The Edmonton Oil Kings have finished the 2018-2019 season the WHL Central Division Champions as they end with a 42-18-4 -4 record, inching out the division over the Lethbridge Hurricanes who finished 40-18-5-5.
Edmonton enters the first round of the WHL Playoffs with home ice advantage for the first two rounds thanks to winning the Central Division. They will clash with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the first round a team they handled pretty easily during the regular season, although the games were really close.
Regular Season Series
Away - Home
MH 2 – EDM 3
EDM 4 – MH 3
EDM 2 – MH 1
EDM 3 – MH 4
MH 0 – EDM 5
MH 2 – EDM 4
The Opponent
Medicine Hat had a below average year in my opinion, I expected them to be better and I thought they would with the addition of Brett Kemp. However, here they are, the 7th seed in the WHL Playoffs after going 35-27-4-2. The Tigers are led by James Hamblin (33-44-77), Ryan Jevne (32-36-68) and Brett Kemp (33-27-60).
Mads Sogaard from Denmark has posted the better numbers throughout the regular season for the Tigers with a 19-8 W/L record, coupled with a 2.64GAA and 0.921SV% and can for sure be a difference maker in this series. He’ll be the reason the Tigers make the upset and knock off the Oil Kings.
How can the Oil Kings win?
It’s simple, just play hockey the way they’ve played all year. They are the much better team and didn’t win the Central Division for no reason, despite it being a weaker conference than the East by a fair margin. Edmonton would lose the home-ice advantage to both Prince Albert or Saskatoon in the Eastern Conference Championship despite being a division winner.
The Oil Kings are very top heavy when it comes to their player stats. They are carried heavily by Trey Fix-Wolanksy who finished the season (37-65-102) and led the Oil Kings by a margin of 40 points. The Oil Kings have good depth, especially on defense, but they’ll only go as far as Trey Fix-Wolansky carries them.
Schedule
Game 1 – MH @ EDM Saturday, March 23rd, 7:30 PM.
Game 2 – MH @ EDM Sunday, March 24th, 6:00 PM.
Game 3 – EDM @ MH Tuesday, March 26th, 7:00 PM.
Game 4 – EDM @ MH Wednesday, March 27th, 7:00 PM.
Game 5 – MH @ EDM Friday, March 29th, 7:00 PM. *
Game 6 – EDM @ MH Sunday, March 31st, 6:00 PM. *
Game 7 – MH @ EDM Tuesday, April 2nd, 7:00 PM. *
If necessary *
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