Rams prepare for Mitchell Cup showdown against Laval
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The Rams play the Laval Rouge et Or in the Mitchell Bowl Saturday for a spot in the 2024 Vanier Cup.
The Prince Albert Raiders came ready to play for Game 4 of their best-of-seven series against the Saskatoon Blades Wednesday at Sasktel Centre, but so did Blades goaltender Nolan Maier.
Leaning on their goaltender for the first half of the game, the Blades were able to overcome a sluggish start and beat the Raiders 4-1 after a helpless beginning.
“That’s playoff hockey,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said of Maier’s performances at Sasktel Centre. “Their goalie played good… he probably stole two (games).”
“I thought we probably deserved a better fate.”
Skating past and hitting through the Blades wasn’t enough as the Raiders peppered goaltender Nolan Maier with shot after shot, landing 22 in the first period.
That nearly equaled their Game 3 total of 26 shots on net, which they eclipsed less than fives minutes into the second period.
“That first period could have been over in a heartbeat,” Blades head coach Mitch Love said following the game. “It could have been three-nothing, four-nothing for them and we’re just not even having this conversation about the result.”
The onslaught of shots netted one goal for the Raiders. A lame pass from Dawson Davidson was intercepted by Parker Kelly, who neatly sent a pass into the path of Dante Hannoun for a breakaway marker.
“It’s nothing new, it’s kind of how they’ve been playing forever,” Maier said after rescuing a victory for his team. “It’s been good to get used to and get control.”
Saskatoon was able to claw the game back after Reece Harsch was dumped behind his own net with a high stick to send the Blades to the power play. Max Gerlach patiently waited for a spot to open in the Raiders net before roofing the puck over the Raiders’ Ian Scott as time expired on the penalty.
Just 1:11 later, Tristen Robins took advantage of a defensive mix-up in the Raiders end. He received a pass from Gerlach and fired a nearly identical shot over Scott’s glove for the 2-1 lead.
That seemed to shift the momentum for the Blades as they were able to push the play and make for some nervous moments in the Raiders end of the ice.
“We took too many penalties,” Love said of his team’s start. “You can’t put that team on the power play for almost six minutes in the opening frame. And then we settled ourselves, got our composure and played the game five-one-five.”
Prince Albert continued to put pressure on the Blades at the start of the third period, but were unable to solve Maier, who watched Kelly miss an open net and saw a puck trickle to the goal line earlier in the game.
Kyle Crnkovic was able to bank a shot off the right pad of Scott with 3:42 remaining in the period for the insurance goal seconds after Gerlach rattled a shot off the post. Eric Florchuk scored an empty-net goal to seal the victory.
The series is now tied at 2-2, and shifts to Prince Albert for Game 5.
If Saskatoon has any chance of pulling off a series upset, they will have to do something they haven’t done all year and beat the Raiders in Prince Albert.
“It’s a tough rink to play in. Their fans are loud and they seem like they’re on top of you,” defenceman Dawson Davidson, who had three assists in the win, said. “We need to just limit those three-minute lulls. I feel like when we go to the Art Hauser (Centre) we’re fine and then in three minutes they score a couple goals.”
Habscheid and the rest of the Raiders are ready for whatever comes their way, especially after some mocking following the final buzzer.
“It was an interesting end to the game,” Habscheid said. “They were taunting us and our guys took notice. We will be ready on Friday. That just fueled us.”
Notes
Reece Harsch back in the lineup after sitting out two games with an undisclosed injury. Majid Kaddoura was the healthy scratch after admirably replacing Harsch.
Schuldhaus once again played another large batch of minutes for the Blades. Love said he is leaning on the veteran’s 50-plus games of WHL playoff experience as the series becomes a best-of-three moving forward.
The winner of this series will face the Edmonton Oil Kings after Edmonton’s 6-0 win over the Calgary Hitmen earned them a 4-0 sweep.