WHL Edmonton Oil Kings

Oil Kings Shut Out Regina In Front Of Record Setting Crowd

Published on February 1, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Edmonton Oil Kings News Release


Edmonton, AB - The Edmonton Oil Kings picked the perfect time to record their first ever win over the Regina Pats in modern franchise history. A perfect performance from 20 year old Torrie Jung did the trick as Edmonton blanked Regina 1 - 0 in front of a record setting crowd at Rexall Place. 13, 765 screaming fans watched Jung make 32 saves for his 4th career shutout as the team turned in one of their best defensive performances of the season in a crucial game when it comes to the tight playoff race in the WHL's Eastern Conference.

"That was fun. That's good stuff." said Oil Kings Head Coach Steven Pleau after the game. "I thought the guys competed hard, real hard. Obviously I'd still like to eliminate some of the mental mistakes that we make but we're gaining experience and we're finding a way to win. I thought that was one of the best goaltending junior games I've ever seen, from both sides."

Oil Kings fans made sure their team had a warm welcome as the record setting crowd of almost 14 thousand had the home town squad pumped up and all that pent up energy had to be released sooner or later. It came sooner when Clayton Cumiskey dropped the gloves with Regina's Dominick Favreau about 8 minutes into the contest. That got the crowd really going.

"It all started with the crowd." said Torrie Jung. "That's as many people as we're going to get throughout the year. I think early on in the game we were pretty good and they came on strong in the second. You know, 1 goal hockey games especially like this are typical playoff games so this was good for us."

Edmonton had the luxury of the first powerplay in the hockey game and it didn't take them very long to cash in. Matt Robertson took a hooking minor setting up a face-off deep in Regina territory. Brenden Dowd won the draw over to Jeff Lee who skated the puck into the corner and centered a pass for Robin Soudek who was left alone in the slot. Soudek made a quick move from his backhand to the forehand and deposited his 5th goal of the season to give the Oil Kings the early lead.

One of Torrie Jung's best saves of the game came a few minutes in the second period. The veteran netminder flashed the leather on Matt Robertson for a big glove save to preserve the 1 goal lead.

Edmonton came very close to extending their lead on their next powerplay about midway through the second period. Brett Breitkreuz worked the puck low in the corner and zipped a pass to Soudek who was able to sneak in tight again. This time Pats goalie Linden Rowat did the splits to make a pretty good save.

The Oil Kings thought they had a 2 nothing lead working on yet another powerplay in the third period. It was Soudek again who had one of his best games of the season. This time the Czech rookie beat Rowat but the puck crossed the line just after the net was dislodged. Amazingly, there was no penalty for delay of game on the play.

Edmonton's strong defensive play shut the door the rest of the way to make the final score 1 nothing. Oilers' first round draft pick Jordan Eberle didn't get a sniff and Pleau gives a lot of credit to former Regina Pats property Brent Raedeke.

"When you're up by a goal with 5 or 6 minutes left to go, you want Raedeke on the ice. He was really good and paid special attention to detail."

Edmonton's record against Regina since re-entering the league last season is now 1-5-0-1. That's a stat that Oil Kings Head Coach Steve Pleau didn't even realize.

"I just knew that they were 2 points ahead of us and we needed a win. I guess that's good that we get that monkey off our back but it's better that we're in 8th place now.

Edmonton is now an impressive 18-4-0-1 when the open the scoring and more importantly, they're tied with the Regina Pats and Prince Albert Raiders with 52 points in the WHL's Eastern Conference. That ends a decent month of January where the team compiled a record of 7 - 6. That's also Edmonton's modern franchise record 23rd win of the season bringing their record to 23-26-2-4.

It's a busy month of February for the Oil Kings with 10 road games and just 2 games at Rexall Place. It all starts with 4 games in 5 nights next week. Edmonton's in Calgary on Tuesday and the next home game is Wednesday February 4th. Of course, that's a Weiner Wednesday featuring $2 hot dogs all night long.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 1, 2009


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