Pulling away from the parking zone of the Artwork Hauser Centre on Friday morning, the Prince Albert Raiders watched as sirens and horns from a line of first responders despatched them off to the second spherical of WHL playoffs.
It’s one thing that’s not a shock, although, given the wave of inexperienced jerseys dotting ‘Hockey City North’ as of late, based on interim head coach Ryan McDonald.
“You see movies from elementary faculties with children carrying Raiders jerseys and chanting, ‘go, Raiders, go,’” mentioned McDonald. “Simply the help that our group has for us and the way passionate our fan base is for us is actually inspiring for our group.”
The Raiders are considered one of eight groups left battling for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, after rallying from a 3-1 sequence deficit to the Edmonton Oil Kings within the opening spherical of WHL playoffs.
Capped off with a 5-0 shutout win on Tuesday evening on their residence ice to advance to the Jap Convention semi-finals.
“When the buzzer went it was only a little bit of reduction that we completed off the comeback,” mentioned Raiders star goaltender Max Hildebrand. “We had been nonetheless alive.”
Going through elimination in three consecutive video games, the Raiders had been capable of drive the comeback of their sequence which included a dramatic successful objective from defenceman Lukas Dragicevic within the closing minute of Recreation 6 in Edmonton.
Placing up 5 objectives and 12 factors over seven video games towards Edmonton, he mentioned the sequence is reflective of the staff’s resilient mindset which has been rising since October.
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“From the beginning of the yr we had been final place within the WHL and virtually final place within the CHL,” mentioned Dragicevic.
“We bounced again from that and we knew we may bounce again from something. We simply wanted to win three video games in a row and we did that earlier than this season.”
Hildebrand was a drive for Prince Albert within the sequence towards the Oil Kings, ending with a .941 save share over seven video games and recording the second-most saves of any goaltender within the first spherical.
McDonald wasn’t stunned at his beginning goaltender’s constant efficiency nevertheless.
“He’s the last word competitor,” mentioned McDonald. “I’m very lucky I get a front-row seat to it each single day at apply, within the health club, within the dressing room, in video games. He’s an amazing teammate, he’s an amazing chief and he’s a heart-and-soul man for us.”
Nominated for the WHL’s Participant of the Yr and Goaltender of the Yr awards, the 20-year-old mentioned it’s been a robust stretch of play for each he and the staff’s defence.
Although he’s extra targeted on piling up wins, moderately than award nominations and shutouts.
“It was good to get the shutout [on Tuesday] however I’d have been positive giving up a number of and nonetheless getting the win, to be fairly trustworthy,” mentioned Hildebrand.
Ready on the opposite facet would be the Drugs Hat Tigers, who earned the primary seed within the Jap Convention with a 47-17-3-1 report and are coming off a five-game sequence victory towards the Swift Present Broncos.
The Raiders will probably be matched up towards 17-year-old phenom Gavin McKenna, who leads all WHL scorers this playoffs with a shocking 16 factors scored over 5 video games.
“They prefer to play on the offensive facet they usually have a very fast transition recreation,” mentioned McDonald. “It’s ensuring that we handle pucks in all three zones and ensuring we get pucks behind them.”
No staff has scored extra objectives within the WHL than the Tigers this yr, that means the Raiders’ margin for error will must be minimal as soon as the puck drops on the second spherical sequence.
For Dragicevic, nevertheless, the stage has not grown in comparison with the must-win situations the staff has come out on the opposite facet of.
“We’ve performed three Recreation 7s,” mentioned Dragicevic. “We’re prepared for Drugs Hat and we’re going to come back out exhausting.”
Video games 1 and a pair of between Prince Albert and Drugs Hat will probably be held on Saturday and Sunday within the ‘Gasoline Metropolis,’ with the sequence heading again to Saskatchewan on Wednesday for Recreation 3.
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