Fabrizi perfect physical fit in “Hockey Town North”

Raiders rearguard gets goal in 4-1 win over Warriors

Matteo Fabrizi scored the Raiders third goal on Friday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Matteo Fabrizi said it didn’t take long for Prince Albert to feel like home.

The 19-year-old physical defenceman was acquired by the Prince Albert Raiders in a trade with the Red Deer Rebels on December 31, 2024. By tradition, both the Raiders and the Rebels like to play more of a physical game. That characteristic has allowed Fabrizi’s transition from Red Deer to Prince Albert to be seamless.

“They (the Raiders) traded for me for a reason,” said Fabrizi, who 6-foot-5 and weighs 235 pounds. “They expect a certain game that they know I can play, and that I know I can play too.

“I just try to bring it every night and do what I can to help the team win every night.”

On Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre, Fabrizi was able to chip on offence. At the 9:33 mark of the first period of a WHL regular season contest against the visiting Moose Jaw Warriors, Fabrizi sent a shot from the point that deflected off a Warriors player into the Moose Jaw net.

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Matteo Fabrizi (#5).

That tally was Fabrizi’s first goal as a member of the Raiders and it gave the Prince Albert side a 3-0 lead. The Raiders would cruise to a 4-1 victory from there to the delight of the 2,551 spectators in attendance.

In 51 games split between the Rebels and the Raiders this season, Fabrizi has three goals and nine assists for 12 points. His assist total is a career high and his point total matches a career high. The St. Albert, Alta., product was pleased to get his first goal as a member of the Raiders.

“I mean, no matter who you are, it is always good scoring a goal,” said Fabrizi. “I mean it is nice to get the first one here in the green.

“It is just whatever I can do to help the team.”

Matteo Fabrizi is known for his physical style of play.

The win allowed the Raiders to improve to 32-19-3-1 and jump back into first place in the WHL’s East Division combined with the fact the Brandon Wheat Kings dropped a 5-0 decision at home to the Calgary Hitmen. The Wheat Kings (30-17-4-3) and the Saskatoon Blades (30-18-3-4) both sit one standings point behind the Raiders for first. Brandon has a game in hand on both Prince Albert and Saskatoon.

The Blades slipped past the Rebels in Red Deer 3-2 in overtime on Friday night to keep the first place race in the East Division very heated.

Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt said it was big for the team to add Fabrizi’s physical style of play to the club’s roster.

“He is a big physical guy that stops pucks in our defensive zone,” said Truitt. “He makes the simple plays.

Niall Crocker celebrates scoring the Raiders first goal on Friday.

“He gets one tonight, which is tremendous. It is always nice to get one, but his job is to play defence and move pucks and be strong along the wall. We’ve got enough puck handlers and what not that can really motor.

“We needed to solidify things by adding on to what (import defenceman) Vojtech (Vochvest) does for us. We just thought that we needed a bigger body back there to help be a little bit more physical and simplify the game.”

Fabrizi said was welcomed into the Raiders organization and the team’s dressing room right from the start. He said it has been fun getting to witness the skill of the Raiders high-flying offensive players like Tomas Mrsic, Aiden Oiring, Rilen Kovacevic and Lukas Dragicevic.

Ty Meunier scored the Raiders second goal on Friday.

“They are a great group of guys, and obviously, a lot of them are very high skilled,” said Fabrizi. “It is cool to watch, and it is fun to watch the power play work sometimes.

“I wish I had half that skill sometimes.”

The Raiders offence got going opening the game’s scoring at the 4:15 mark of the first while working the power play. Raiders 20-year-old standout left-winger Niall Crocker tallied from a trademark area from in front of the Moose Jaw net putting home a backhander for his 24^th goal of the season.

Exactly four minutes after Crocker’s tally, Raiders 16-year-old rookie left-winger Ty Meunier slipped home a shot from the left boards in the Moose Jaw zone to put the host side up 2-0. Meunier’s tally was his 13^th of the campaign.

Matthew Hutchinson made 36 saves for the Warriors.

Fabrizi added his goal just 78 seconds after Meunier’s marker and the faithful at the Art Hauser Centre were rocking.

The Warriors were able to get some traction as 18-year-old right-winger and captain Lynden Lakovic tallied on the power play for his 20^th goal of the campaign to trim the Raiders lead to 3-1.

Moose Jaw continued to battle with some pretty good jump for the rest of the contest, but they were unable to get another puck past Raiders star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand, who finished the contest making 28 saves.

Oiring, who is a Raiders star centre, rounded out the game’s scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:43 remaining in the third period. He finished the contest with an assist to go along with his goal. Mrsic, who is a star left-winger, and Brayden Dube, who is breakout right-winger, each collected two assists for the Raiders.

Lynden Lakovic netted the Warriors lone goal on Friday.

Truitt was pleased with the game’s final outcome, but he added there were still areas that could be improved.

“I liked our first period for sure,” said Truitt. “I thought that we dictated a lot of the play.

“In the second period, we didn’t do enough. Even in the third period, I thought that we didn’t do enough. We had too many blind plays when we just let guys come right to our net.

“You’ve got to be tighter than that.”

Matthew Hutchinson turned away 36-of-39 shots to take the setback in net for the Warriors (11-39-4-2).

The Warriors get back in action on Saturday when they return home to host the 36-15-3-2 Calgary Hitmen (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre). Moose Jaw is looking to end a nine game losing streak.

Max Hildebrand stopped 28 shots in goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders also return to action on Saturday when they travel to Regina to take on the 15-34-5-2 Pats (6 p.m., Brandt Centre).

Back in the 2022-23 campaign, Fabrizi helped the Rebels top the WHL’s Central Division. He is enjoying trying to help the Raiders top their division this season.

“It is our goal, so we’re just trying to stay on the path that we want and put ourselves in a position to control our own destiny however it may be,” said Fabrizi. “We want top spot.”

When the regular season wraps up, Fabrizi said he would like to be part of a long post-season run. In his three previous seasons with the Rebels, Red Deer advanced to the second round of the post-season but was never able to make the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series. Fabrizi wants to finally get pass the second round.

The Raiders salute their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.

“I got a lot of games, but I’m ready for a third round,” said Fabrizi. “Three second rounds in a row, it is time for more.”

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