Oil Kings: ‘Here we go again’
Team set to face Portland in third straight final
Back in September, long before the Edmonton Oil Kings had once again secured a ticket to the Western Hockey League final, the prospect of another showdown with the Portland Winterhawks was implausible.
Not only had the Oil Kings seen a significant exodus of key players in the off-season, what were the odds of the same two teams meeting in the final for the third straight year?
“Here we go again,” stalwart Curtis Lazar said after the Oil Kings had dispatched with the Medicine Hat Tigers to claim their third straight Eastern Conference title, securing another trip to the final.
Last year, Portland defeated Edmonton to win the league final and advance to the Memorial Cup; in 2012, Edmonton knocked off the Winterhawks in a series that has since become an annual rite of spring.
“Our motto,” continued Lazar, “is ‘Take it back’, and we’re going to try our best.”
On Saturday night at Rexall Place, before a crowd of 8,408 — Edmonton’s biggest gathering of this post-season — the Oil Kings emerged with 4-3 victory over the dogged Tigers to close out the bestof-seven series 4-1.
The Winterhawks secured the Western Conference crown on Friday when they defeated the Kelowna Rockets.
“I don’t think anybody in this room doubted we had the talent,” said Griffin Reinhart, the Oil Kings’ captain and shutdown defenceman, who missed the last clash with Portland because of a cut foot tendon. “I think it just took a little time to come together.”
The WHL final opens on the turf of the Winterhawks, with Games 1 and 2 set for Saturday and Sunday. The teams will continue duking it out in Edmonton on May 6 and 7 — and it all starts with the Oil Kings as the underdogs.
The Winterhawks have such an explosive offence that six of their players registered 70 or more points in the regular season, led by Winnipeg Jets draft pick Nicolas Petan (35 goals, 78 assists) and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Oliver Bjorkstrand (50 goals, 59 assists). Contrast that with the Oil Kings, whose top regular-season producers were Phoenix Coyotes draft choice Henrik Samuelsson (95 points) and Lazar (41 goals, 35 assists).
On the backend, headcoach Mike Johnston has Pittsburgh Penguins first-round prospect Derrick Pouliot and Mathew Dumba, selected seventh overall by the Minnesota Wild in 2012.
The Oil Kings do have Tristan Jarry to lean on in net, while Winterhawks starter Brendan Burke struggled at the start of the post-season, eventually turning the net over to Corbin Boes.
“We have the character this year,” said Lazar, a firstround pick of the Ottawa Senators in 2013 and a fixture on Canada’s world junior team in December.
“We had it last year, but we had more skill. Now we can grind out the one-goal games. You saw it (against Medicine Hat). There’s no panic. We can regroup and get the big goals when we need them.”
Playoff sniper Brett Pollock, who did not dress for any playoff games in 2013, netted a pair of goals, including the game-winner on Saturday, to push his post-season tally to 10.
“I think lots of people wrote us off a little bit at the start of the year. I don’t think we embraced that, but we knew the culture,” said Mitch Moroz, the Edmonton Oilers’ draft pick who is poised to take part in his third final. “We knew what we had built here the last two years.
“Then we had guys step up, and the younger guys really developed well this year — guys like Brett Pollock and Dysin Mayo. They’ve been huge for us all year and now in the playoffs, even better.
“It’s been said there are a few less egos and we don’t have the firepower we’ve had in years past ,and we can’t just flip on a switch and score four orfivegoalstowingames.But we play a more honest game and we have to work for what we get, grind out the wins. We may not be as flashy as years past, but it’s still pretty effective.”
When September dawned, Travis Ewanyk, David Musil, Martin Gernat had all graduated to the Oklahoma City Barons, the Oilers’ AHL affiliate. They will be back on the ice Wednesday when the Barons attempt to shift the momentum in their Calder Cup playoff series. The Texas Stars secured consecutive overtime victories in the opening set of games.
Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Keegan Lowe, meanwhile, was on the Charlotte Checkers blue line this past season, Trevor Cheek registered eight points in 46 games with the Lake Erie Monsters in his rookie season with the Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, and Stephane Legault elected to register at NAIT rather than return to the Oil Kings.
Graduate goalie Laurent Brossoit is still stopping playoff pucks for the Bakersfield Condors after he was dealt from the Calgary Flames to the Oilers in a mid-season trade.
By the time the dust had settled, head coach Derek Laxdal was left with a team that had lost 10 players. Four of his rookies — Mads Eller, who scored a short-handed goal against the Tigers, Tyler Robertson, Aaron Irving, Ben Carroll — have played all 14 playoff games this spring while Cole Benson has missed just one.
Gone, too, was the sizzle the Oil Kings had possessed in 2013. But what emerged this campaign was a team that not only won 50 games in the regular season but was able to return to the final.