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Oil Kings Lose A Heartbreaker In The Hat

November 12, 2008 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


Medicine Hat, AB - So close. The Edmonton Oil Kings came one shot away from beating the Medicine Hat Tigers for the first time in modern franchise history. The Tigers got away with one and squeaked out a 4 - 3 shootout win over the Oil Kings in a game that Edmonton certainly deserved at least one point.

You can break down the game into 3 separate and very distinguishable parts. The first period, followed by the next 45 minutes and then the shootout. The Tigers owned the first period and it all started with the game's opening goal just 1:41. Bretton Cameron beat Torrie Jung for his third of the season and the Oil Kings were on their heals from the start.

Veteran defenseman Brandon Lockerby evened things up about midway through the first period with his third of the year but Sean Ringrose scored just a couple of minutes later to take back any momentum Edmonton had. It was 2 - 1 after the first.

The turning point in the game came at 5:37 into the second period. Edmonton native Tyler Ennis notched his 10th goal of the year which lead Oil Kings Head Coach Steven Pleau to call a time out to settle down his squad. It worked.

The Oil Kings went on to outshoot the Tigers by an unofficial count of 13 - 4 in the middle frame and co-captain Jeff Lee connected on the powerplay with about 6 and a half minutes to go in the period to make it a one goal game heading into the intermission.

Edmonton had all the momentum and kept pressing for more in the third. They missed a glorious chance with a couple Tiger penalties coming almost back to back midway through the third. The Oil Kings had an abbreviated 5 on 3 powerplay and failed to score on almost 4 full minutes with the man advantage.

To make matters worse, the Oil Kings got caught with too many men on the ice with just over 2 minutes to play which delayed their chance to pull the goalie for the extra attacker. That's when Torrie Jung came up with a highlight reel save that'll be the team's nomination for plays of the week. The 19 year old came sliding across his crease while doing the splits and flashed his glove to rob Tyler Ennis point blank on the doorstep. Ennis looked up to the rafters in disbelief and the Oil Kings still had a chance. They eventually pulled the goalie, and it worked.

All the Oil Kings heavy hitters were out and threw everything they had on Tigers netminder Ryan Holfeld. Finally, Brent Raedeke worked the puck out from the corner and cycled the puck behind the net. Jeff Lee took over in the crowd and centered a pass into a maze of legs. Brett Breitkreuz found the loose puck and tapped it past a stretched out Holfeld to tie the game at 3 with just 19.7 seconds to go in regulation time.

Jung made another terrific save off Brennan Bosch with about 90 seconds to go in overtime which set up the dramatics for the shootout.

The first shooters for each team missed. Ennis was second up for the Tigers and made a big leg kick fake followed by a deke to the backhand to score the first goal in the showdown. Brenden Dowd followed and slid a backhand wide. Linden Vey couldn't seal the deal for Medicine Hat as the third shooter which left a score or go home situation for Brent Raedeke. The Detroit Red Wings prospect would not be denied. He roofed a snap shot top shelf to the glove side of Holfeld. This one needed extra shooters.

Tristan King made 3 or 4 moves on his deke and beat Jung to the glove side and finally Brett Breitkreuz could not answer with a low snap shot that sailed just wide to end the game.

That's Medicine Hat's first shootout victory of the season and their record improves to 11-7-2-2. Edmonton picks up 5 of a possible 12 points on their marathon 6 game stretch of games on the road and their record stands at 9-12-1-2.

The second half of this home and home series goes Friday night at Rexall Place. It's toque night. The first 3000 fans in the building will get a free Oil Kings toque.


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Western Hockey League Stories from November 12, 2008


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