The post season; a period of pride, passion, poise and peril

The Prince Albert Raiders head into the playoffs Friday night at home against the Moose Jaw Warriors with an ironic combination of swagger and stagger.

The team finished second in the Eastern division clinching home ice advantage in the first round for the first time since 2004. Although second place was already theirs because of a Moose Jaw loss in Brandon, the Raiders earned the spot on the second last night of the regular season scoring five unanswered goals in a highly entertaining 6-4 come from behind win over Saskatoon in front of an absolute sellout crowd of 3,299 that provided an electric atmosphere. 

The Raiders lost 3-2 the next night in the Sask-Tel centre season wrapper with Reid Gardiner, Jordan Tkatch, Brendan Guhle, Jesse Lees and Vojtech Budik as healthy scratches for precautionary reasons.  Head coach Marc Habscheid also missed the game, deciding to scout the Warriors final regular season game in Moose Jaw.

However the team did lose five of its last seven games including all three during an adversity filled road trip during the second last week of the season.  Jordan Tkatch was cut for over 20 facial stitches during the infamous Haydn Fleury hit into the goalpost in Red Deer and missed the next three games.  Medicine Hat rebounded for three unanswered goals late in the third period to win 4-3 the following night.

The second half struggles started on December 27th when Austin Glover suffered an upper body injury that cost the first line centre 30 games.  The tumultuous times over the final three months of the “irregular” season included a 16 game stretch over 30 nights including five games over seven evenings wrapping up with a 3-2 win over Brandon at the Art Hauser Centre on a sensational Sunday night.

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The Raiders feel the challenging second half that produced its fair share of playoff-like intensity on and off the ice will serve them well in the post season.

The Warriors are heading into Friday’s Art Hauser Centre playoff premiere on a five game win streak over the Raiders, largely on the strength of the contributions of captain Brayden Point and the CHL’s top goal scorer Dryden Hunt.  Point has 7 goals and 8 assists head to head while Hunt had back to back hat tricks against the Raiders during “frantic February”. 

It’s true you throw the regular season results out of the window when the playoff puck drops, as long as the lessons learned aren’t also in the 72-game marathon trash heap.

The Raiders can draw on the post season experience of coaches Habscheid, Dave Manson and Kelly Guard who all own Memorial Cup rings as well as former Kelowna Rockets Dalton Yorke, Lees (with a career high 23 goals) and Glover.  Meanwhile Raider mainstays like Gardiner, Simon Stransky and goalie Rylan Parenteau have had career-years.      

The Raiders are also hoping loud sold-out crowds at home will be a “7th-man” intangible as the jam packed Prince Albert palace of hockey provides an atmosphere that is second to none around the Western Hockey League.

Add in the Rogers home town hockey promotion in the Art Hauser Centre parking lot, and it will be an exciting weekend at the home of the Raiders.

dwilson@panow.com

On Twitter: RaidersVoice