Oil Kings Ice The Ice

It's always a tough moment when a team loses in the playoffs, but when two good teams meet in a series and one has to go home, it stings a little more when there are ties to one of those very good teams. The WHL's Winnipeg Ice has an incredible regular season and appeared to be making plans for Saint John, New Brunswick when they ran into a team who had battled them hard all season long in the Edmonton Ice Kings. The top-two teams in the WHL met in the Eastern Conference Final with the winner advancing to play the winner of the Seattle-Kamloops series, and this was one of those unstoppable forces-immoveable objects series. Who would flinch in this new version of Edmonton-vs-Winnipeg? We got our answer tonight.

After splitting the games in Winnipeg, Edmonton rattled off three-straight wins in their home barn with the WHL playing a 2-3-2 series, allowing them to eliminate the Ice of a 7-1 blowout tonight in a game that went off the rails in 55 seconds for the Ice in the first period.
Down by four goals after a period, the writing was clearly on the wall for the Ice that tonight's game may be their last this season. Forty minutes later, the Oil Kings had eliminated the WHL's best team in five games as Edmonton will play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time since 2014.

If you're reading this, the results between these two teams shouldn't be a surprise. Edmonton was 3-1 against the Ice this season as the 111-point Ice only won the December 11 game in Winnipeg between the two teams. That was the only regular season game between the two teams where the Ice scored more than three goals against the Oil Kings as the 104-point Oil Kings continued their dominant play against Winnipeg all season long.

The October 29 game in Edmonton saw Dylan Guenther was a goal and as an assist as the Oil Kings rallied in the the third period to erase a 1-0 lead and win 3-1. Jake Neighbours and Jacon Boucher both had a pair of assists, including on the game-winning goal by Kaiden Guhle, as the Oil Kings downed Winnipeg at the Ice Cave on December 8. Edmonton would rally at home once again after falling behind 2-0 on February 21 as they scored five goals between 16:02 of the first period and 15:48 of the second period en route to a 6-3 win. No matter how the Ice drew up their game plan, it seemed the Oil Kings had a response in those games.

Due to the distance between the two teams, the WHL opted to play this series in a 2-3-2 format as the Oil Kings hosted the Ice for Games Three, Four, and Five, and that distance may have played a factor in not to getting back on the bus for the drive to Winnipeg.

"Obviously that's a big motivation factor going into that game, avoiding that road trip," Neighbours said to Derek Van Diest of the Edmonton Sun. "At the same time, I think we were a desperate team and wanted to close it on home ice for our fans. We talked about having good starts all series, and I thought we did and it was about time we put a couple in, in the first few minutes."

Neighbours' two goals in eight seconds was one second off the WHL postseason record shared by Bill Derlago (Brandon - 1978), Ron Sutter (Lethbridge - 1983), and Joachim Blichfeld (Portland - 2018) while the three-goal outburst in 55 seconds by the Oil Kings broke the WHL record that the Ice set earlier this year for fastest three goals by one team when they did it in 57 seconds against Prince Albert. That three-goal lead became a four-goal lead before the period ended, and the concern shifted from getting a lead to protecting a lead.

"It was good, sometimes that"s what you worry about, you get a lead and guys think it's going to be easy and then you have a tendency to take your foot off the gas," Lauer said to Van Diest. "But credit to the guys, we've talked about situations like this before, we've been in situations like this before and I thought our guys maintained a good level of play."

The Oil Kings now await the winner of the Kamloops-Seattle series that Kamloops leads 3-2 after a 4-3 overtime win tonight. Game Six will be played in Seattle on Sunday with a potential seventh game, if needed, scheduled in Kamloops on Tuesday. The Ice will head back to Winnipeg with questions that have no answers including "why couldn't we beat the Oil Kings this season" while they regroup for next season despite putting together an amazing regular season this year.

One would hope that the players who aren't aging out of the WHL will return to the Ice to finish off what seems like unfinished business this season, and it will be up to head coach James Patrick to tap into that fire that burns after an unplanned playoff exit.

The Oil Kings, sitting at 12-1 in these playoffs, now await the fifth- or the seventh-best team in the WHL with the Ed Chynoweth Cup and a berth in the 2022 Memorial Cup on the line. With the two conferences not playign against one another, there is no record we can rely upon for a quick preview of the Oil Kings against either Western Conference finalist, but Dylan Guenther is fifth in WHL Playoff points and second in goals, goaltender Sebastian Cossa is fourth in GAA and is tied for the lead with three shutouts, and Carter Souch is tied for second in first-goals scored in these playoffs.

In other words, the Oil Kings are going to be a tough out for both Kamloops and Seattle as they play a strong team game, have exceptional depth scoring, are highlighted by outstanding goaltending, and are good on the special teams. Edmonton will also have home-ice advantage in the next round, so that's one more obstacle for the Blazers or Thunderbirds to overcome which won't be easy.

If they need any proof, just ask the Winnipeg Ice who had no answer for the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!