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MacKinnon: Oil Kings, Winterhawks make WHL playoff magic:
Evenly matched teams deliver excitement for fans

John MacKinnon, edmontonjournal.com, May 9, 2012

EDMONTON – There’s the shotblocking, neutral-zone trapping contest the NHL calls the playoffs and then there’s the free-flowing, end-to-end, thrill-fest the Oil Kings and Portland Winterhawks are staging to determine the championship of the Western Hockey League.

For sheer entertainment value, the Oil Kings playoff run has been the more compelling spectacle, by far.

After rolling over Kootenay, Brandon and Moose Jaw with a 12-1 won-lost record, the Oil Kings have not merely met their match, but their mirror image in the uptempo Winterhawks. The result has been playoff magic.

Following Edmonton’s 4-3 overtime victory on Tuesday night in Portland, the WHL final series is tied 2-2, with Game 5 on offer tonight at Rexall Place (7 p.m. puck drop).

This could be your final chance to get a load of real playoff excitement, unless the series goes the distance, in which case Game 7 will be Sunday night at Rexall at 6 p.m.

In other words, if it comes down to Game 7, you’ll have to skip supper on Mother’s Day to root for the home team, which isn’t much of a choice for the hardcore hockey fan, with no disrespect meant to all the moms.

Just in case, why not treat mom to brunch, so you can all take in Game 7, if it comes to that? With all the momentum shifts, the lead changes and all-out intensity, it’s fabulous entertainment.

“They’re junior hockey players, their emotions go up and down,” Portland coach Mike Johnston said Wednesday. “That’s the exciting part about junior hockey.

“We’re a pace team and (the Oil Kings) are an energy-pace team, too. I think both teams play a similar style, which leads to an entertaining hockey game.”

Three of the four games in the best-of-seven series have been decided by one goal, including the overtime game on Wednesday night, which keeps things suspenseful.

And the games have resembled the best basketball games, with one team getting on a run of goals or of intense pressure, followed by the inevitable pushback from the other team, and back and forth it goes.

“We pride ourselves on being good defensively,” Johnston said. “At the same time, we want to attack with speed, we want to include our defence in the rush and I know Edmonton plays the same style.

“It leads to a game which is not clamped down, where there’s no room to move. There is room to move, there are mistakes being made because teams are pressuring the other team to make mistakes.”

These are games in which Edmonton defencemen Mark Pysyk and Martin Gernat, for two, appear to have revived the ancient hockey position of ‘rover,’ as they travel all over the 200-foot-long ice surface, spending lengthy stretches deep in enemy territory, spearheading the attack.

“You’ve got to create offence and both teams are trying to create offence with that second wave,” said Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal. “The defence are doing such a great job on the first wave, that we have to kind of construct something and I thought our guys were doing a great job jumping up.

“I don’t know if you noticed Martin Gernat down below the goal line about four times in the first period.

“That’s not by design. But you’ve got to give these guys credit because they’re working hard to get back (on defence) and guys are supporting them. You’ve got two teams that can score goals in a hurry here.

“I don’t think any lead is safe.’

Certainly not with the likes of Sven Baertschi and Ty Rattie on the boil for the Winterhawks, both with 32 points in the playoffs to lead all WHL scorers. Baertschi has seven points this series, including six goals, including a pair in the third period on Tuesday night to force overtime.

Unlike Alexander Ovechkin, his ice time rationed by the Washington Capitals owing to his defensive liabilities, Baertschi is a complete player.

“I thought Baertschi was all-world last night in the third period,” Johnston said. “He was incredible at both ends of the ice, coming back, and in transition.

If the Oil Kings don’t quite have the high-end skill of a Baertschi or a Rattie, they have enviable depth up front and a splendid Big Four on defence — Pysyk, Gernat, Griffin Reinhart and Keegan Lowe. They ably support goalie Laurent Brossoit, who has sparkled all post-season.

The result is up-and-down, five-man hockey in which the high stakes — the winner advances to the Memorial Cup — has not translated into cautious play.

“It’s excitement right now, that’s the message we’re trying to deliver to everybody,” said Pysyk, the Oil Kings captain. “You’ve got to go out and have fun, enjoy the moment.

“Who knows the next time when an opportunity like this is going to come around? So, make the most of it and have fun while you’re here.”

Fans might want to heed that message, too.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
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