Raiders’ Meunier finding early hot stride in second season

Prince Albert sinks Rebels 4-1 to improve to 4-0-1

Ty Meunier had one goal and one assist for the Raiders on Saturday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Things just seem to be that much more comfortable for Ty Meunier the second time around.

Last season as a 16-year-old rookie in the WHL, Meunier, who was selected by the Raiders in the first round and seventh overall in the 2023 WHL Prospect Draft, had a fairly solid campaign as a first-year player. The speedy left-winger suited up for all of the Raiders 68 regular season games posting 14 goals and 15 assists to go with a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

After five games as a 17-year-old sophomore, Menuier has recorded three goals, one assist and a plus-one rating. Those offensive numbers included the St. Albert, Alta., product providing the Raiders with one goal, one assist and a plus-two performance in a 4-1 regular season victory over the visiting Red Deer Rebels before 2,843 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.

Ty Meunier has four points in five games this season.

Meunier said he feels the flow of things on the ice comes with a lot more familiarity than it did a year ago as a rookie.

“You feel more comfortable,” said Meunier. “That is the biggest thing.

“You feel like you can be a big asset out there and make plays and be confident. That is how I feel right now, so I’ll continue to do that.

“It has been awesome.”

Meunier got things going early in the first period. Breaking into the centre ice zone on a two-on-two rush, Meunier passed the puck to 17-year-old rookie right-winger Jonah Sivertson right before crossing the Red Deer blue line.

Ty Meunier had 29 points in 68 games as a WHL rookie last season.

Upon entering the Red Deer end, Sivertson slipped a lead pass past the Rebels defence to spring Meunier in alone on the Red Deer goal. Meunier roofed a shot to the top right corner of the Red Deer net to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

“It was just a great play by (Jonah) Sivertson,” said Meunier, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 162 pounds. “We kind of got going up ice.

“I gave it to him. He made a great play getting it back, and I got lucky enough I picked a corner and it went in.”

With 6:10 remaining in the first, Meunier had the puck low to the left side of the Red Deer net below the icing line. He put a pass across the front of the goal to the right side boards to veteran 19-year-old defenceman Linden Burrett.

Jonah Sivertson (#28) celebrates his first career WHL goal.

Burrett proceeded to quickly put a backdoor pass across the front of the Red Deer net to Sivertson at the left side of the goal. Sivertson promptly buried a shot into an empty cage for his first career WHL regular season goal to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0.

Meunier said in the early going of the current campaign he really feels he can size up plays a lot better than he did a year ago. Visually, he believes the game is starting to slow down for him.

“There are obviously new players in the league, but there are still guys that are from last year,” said Meunier. “It definitely feels a little slower.

“You feel like you can kind of be more dominant out there in different areas.”

Matthew Gard had the Rebels lone goal on Saturday.

Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald believed that Meunier had an outstanding outing for the entirety of Saturday’s contest.

“I thought Ty’s play away from the puck was phenomenal,” said McDonald. “Inside the dots, he made some great, great defensive reads that led to some great offensive chances for him.

“When Ty has the ability to get the puck and roll through the dots offensively and get his looks, Ty doesn’t need too many of those to make them count.”

The performance of Meunier, Sivertson and Burrett, who picked up assists on both first period goals for the Raiders, helped cap a dominant opening frame for the Prince Albert side. That included holding a 13-3 edge in shots on goal. The Raiders could have had a bigger advantage if it wasn’t for the performance of Rebels star 19-year-old netminder Chase Wutzke making a number of big saves.

Chase Wutzke makes one of his 24 saves in goal for the Rebels.

The Rebels proceeded to grab some momentum early in the second period on a stretch of four-versus-four play. Just 29 second into the stanza, Rebels 18-year-old centre Matthew Gard ripped home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Prince Albert zone to cut the Raiders lead to 2-1.

Prince Albert proceeded to change the complexion of the contest scoring twice late in the second period to push their advantage out to 4-1. With 2:18 remaining in the frame, Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube broke into the Red Deer zone with rookie 16-year-old right-winger Ben Harvey on two-on-the-goalie break with Rebels 17-year-old defenceman Luke Vlooswyk in hot pursuit on the backcheck.

Ben Harvey had the Raiders third goal on Saturday.

Dube went to the left side of the Red Deer net and put a backhand pass across the face of the goal that deflected off Vlooswyk’s stick to Harvey by the right post. Harvey potted the puck into an empty cage to give the Raiders a 3-1 edge.

With 63 seconds remaining in the second and the Raiders working on the power play, Raiders 17-year-old right-winger Riley Boychuk had the puck at the right side of the Red Deer net and fired a pass across the front of the goal backdoor to Dube. Dube received the puck just beside the left faceoff circle and wired home his fourth of the campaign to give the Raiders their 4-1 lead.

“Dupes (Dube) possesses tremendous speed,” said McDonald. “Again, we have to make sure that we can utilize his pace.

Dimitri Fortin made 18 saves in goal for the Raiders.

“He has got a great shot. You saw it on the power play where he gets the one through the seam there and makes a great shot with it. Again, we have to make sure we can find that open ice for him to utilize his speed.”

The Rebels came with a push in the third period holding a 12-7 edge in shots on goal in the frame. Raiders 19-year-old netminder Dimitri Fortin slammed the door shut in front of the Prince Albert net to ensure the 4-1 lead in favour of the Raiders held up as the game’s final outcome.

During the third period, McDonald and the Raiders coaching staff showed great faith in all their players by rolling all four of the team’s forward lines and the three defensive pairings in finishing off the game defensively.

Brayden Dube had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

“That was the game plan,” said Meunier. “We said in the second intermission let’s finish this game off good.

“That is what the coach wanted to do is roll all four lines, and we did that. Props to our team for doing that, and I think the coaches are happy with it.”

Fortin stopped 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (4-0-1). Wutzke turned away 24 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels (1-4).

Saturday’s contest marked the first time Rebels head coach Marc Habscheid coached a game in Prince Albert since the 2021-22 campaign, which was his final season as head coach of the Raiders. Habscheid became the Raiders head coach on November 1, 2014 and held that post to the end of the 2021-22 campaign. He guided the Raiders to their second WHL championship win during a magical 2018-19 season.

Marc Habscheid works the Rebels bench as head coach.

For the current Raiders and their current head coach, McDonald said the focus will be on continually working to get better.

“For us, we just continue to take things day by day (and) continue to build our game,” said McDonald. “We had a fantastic week of practice this week, and we had a lot of learning.

“As a coach, what you’re looking for is guys applying the stuff that we’re learning in practice out on the ice and in games. For us, we saw a lot of that stuff come to the forefront today. For us, it is just continue to keep building our game and keep taking it one game at a time.”

The Rebels return to action on Tuesday when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m., Marchant Crane Centrium)

The Raiders get back at it on Wednesday when they host the Vancouver Giants (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Raiders salute their fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

Meunier said he is really looking forward to the rest of his 17-year-old sophomore campaign.

“It is a great start for our team, and we just have to keep building,” said Meunier. “I’m super proud of the guys, and we’ll just keep moving on from here.”

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.