Raiders get lunch bucket win on opening day in WHL

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Krzysztof Macias (#34).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - It was a three yards in a cloud of dust victory for the Prince Albert Raiders on opening day.

If you are scoring by CFL rules, it was four yards in a cloud of dust.

Regardless of what set of football rules you use as an analogy, the Raiders brought their lunch buckets to the Art Hauser Centre on Friday night. When the dust settled, the young squad from “Hockey Town North” skated away with a 4-0 victory holding a 47-28 advantage in shots on goal before an appreciative standing room crowd of 3,025 spectators at the team’s storied 2,580 seat building.

The clash was the WHL regular season opener for both teams.

For Raiders 19-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand, Friday’s win was a special one as he recorded his first career WHL regular season shutout stopping all the Warriors 28 shots. He was pretty pumped to get the clean slate and a game puck at the end of the night for a keepsake.

Krzysztof Macias scored his first career WHL goal on Friday.

“Obviously, it was a really big win to get the year started,” said Hildebrand, who joined the Raiders part way through the 2021-22 campaign. “I wish would have had one last year or the year before.

“It is good to get it over with. I got the nerves out early and just kept going. It was a really easy game for me tonight.

“The D-men boxed out nice, cleared rebounds. They made a lot of big blocks tonight (on shots).”

Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt said Hildebrand earned full marks in getting the shutout win. The bench boss said his netminder had to come up with some challenging stops on the night.

“He (Hildebrand) had to fight off some traffic,” said Truitt. “He had some shots in the middle of the ice where we turned the puck over or else didn’t make good plays.

Max Hildebrand picked up his first career WHL shutout on Friday.

“We had to break the puck out a couple of times, and they made plays off of it. He had to stand strong. He faced some quality shots, but he did excellent job swallowing (the puck) up. There weren’t a lot of rebounds there to be had.

“He was just very efficient.”

The teams played through a scoreless opening frame with the shots on goal finishing even at 10-10. The Raiders had momentum over the first 10 minutes, and the Warriors carried play in the last 20 minutes.

The Raiders broke through on the scoreboard at the 10:29 mark of second to go ahead 1-0. While working on the power play, 18-year-old defenceman Justice Christensen fired home a point shot through a screen to give the host side the lead.

Jackson Unger made 43 saves in goal for the Warriors on Friday.

Just seconds after that tally, the Raiders nearly went up 2-0. A point shot from defenceman Easton Kovacs got out from under Warriors netminder Jackson Unger and was sitting loose in the crease of the Moose Jaw net. Warriors rookie 17-year-old rearguard Brady Ness swooped in the sweep the puck out of danger for the visitors.

After that near miss, Kovacs was given an interference minor, but the Raiders killed off that penalty to take their edge into the second intermission. Truitt said that kill was an important one for his club.

“We could have let into the game with a goal, but our penalty kill did a great job,” said Truitt. “We were four-for-four I believe on the penalty kill.

Justice Christensen scored the Raiders first goal on Friday.

“We were one-for-two on the power play. You win those special teams, and it is obviously a difference most nights. I thought that we did a good job tonight.”

The two squads exited the second playing a fairly even frame with the shots on goal knotted up at 24-24.

The Raiders blew the game open scoring three times in the first 4:46 of the third to surge ahead 4-0. Just 28 seconds into the frame with the teams playing a spurt of four-versus-four hockey, Raiders sophomore centre Aiden Oiring banged home a loose puck in front of the Moose Jaw net to give Prince Albert a 2-0 edge.

At the 2:09 mark of the third, Raiders rookie import left-winger Krzysztof Macias banged home his first career WHL goal on almost an identical play to Oiring’s tally to give the Raiders a 3-0 advantage. Raiders star 17-year-old right-winger Ryder Ritchie capped the surge firing home a shot off a rush down the left wing to give the hosts their 4-0 lead.

Aiden Oiring potted the Raiders second goal on Friday.

Macias was excited to get his first career WHL goal in his first career WHL regular season game. The 19-year-old said the tally gave him a boost of confidence going into the rest of the campaign after not recording a point in four pre-season games.

“It helped very much,” said Macias, who is from Poland but has played the last number of years in Czechia. “In pre-season, I kind of struggled with my productivity, but it wasn’t the biggest point of my play.

“I was trying to get the system right and do the things coach wants me to do and productivity was in second place or even third. But, now it helps really, really much. I feel really much better after scoring the first goal.

Ryder Ritchie had the Raiders fourth goal on Friday.

“I hope it is not my last. I will do everything to help the team win every game in whatever role I am in.”

Truitt said it was big for his squad to get the two gritty goals to start the third and that type of effort is going to be needed for the rest of the campaign.

“We’ve always talked about getting to the inside of the ice, whether it is rebounds or screens or looking for second opportunities,” said Truitt. “That is where you have to play.

“Goaltenders are too good. If they can see it, then they’re going to make the saves. You have to grind it out on the inside and win the inside battles.

“I thought we did that tonight. We pick up some goals that way.”

Raiders mascot PIMS has fun with some young fans.

Unger turned away 43 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors, who were rated fifth in the CHL Top 10 pre-season rankings. Moose Jaw was missing a trio of key players who are away at NHL training camps including defenceman and captain Denton Mateychuk (Columbus Blue Jackets) and centres Brayden Yager (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Jagger Firkus (Seattle Kraken).

The Raiders were without the services of 18-year-old standout defensive-defenceman Terrell Goldsmith, who is at training camp with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

The Warriors return to action on Saturday when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

The Raiders get back at it on Sunday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on their archrivals the Blades (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre). Hildebrand said his squad always looks forward to meeting the Blades.

The Raiders salute the Art Hauser Centre faithful after Friday’s win.

“Obviously, home opener for them, and it is going to be a good crowd there,” said Hildebrand. “It is always a good battle when we go there.”

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