Blades positive bounce from De La Gorgendiere does in Raiders

The Blades celebrate Aidan De La Gorgendiere’s winning goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – When it came down to puck luck, the last positive bounce belonged to the Saskatoon Blades.

On Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Blades found themselves locked in a 2-2 draw with the host Prince Albert Raiders late in the third period of a WHL regular season contest.

With 3:21 remaining in the third, the Blades went ahead 3-2, when captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere slipped home a point shot through a screen into the Prince Albert goal. The puck hit a body in front of the net and took a positive Saskatoon bounce off the ice before finding its way past Raiders netminder Tikhon Chaika.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere came through for the Blades.

That tally stood up as the winner giving the Blades their first win this season against their arch-rivals in three tries.

“I thought we were OK,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, whose team had posted two straight wins leading into Friday’s game. “I thought a lot of times we wanted to make plays we shouldn’t have.

“We wanted to make hard plays instead of easy plays. Sometimes that comes with feeling a little bit overconfident. We weren’t efficient I didn’t think.

“Like I said, we were OK, but on the other side, you could see some pucks just went off the end of our sticks or instead of going that way they went that way. It wasn’t an easy night, and how you get through that is by making the right plays. When we didn’t, it kind of bounced around and ended up in our net.”

Reece Vitelli scored for the Raiders in the third period.

The Raiders came out of the gate with good jump. They went ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal at the 6:59 mark of the first period, when left-winger Sloan Stanick fired home a rebound from his own shot close in on the Saskatoon goal.

Just when it seemed the Raiders were carrying all the momentum, the Blades turned things around at the 9:35 mark of the opening frame when right-winger Brendan Lee fired home a mid-range shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal to even the score at 1-1.

The visitors went ahead 2-1 just under two minutes later when Blades centre Trevor Wong blasted home another mid-range shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal. Wong’s tally was nearly identical to Lee’s goal.

At the 15:49 mark of the first, Stanick received a double minor for high sticking, which will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

Sloan Stanick scored the Raiders first goal on Friday.

The double minor was part of three straight power plays the Blades had to end the opening 20 minutes, and they were unable to score on any of those opportunities.  The Raiders actually held a 14-9 edge in shots on goal in the opening frame.

In the second period, Blades star goalie Nolan Maier came up with some big stops.

He turned away right-winger Tyson Laventure on a wraparound early in the frame.

At around the 7:30 mark, Maier stopped Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt on a wraparound. Wiesblatt and the Raiders thought at first he scored on the play, but the officials on the ice ruled no goal.

The next stoppage came with 11:01 remaining in the frame, and the officials went to a video review to check out the Wiesblatt chance. 

Ozzy Wiesblatt thought he scored on a wraparound.

The video evidence upheld the call on the ice as Maier trapped the puck on the goal-line.

“There were some things we didn’t do efficiently, and that was kind of the key word tonight,” said Habscheid. “We weren’t as efficient as we were maybe against a team like Winnipeg.

“We weren’t happy making the easy play. We wanted to look for that harder play. That is good, because that means you are confident, but sometimes in the game of hockey, it is hard enough.

“When you have a chance to make an easy play you need to make it. You always take what is given, and I didn’t think we did a real good job of that tonight.”

Maier proceeded to make a couple of big stops after Blades giveaways in their own zone.

Nolan Maier made 31 saves for the Blades on Friday.

The Yorkton, Sask., product then made a sweet glove stop on Raiders overage defenceman Remy Aquilon.

Late in the second, Stanick was sprung on a breakaway into the Saskatoon zone. He made a deke on Maier and had an open net on a backhand chance only for the puck to roll off his stick.

“We definitely had good chances in the game,” said Raiders captain Reece Vitelli. “It didn’t go our way tonight for some of them.

“Obviously, we would like to have those goals. Bounces will happen during a hockey game. We just have to go out try harder tomorrow and have a full 60 and have a good last game here.”

The Raiders evened the score 2-2 with a power-play goal at the 3:55 mark of the third. Vitelli deflected home a point shot from Wiesblatt for the equalizer.

Brendan Lee scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

That set the stage for De La Gorgendiere to come through with his winner.

Even after the Blades went ahead 3-2, the Raiders had a glorious chance to net the equalizer in the final seconds of the third. In the dying seconds of the third, Raiders right winger Carson Latimer found himself alone on Maier close in on the left side of the Saskatoon goal.

Maier came up with a big stop to preserve victory for the Blades.

Vitelli said it was tough to fall due to De La Gorgendiere’s positive bounce goal.

“We worked so hard there,” said Vitelli. “We came back there and tied it up.

“To have a goal like that, it sucks obviously. It cost us the game. Bounces happen in a hockey game, and we just have to come out stronger tomorrow.”

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

Chaika stopped turned away 25 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders (11-14-1-1). Nolan Maier stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in net for the Blades (15-12-1).

The two sides go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre in what will be the Blades Teddy Bear Toss game. Following that contest, both squads depart on their respective Christmas breaks.

Vitelli said Friday’s loss makes it easy to focus on Saturday’s contest in Saskatoon.

“Definitely playing Saskatoon is always fun,” said Vitelli. “Going into their building should be good.

“That is where our focus is right now and worrying about tomorrow.”

Prince Albert reassigns Serhyenko

Carter Serhyenko in action for the Raiders on November 5.

The Prince Albert Raiders cleared up a crowded crease.

On Friday, the Raiders reassigned 19-year-old netminder Carter Serhyenko to a junior A team that is still to be determined. The Saskatoon product, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 198 pounds, appeared in 17 games this season for the Raiders posting a 6-10-1 record, a 3.55 goals against average and a .881 save percentage.

Serhyenko had been with the Raiders since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. Overall, he appeared in 42 regular season games posting a 15-20-5 record, a 3.20 goals against average and a .887 save percentage.

Last Saturday, the Raiders acquired 19-year-old goaltender Cole Tisdale, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 170 pounds, from the Tri-City American in exchange for a seventh round selection in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft.

With Serhyenko’s reassignment, the Raiders are down to two goalies on their active roster in Tisdale and rookie 18-year-old Belarusian import Tikhon Chaika.

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