Sweet, sweet victory – Raiders enter seventh heaven

Goaltender Ian Scott and captain Curtis Miske enjoy the Raiders Game 6 win.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Wow!

    In an all-time WHL playoff classic, the Prince Albert Raiders have forced a series deciding Game 7 in their best-of-seven first round set with the Moose Jaw Warriors, who topped the league’s regular season standings with a 52-15-2-3 record.

    The two clubs played through an intense back-and-fourth Game 6 on Sunday before 2,835 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre. Locked in a 4-4 tie, Raiders winger Cole Fonstad lifted a shot over the shoulder of Warriors netminder Brody Willms to give the hosts a 5-4 lead with 8:24 to play in the third period.

    The Raiders ensured that 5-4 scored held up as the final outcome on Sunday to tie their series up with the Warriors 3-3. 

Cole Fonstad scored twice for the Raiders on Sunday.

    Game 7 is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw.

    Fonstad scored twice on Sunday including the game’s opening tally on a rebound from a shot taken by overage linemate Jordy Stallard at the 7:34 mark of the first period. The Raiders dropped Games 3 and 4 of the series in Prince Albert including a 2-0 heartbreaker in Game 4 on Wednesday to fall behind 3-1 in the series.

    In Game 4, Fonstad had a goal called back just past the midway point of the third period due to incidental contact on Willms by Raiders defenceman Max Martin that would have tied that contest 1-1. The Warriors added an empty-net tally to seal that win.

    Fonstad was pumped to deliver for the Prince Albert fans on Sunday.

    “We kind of let ourselves and the fans down there in Games 3 and 4 there,” said Fonstad. “The fans tonight were amazing.

    “It is unbelievable the atmosphere in this building. We are really lucky to have them.

Brayden Burke had two goals and two assists for the Warriors on Sunday.

    “Obviously, you want to come back after stuff doesn’t go your way. I think we put it behind us real quick and just focused on what we can control.”

    During Sunday’s game, the Raiders were trading hard-working goals against skilled tallies by the Warriors. The two sides found themselves tied up at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4 as Game 6 progressed.

    Captain Curtis Miske had a goal and three assists for the Raiders, who received singles from Sean Montgomery and Regan Nagy.

    Overage winger Brayden Burke led the Warriors attack scoring his team’s first two goals on sweet snipes and drawing assists on stellar tallies by Jayden Halbgewachs and Moose Jaw captain Brett Howden. Halbgewachs, who had 70 goals during the regular season, actually scored for the first time in the series when he gave his team a short-lived 3-2 lead late in the second period.

Raiders goalie Ian Scott works to keep the Warriors at bay.

    Montgomery scored with 59 seconds to play in the second to send the two teams into the third period locked in a 3-3 tie.

    Burke said he wasn’t surprised that his team’s series with the Raiders, who posted a solid 32-27-9-4 record in the regular season, is going to a Game 7 noting the strength of the East Division, which both teams are in.
    The other first round series between two East Division rivals featuring the Swift Current Broncos, who were 48-17-5-2 in the regular season, and the Memorial Cup hosting Regina Pats, who were 40-25-6-1 in the regular season, is going to a Game 7 to be played in Swift Current on Monday.

Jayden Halbgewachs scored for the Warriors on Sunday.

    The Brandon Wheat Kings, who posted a 40-27-3-2 regular season record playing out of the East Division, eliminated the Central Division champion Medicine Hat Tigers in Game 6 of their series in Dauphin, Man., on Sunday 4-3 in overtime.

    “It is a testament to the division,” said Burke. “I think it is the best division in the league this year.

    “Obviously with both series (featuring East Division teams) going to Game 7, it shows that every team is pretty equal. Even if we get through this round, we are going to have another tough test in the second round.

The Art Hauser Centre crowd cheers a Raiders goal on Sunday.

    “It just shows that a lot of teams are good, and you know you can’t take anything for granted.”

    Warriors head coach Tim Hunter echoed Burke’s statement regarding how tough the East Division was and the challenge his team faced in taking on the Raiders.

    “We didn’t think we were going to sweep this team or beat this team four games to one or whatever,” said Hunter. “We knew we were in a series from the get go.

    “They beat us at home in the first game. We knew they were a good hockey team.”

Curtis Miske celebrates a goal and he had three assists for the Raiders.

    Ian Scott turned away 16 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. While he didn’t make many saves, he made a number of quality stops, which included sliding across the crease of his net to rob Warriors centre Justin Almeida with a pad stop early in the second period.

    Miske said Scott’s performance has been key to the success the Raiders have had.

    “He (Scott) only had 20 shots, but he made a couple of saves that probably could have been goals,” said Miske. “He played really well.

    “He has been keeping us in every single game. We’re scoring goals, but he has been stopping them (the Warriors). He has been a huge part of our success so far.”

Raiders RW Brett Leason (#20) breaks into the offensive zone on a rush.

    Willms turned away 27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Warriors.

    Going into a series deciding Game 7, the Raiders will be trying to rally back successfully from a 3-1 series deficit for the first time since a second round series in 1996, when they trailed the Pats 3-1 before winning three straight to take the set 4-3.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said he was confident in his players going into Game 7.

    “Our guys are a great group,” said Habscheid. “They are a together group. They play structured. They don’t cheat the game.

    “They play hard, and when you do that, you are going to give yourself a chance. That is the second ranked team (in the final CHL Top 10 rankings) in the country, and we are one game away.

The Raiders salute their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre on Sunday.

    “We are going to go in there and lay it all on the line and see what happens.”

    Hunter also showed belief in his group noting his Warriors rebounded after falling 5-1 to the Raiders in Game 5 in Moose Jaw on Saturday.

    “We played a lot better tonight than we did last night,” said Hunter. “If we play like we did tonight on home ice on Tuesday, we will win the hockey game.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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