The Edmonton Oil Kings are preparing to face off against the Seattle Thunderbirds when the Western Hockey League championship series begins Friday at Rogers Place and the team’s players say the excitement is palpable.
“It’s almost surreal,” Oil Kings captain Jake Neighbours told reporters on Wednesday. “There’s a different feeling around the room and on the ice at practice.
“(We know) what we’re playing for now. Guys are excited.”
Neighbours added that most players on the team will be hungry to compete as they have not played in a WHL championship series before.
One Oil King who played for a team that lost the final will be geared up for a chance at redemption.
“I’ve been to the finals and obviously I get another crack at it (now),” Oil Kings forward Justin Sourdif said. “I’m trying to make that count.”
Sourdif played in 17 playoff games with the Vancouver Giants in the 2018-19 season. That year, the Giants lost to the Prince Albert Raiders in the finals.
“Everybody’s excited,” Neighbours added.
“The job’s not finished.”
The Oil Kings clinched their spot in the final with a 7-1 Game 5 win over the Winnipeg Ice on Friday.
READ MORE: Winnipeg Ice eliminated after 7-1 loss to Oil Kings
The team’s head coach said the Oil Kings have made use of the extra time to prepare and to allow bumps and bruises to heal as the Thunderbirds only punched their ticket to the championship series with a Game 7 win over the Kamloops Blazers on Tuesday.
“Obviously it was nice to finish it early in the third round,” Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer said. “With that luxury, we were able to give the guys a couple of days off to kind of get reset and then we’ve been back here since Monday, working on the same stuff we’ve been doing day in and day out most of the year.
“I think you can always get better.”
The time also allowed Lauer and his staff to prepare for the possibility of matching up against Seattle, a team that Edmonton has not played since October 2019. Still, he pointed out that work can still be done to mitigate any element of surprise from the Thunderbirds’ play.
“(With) what we can do with breaking games down and video and stuff like that, there’s not a lot of secrets between teams,” Lauer said. “It’s just a matter of doing the work and going to get it.
“We’ve done a lot of work to make sure we understand the team we’re playing… but for the most part, we just kind of focus on ourselves.”
Neighbours agreed that Oil Kings players will need to focus more on their own game than the Thunderbirds’, but added Edmonton’s coaches “are doing a great job of evaluating them.”
READ MORE: Oil Kings captain hoping to be in top form for playoffs after recent return from injury
“They’re a really skilled team and they play a heavy game,” Sourdif said. “They’ve got really good goaltending and it’s going to be a tough series.
“It’s gonna be a real battle.”
Oil Kings forward Dylan Guenther, whose 13 goals have him tied for second among WHL players this post-season, said playing with intensity right away will help force the Thunderbirds to have to adapt to Edmonton’s game rather than the other way around.
“Getting on them right off the hop,” he said. “Playing our game and kind of allowing them to feel us out.”
The Oil Kings have now reached the WHL’s final for the fourth time in modern franchise history and for the first time since winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup and Memorial Cup in 2014. The Thunderbirds are also competing in the league’s championship series for the fourth time in their franchise’s history.
“Anybody that’s played this long and gotten this far, they’re a good team,” Lauer said. “We expect that and we know that.
“They’re also a team that won two Game 7s on the road. So they’re very comfortable coming into our barn and playing here.”
That may play a factor as the Thunderbirds may not be able to play any games after Game 4 at home because of issues with their arena’s availability.
Neighbours said he does not put too much thought into where each game will be played.
“It’s gonna be fun,” Lauer said. “It’s a team that we haven’t faced, (so) it’s something different. It’ll be exciting. It’s a fun time of year for our guys.”
“Just being here, being in the moment, it’s really exciting,” Sourdif said.
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“In that dressing room we’ve got 26 (or) 25 brothers,” Oil Kings forward Carter Souch said, adding he believes their bond also helps with their team chemistry on the ice. “I think we’re really supportive of each other and I think we look after each other off the ice.
“Growing up in Edmonton, I’ve seen a lot of runs by the Oil Kings… At the end of the day, it’s why we play hockey: for moments like these.”
Souch is currently the longest-serving member of the Oil Kings.
Guenther noted that it has been exciting to experience his team going deep in the post-season at the same time as the Edmonton Oilers are doing the same in the NHL.
“We’re watching the Oilers and we can feel the energy the city has,” he said. “I think it’s pretty cool we’re able to go on a run as they are.”
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Souch said his team is going into the series with the Thunderbirds with a particular mentality.
“It’s going to be a long series and we’ve just got to take it game by game.”
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