Morley Scott
4/17/2012
Tom Petty says “the waiting is the hardest part”, for the Edmonton Oil Kings, that maybe true. Right now, waiting seems to be more difficult than winning. The Oil Kings are used to waiting. Between the end of the regular season and the playoffs, they had five days off. After a sweep of the Kootenay Ice, they had seven days off before round two with the Brandon Wheat Kings started. Round three in the WHL playoffs, the Eastern Conference Final will start on Friday in Edmonton against the Moose Jaw Warriors, a full eight day break between games. Clearly waiting has not been an issue for the Oil Kings, neither has winning, they are 8 and 0 in the playoffs and playing at a very high level. Going back to the regular season, they have won 19 straight games, their last loss, almost two months ago on February 22, to the Kelowna Rockets.
Waiting and winning seems to be a good combination right now, Michael St. Croix, like everyone else on the Oil Kings is enjoy this run, “I’ve never been on a streak like this, and when you’re in it ,it’s almost like winning becomes such a natural thing” said the Oil Kings regular season scoring leader , who also doesn’t mind the down time between series, “ It’s always nice to get a rest, and get ready for the adversity of a tough series, and I think that’s what it’s going to be with Moose Jaw.” The Warriors are also well rested; they have also been off since last Wednesday after completing their series sweep of the Medicine Hat Tigers. These two teams are the hottest teams in the WHL right now, both have made short work of the playoff schedule, The Oil Kings have played the minimum eight games through two rounds, and Moose Jaw has played only one more and both teams have won 8 straight games.
Games one and two in Edmonton on Friday and Sunday then games three and four in Moose Jaw Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, and the way these two teams are playing, it is a safe bet that we may have to look at the schedule for games five through seven as well. (ms)
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