Drew’s Diatribe: Playoff Bound
General Manager Bruno Campese predicted the black cloud over the franchise would be lifted. The statement the morning of Tuesday’s tie breaker game for the final Eastern conference playoff spot proved to be prophetic.
The team’s recent playoff history has been rife with disappointments including the 2-1 overtime loss in the 2009 tie breaker game to Edmonton in front of a packed house at the Art Hauser Centre.
The Raiders gutsy 3-goal comeback in the third period Tuesday night in Red Deer purged another black cloud. The team solved Rebel goalie Patrik Bartosak who practically engineered last spring’s 4-game playoff sweep over the Raiders on his own. Bartosak also made 40-plus stops each game down the stretch just to get the Rebels into the tie breaker.
After Dakota Conroy’s quick release found it’s way through Bartosak’s pads and barely over the red line to give the Raiders the lead early in the third period, the PA boys shut down the home side with the kind of stingy defense the Rebels employ when they are in the lead.
Josh Morrissey’s empty net goal with 15-seconds remaining completed the mission of a Raider team that was 9-points out of a playoff spot not long before the daunting U.S. road trip.
Now they face the defending and regular season Conference champion Edmonton Oil Kings beginning Saturday afternoon at Rexall Place. There was already some bad blood between these teams before developments leading up to the tie-breaker.
The Oil Kings having already clinched the conference title heading into its final home game in Edmonton went with a depleted lineup into the contest the Rebels needed to win to force the tie-breaker. Goalie Tristan Jarry didn’t play while Griffin Reinhardt, Curtis Lazar, Henrik Samuelsson, and Edgars Kulda were scratched in addition to the injured Reid Petryk, Blake Orban and Brandon Baddock.
Raider supporters cried foul while the Oil Kings claim all scratches were because of injuries and illnesses of varying degrees. Even some of the 14-thousand Oil King fans on hand for fan appreciation day felt they were cheated.
The underdog Raiders head into the series with four straight wins at Rexall Place and playing their best hockey of the season. Overager Collin Valcourt has been outstanding. The WHL player of the week after posting 11 points in the final four regular season games, scored the tying goal in Red Deer. Leon Draisaitl set up that goal and Conroy’s winner as that line has developed as much chemistry as a Big Bang Theory marathon.
Jadon Hart scored for a second straight game after a dry spell that dated back to late January. However he has been a major contributor in his new spot on the wing with Calder Brooks and Reid Gardiner, all while battling through an upper body injury.
Rookie Nick McBride has taken the reigns as starting goaltender and showed poise beyond his years (he just turned 17). McBride and a defense corps still without solid overager Graeme Craig will need to take their games to the next level against a potent Oil Kings squad which is fast, skilled and physical.
The odds of the Raiders even getting into the playoffs after separate losing streaks of seven and five games sent them plummeting in the parity laden Eastern conference were long, much the same as this upcoming series against Edmonton. However this team can embrace its role as underdog with renewed confidence, and “Holy Hannah” it should be fun to watch.
Games one and two are Saturday and Sunday afternoon in Edmonton with the Raiders hosting games three and four Tuesday and Wednesday at the Art Hauser Centre.
Also congratulations to the raucous Raider fans who packed the Ches Leach Lounge Tuesday and raised $1,700 for the Tim Bozon Trust Fund.
