(file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders and Rebels

Raiders and Rebels, Game 1 day preview

Mar 22, 2019 | 2:34 PM

The 2019 Western Hockey League Playoffs are officially here, and here’s what fans need heading into game one at the Art Hauser Centre between the Prince Albert Raiders and the Red Deer Rebels.

The Raiders come into the series as the top-ranked team in the WHL with 112 points, 11 better than any other team in the league. This is just the second season in team history the Raiders have won a regular season title, the other coming back in the 1984-85 season.

They finished the year with 21 more wins than their first round opponents, but the Raiders would be foolish to underestimate the Rebels. All four times they met each other this year ended in one-goal games. The Rebels handed the Raiders their first loss 4-3 on Oct. 6, which was the Raiders’ only loss in their opening 27 games to start the season. The Raiders won the last three games, 2-1 on Oct. 13, 4-3 on Nov. 27 and 2-1 in a shootout on March 1.

Rebels’ weapons

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The biggest and most obvious Rebels’ weapon the Raiders will have to key on is Brandon Hagel. Name an offensive category, and Hagel leads the Rebels in it. In fact, his 61 assists are more than any other Rebel has points, as Cameron Hausinger is second on the team with 54 points.

Hagel finished with 102 points and is one of five players in the league to reach the century mark. He finished eighth with 41 goals.

The Raiders will hope to limit Hagel’s time and space, and he will likely see a healthy dose of the Raiders’ top defensive unit of captain Brayden Pachal and assistant captain Zack Hayes. Pachal led the league at +76 and Hayes was not far behind at +71. Both of those plus/minus stats are not only +16 better than any other player, they’re actually better than every team in the WHL except for the Raiders themselves and the Everett Silvertips.

No Alexeyev

The Rebels will be without their best defender in Alexander Alexeyev. Alexeyev left the game on March 8 against the Brandon Wheat Kings on a stretcher with a lower body injury and has been ruled out for the first round. This will be a huge loss for the Rebels, who have relied heavily on Alexeyev this year. When Alexeyev was in for the Rebels this year, their record was 28-16-4-1. It was just 5-13-0-1 without him.

Strong first half, not so in the second

The Rebels came into the season as one of the powerhouses in the WHL Central Division, and were 26-13-2-1 on Jan. 18. But they struggled for the rest of the second half with a 7-16-2-1 record heading into the postseason, including losing their last four games.

The Reason

Raiders forward Brett Leason is the top scorer in the four-game head-to-head series this season. Leason ended it with three goals and six points in the four games. He was consistent in the series as well, as he had a goal and an assist in all of the first three games the teams played.

Series Schedule

Game 1—March 22, Friday, 7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre

Game 2—March 23, Saturday, 7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre

Game 3—March 26, Tuesday, 7 p.m., ENMAX Centrium

Game 4—March 27, Wednesday, 7 p.m., ENMAX Centrium

Game 5—March 29, Friday, 7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre

Game 6—March 31, Sunday, 2 p.m., ENMAX Centrium

Game 7—April 2, Tuesday, 7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW