Raiders forward Aliaksei Protas shares a moment with fellow Belarus native Vladimir Alistrov of the Edmonton Oil Kings during the handshakes after the conclusion of the WHL Eastern Conference Finals Sunday at Rogers Place. Lucas Chudleigh/Apollo Multimedia

By Jeff D'Andrea

Viper does it again

Hat trick Protas does it again; Raiders punch tickets to finals

Apr 28, 2019 | 5:58 PM

EDMONTON—Aliaksei Protas said it was an “unforgettable moment” when he scored a hat trick in the Prince Albert Raiders’ 4-0 win in Game 5 Friday to put the Edmonton Oil Kings on the brink of elimination.

But on Sunday, Protas somehow did the unthinkable and did it again. He scored his second consecutive hat trick in the Raiders’ 4-2 win Sunday in Game 6 to eliminate the Oil Kings and advance to the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship series against the Vancouver Giants.

“It’s a more unforgettable moment, probably,” Protas smiled. “To have two in a row, that never happened in my life. I’m just so happy.”

To put in perspective how rare it is to score back-to-back hat tricks in the WHL postseason, it had been 23 years since anybody had done it.

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The last player to fill the net three times in consecutive games in the playoffs was Chris Dingman as a member of the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 1996 playoffs. Dingman scored on April 19 and 21 in the WHL Eastern Conference Finals to eliminate the Raiders, oddly enough.

“And [Protas] is a first-year guy on top of that,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “He’s a good kid. Obviously he’s helped our team a lot and most of all, he’s a real good teammate.

“He’s a smart guy and he has a good shot and gets to spots well. But I’ve been playing long enough and coaching long enough to know when you get on a roll, you’re on a roll—and he’s on a roll. If we could start the series tomorrow against Vancouver, he might get another three—who knows? He’s feeling it and hopefully he continues to.”

With his recent outburst in scoring, Protas overtook the WHL postseason lead in goals with 11 in 16 playoff games. That actually matches Protas’ goal output for the entire regular season, as he scored 11 in 61 games.

“Phenomenal, I think that’s all you can say,” Raiders captain Brayden Pachal said of Protas. “Back-to-back hat tricks in the league is pretty amazing, let alone in the playoffs. He’s been amazing for us.”

Protas was a huge reason the Raiders are heading to the league final series, and why Pachal came out of the dressing room wearing a t-shirt with a WHL Eastern Conference Championship logo on it.

“It’s pretty exciting. Obviously, the eastern conference championships, it’s amazing for the organization. That’s something we worked for all year.”

Pachal added that the Raiders aren’t done yet and they’re looking ahead to the final series, but Habscheid wants to make sure the team enjoys the accomplishments along the way, as well.

“We want them to enjoy that. You have to have a taste of winning, and they’ve got a little bit of a taste of it,” Habscheid said. “We have two more trophies to go, but we’re not thinking about that right now. We just want them to enjoy the victory for a day. We played a really good team and faced some adversity in the third period. But the guys dug in and found a way.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Oil Kings, Quinn Benjafield from Trey Fix-Wolansky and Matthew Robertson, 11:49

1-1, Raiders, Aliaksei Protas from Sergei Sapego and Ozzy Wiesblatt (power play), 14:05

2-1, Raiders, Aliaksei Protas (unassisted), 14:44

3-1, Raiders, Noah Gregor from Dante Hannoun and Sean Montgomery (power play), 17:58

Second Period

3-2, Oil Kings, Trey Fix-Wolansky from Quinn Benjafield

4-2, Raiders, Aliaksei Protas from Brett Leason and Sean Montgomery, 16:40

Third Period

No scoring.

Outstandin’ Landon

Raiders prospect Landon Kosior received some high honours at the 2019 Telus Cup in Thunder Bay. Kosior was named as the tournament’s Top Defenceman.

The 2002-born defenceman had two goals in seven games for the Trojans. He and the Trojans won the bronze medal at the Telus Cup on Sunday, beating the Calgary Buffaloes 3-2.

Kosior wasn’t drafted by the Raiders, but was added to their protected list. Kosior had nine goals and 52 points in 44 games with the Trojans this season. He also had six assists in four games during the Telus Cup Western Regional qualifier.

Finals schedule

The schedule for the Raiders and the Giants has been released.

Games 1 and 2 will be at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Saskatchewan time. Games 3, 4 and 5 will be at the Langley Event Centre, on May 7, 8 and 10, with 8 p.m. Saskatchewan. If it’s necessary Game 5 will be an 8:30 p.m. Saskatchewan start.

Games 6 and 7 are scheduled for May 12 and 13 at the Art Hauser Centre.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW