to Game 7
Prince Albert, Sask. – This first round series between the Edmonton Oil Kings and Prince Albert Raiders comes down to one winner-take-all, game seven tonight in Prince Albert.
Prince Albert kept the series going on Sunday evening, defeating Edmonton 4-3 in an entertaining affair that saw Prince Albert lead 3-1 in the third before Edmonton scored twice within a minute to tie the game back up. Both goaltenders made tremendous saves in the game as well, creating one of the more dramatic games this series has seen.
The series has been a tight one the entire six games to this point with all but one game essential being decided by one goal (subtracting end of game empty net goals). Edmonton has scored 15 goals compared to Prince Albert’s 19 in the series. Special teams continue to play a factor in the series as well as Edmonton has scored a special teams goal in every game so far, while the Raiders have scored a special teams marker in all but one game, two of which have been shorthanded. Each team also has six powerplay goals.
Historically, this is the first game 7 between the Oil Kings and the Raiders. This is Edmonton’s fourth ever game 7 as they’ve gone 3-0-0 in their previous games. Most recently, Edmonton needed to win game 7 in the 2014 WHL Championship against Portland. That was the third straight season Edmonton needed to play a game 7 in the playoffs. Prince Albert is 4-3 in game 7’s in their history, dating back to 1986, their first game seven. They’re 4-3-0 in those games, most recently winning game 7 of the 2019 WHL Championship against the Vancouver Giants in overtime.
While the Edmonton Oil Kings and Prince Albert Raiders have never played a Game 7 against one another, the two have played a winner-take-all game before, back in 2009, the WHL Tie-Break to get into the playoffs that season. Edmonton won that game 2-1 in Overtime as Rhett Rachinski scored 8:54 into the first overtime. Current Raiders Interim Head Coach Ryan MacDonald was a player for the Raiders that season.
There is not a lot of experience in Game 7’s on either side of this game with a total of 6 game 7’s played by players AND the respective coaching staffs. For Edmonton, Josh Mori is the lone skater with a Game 7 under his belt after playing in one in Round 2 in 2022 with the Portland Winterhawks against the Seattle Thunderbirds. Meanwhile, behind the Oil Kings bench, Assistant Coaches Kyle Chipchura and Devan Praught both played in Game 7’s in their Junior Careers, Chipchura with the Raiders in 2005, and Praught with the Summerside Western Capitals in the MJAHL in 2007. On the Raiders side, Rylen Kovacevic with Moose Jaw, and Matteo Fabrizi with Red Deer have both played in Game 7’s, while Dimitri Fortin was the backup netminder in a Game 7 with Moose Jaw.
The winner of tonight’s game will meet the Medicine Hat Tigers in round two.
Game time from Prince Albert tonight is 7 p.m.
