Saskatoon vs Halifax, Series Review

[SlapshotWrangler 858]

SASKATOON - The Saskatoon Wild have been cruising through the playoffs. They recently beat the Halifax 21st in a 4-1 series, that one loss they had in the series being the first loss they have had in the playoffs this season. It was a pretty dominant performance by the Saskatoon Wild, which was expected after their dominant regular season. 

 

In the first game, the Saskatoon Wild and Halifax 21st had a close match as the Wild barely edged out the 21st in double overtime, winning 6-5. The Saskatoon goals came from David OQuinn, the Wild's first overall pick scoring two goals, Erik Killinger, who scored two goals including the game winner, as well as a goal from Edwin THE Encarnacion and a goal from Kristopher McDagg. That first game had everybody wondering what the next games were going to be like. This was shaping up to be a good, hard-fought series.

 

Until the Saskatoon Wild won the second game 6-0, making that game Jacques Lafontaine's second shutout in the playoffs so far. The goals came from Dagmar Havlova, who scored two goals, Killy Foilen who also scored two goals, Gary Tarantino with one goal, and Uhtred who opened up the scoring 14 minutes and 29 seconds into the game. Lafontaine had an easy going game with Halifax only having 21 shots against him while Saskatoon pelted Jaxx Hextall with 53 shots. Saskatoon had taken control of the reins once more.

 

The next game had the Wild winning against the Halifax 21st with the score being 6-3, making this the third game in a row they had scored 6. Not an important stat or fact at all, just thought it was cool. Kristopher McDagg and Gary Tarantino both scored 2 goals in this game, McDagg scoring the game winner, as well as Edwin THE Encarnacion and Damien Wolfe scoring one goal each. Obviously, Saskatoon was pushing to win and they were pushing hard.

 

I'm not good at foreshadowing. The Halifax 21st gave the Saskatoon Wild their first loss of this season's playoffs. They won 4-2 as only Jesse Nyman, who scored on the power play, and Erik Killinger scored for the Wild. The Halifax goals were scored by Ben Storm, Anton Edvin, Gabriel Gutzwiler, and Thomas Landry II.

 

Finally, in the fifth game of the series, Saskatoon clinched the series with a commanding 7-3 win. The goals were scored by David OQuinn, who scored 2, Gary Tarantino, Damien Wolfe, Jesse Nyman, Mikko Lahtinen, and Danny DeYeeto. The Saskatoon Wild scored the only 4 goals in the first period, including the game winner and the series clinching goal, courtesy of Damien Wolfe. The series was won by Saskatoon, 4 games to one. The 21st’s season was over while Saskatoon would move on to the Founder’s Cup Finals against the Mississauga Hounds, eventually winning and capping off their historic season by lifting up the cup and becoming the Victory Hockey League champions. Next week, I'll do the review for the aforementioned finals.

 

Congratulations to all of the players and staff for this amazing achievement and for the great season!

[Cxsquared 455]

Can't wait to see how Saskatoon handles the Hounds...