Raiders hammer Hitmen 8-3

The Raiders celebrate one of their eight goals on Tuesday.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - The Prince Albert Raiders delivered a technical knockout to the Calgary Hitmen.

    On Tuesday before 2,481 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre, the Raider stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the first period and romped to an 8-3 victory in a WHL regular season clash between the two sides. The win was a third straight for the defending WHL champions who improved to 35-17-5-4 to sit five points up on the Brandon Wheat Kings (34-21-4-2) for first in the East Division.

    “I liked our energy,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, whose team was playing their fourth game in five days. “Their goalie had a tough night to be fair.

    “I thought we were on the puck. Our ability to get the puck back when we lost it in our end I thought was key. I like the jump.

    “I like the resiliency. They (his players) had built in excuses, but they didn’t take them.”

Brayden Watts (#27) had two goals and an assist for the Raiders.

    The Raiders came out on fire and drew first blood at the 9:01 mark of the opening frame when a mid-range shot from left-winger Brayden Watts snuck between the legs of Hitmen netminder Jack McNaughton and trickled into the Calgary goal.

    Just 1:41 after that tally, Raiders captain Zack Hayes fired home a point shot through a screen to give the host side a 2-0 edge.

    The onslaught continues with 6:02 remaining in the opening frame when 18-year-old centre Reece Vitelli tipped home a shot from the left boards taken from right-winger Spencer Moe to give the Raiders a 3-0 lead.

    Things continued to get worse for the Hitmen as Watts tallied on the power play with 2:43 remaining in the first to put the Raiders up 4-0.

Prince Albert had a 19-7 edge in shots on goal over the first 20 minutes.

Reece Vitelli had a pair of goals for the Raiders.

    “We just had a hot start,” said Watts, who had an assist to go with his two goals. “I think that kind of got us going.

    “We had some moments there where they kind of took over the game. Luckily, our goaltending was really good tonight as usual, and we were able to notch a couple more in the second and third.”

    The Hitmen attempted to battle back scoring two goals 12 seconds apart shortly after the five-minute mark of the second coming from the sticks of Cael Zimmerman and captain Mark Kastelic. Those tallies cut the Raiders lead to 4-2.

    The Raiders called a timeout after Kastelic’s tally to regroup.

    The host side went back up 5-2 at the 12:10 mark of the second, when Belarusian import centre Aliaksei Protas tucked home a shot from the front of the Calgary. 

Aliaksei Protas scored his 30th goal on Tuesday.

    The tally was the 30^th of the season for Protas.

    Vitelli added his second of the night about 2:40 later to give the Raider a 6-2 advantage.

    “Habby (Habscheid) made a great choice calling a timeout there to settle us down,” said Vitelli, who was a plus-two in the plus-minus department. “We don’t want to give up two at the start of the second period there and get them back in the game.

    “We responded well in the second half of the second period and just continued there for the rest of the game.”

    Early in the third, 18-year-old left-winger Ilya Usau tallied on the power-play early to give the host side a 7-2 advantage.

    Moe scored on a breakaway tucking the puck five-hole on McNaughton to give the Raiders an 8-2 lead.

    Zimmerman rounded out the game’s scoring tallying his second of the night for the Hitmen.
    Max Paddock made 24 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Jack McNaughton turned away 36 shots to take the setback in net for the Hitmen (34-22-4-1).

Spencer Moe had a goal and two assists for the Raiders on Tuesday.

    The Raiders top line of Protas centring Watts and Moe had a big night. While Watts collected three points, Protas and Moe both had a pair of assists to go with their goals to post respective three-point outings.

    “They are our top line,” said Habscheid. “They have to produce.

    “They have to score. We need them to score. It is nice when your depth chips in.

    “Singers sing, dancers dance and goal scorers score goals, and they have to score goals. That is just the way it is.”

    Usau had a pair of assists to go with his goal for a three-point night, while Raiders sophomore star defenceman Kaiden Guhle had a pair of assists.

The Raiders salute the Art Hauser Centre faithful after their win on Tuesday.

    The only down part about for the Raiders was the fact that 19-year-old right-winger Justin Nachbaur left the game late in the third period. Habscheid said Nachbaur was day-to-day, and the extent of his injury was still being determined.

    Besides the work of his top line, Habscheid liked how Vitelli played on Tuesday.

    “Reece (Vitelli) has carved out a little bit of a niche,” said Habscheid. “He is a faceoff guy.

    “He blocks shots. He plays the right way. He is good teammate.

    “He fits in well to our room.”

    The Hitmen return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the 31-23-2-3 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

    The Raiders get back at it on Friday hosting the Wheat Kings (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Huskies’ Willoughby, Vance star on “This Girl Can” night

Morgan Willoughby sets to drop the ceremonial faceoff puck.

    Morgan Willoughby and Jessica Vance, who are both veterans of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team, were treated to star status leading up to the Prince Albert Raiders game on Tuesday.

    The two are from Prince Albert and are both alums of the Prince Albert Northern Bears female midget AAA hockey team. Willoughby and Vance took centre stage for the “This Girl Can” night that was put on by the Raiders.

    The promotion was held in conjunction with the Bears and the 2020 Esso Cup committee. Prince Albert will host the Esso Cup, which is the female midget AAA national championship tournament, from April 19-25.

    “This Girl Can” night was held to celebrate young girls and women in sport, business and in community groups.

Jessica Vance (#30) shakes hands with Raiders captain Zack Hayes.

    Willoughby and Vance took part in an on-ice session with young female players from Prince Albert and area on Tuesday afternoon. Following the on-ice session, they were the main speakers for a speaking engagement at the Ches Leach Lounge.

    During a pre-game ceremony before the Raiders thumped the visiting Calgary Hitmen 8-3, Willoughby and Vance took part in a ceremonial faceoff.
    Willoughby just finished her fifth and final season as a tough defensive defender with the Huskies. She skated in 117 career U Sports regular season games posting six goals, eight assists and a minus four-rating in the plus-minus department often playing against the top lines of opposing teams.

    This past season, Willoughby appeared in 26 regular season games with the Huskies posting one goal, two assists and a plus-five rating.

Jessica Vance and Morgan Willoughby wave to the Art Hauser Centre crowd.

    Vance has been a star goalie for the past three seasons for the Huskies. She has appeared in 59 career U Sports regular season games posting a 38-14-6 record, a 1.17 goals against average, a .947 save percentage and 20 shutouts.

    This past season, Vance saw action in 19 regular season games posting a 12-4-3 record, 1.44 goals against average, a .930 save percentage and five shutouts. She has one season of U Sports eligibility remaining after starting her university career with the University of Manitoba Bisons.

    The Huskies finished third in the Canada West Conference with a 17-7-2-2 record this past season. They lost two overtime games in the post-season falling in a best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series 2-0 to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

    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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Giants gut out 4-3 win over Raiders, stay alive in WHL final

Davis Koch scored for the Giants on Friday.

    The Vancouver Giants won on plain old guts.

    On Friday night, the Giants pulled out all the stops to pull out a 4-3 victory over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders in a fire wagon style hockey contest in Game 5 of the WHL Championship series at the Langley Events Centre. With the win, the Giants cut the Raiders lead in the best-of-seven series to 3-2.

    Game 6 is set for Sunday at 6 p.m. local time at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. If a Game 7 is needed, it will be held on Monday at 7 p.m. local time at the Art Hauser Centre.

    Friday’s game was a contest where Giants could have easily been watching the Raiders celebrate at centre ice with the WHL championship trophy - the Ed Chynoweth Cup. The two clubs didn’t put on the greatest display of defence, and there could have been way more goals in the game had it not been for the play of Raiders star netminder Ian Scott and Giants standout goalie David Tendeck.

    When the dust settled, the Giants were able to give a final salute to the 5,033 spectators in attendance among a joyous atmosphere for the home side. The Giants won because they played their most desperate game of the series, where the desperation could have been costly too.

Dylan Plouffe scored the Giants fourth goal on Friday.

    The Giants broke through on the scoreboard first at the 7:42 mark of the first period, when left-winger Brayden Watts fired home the rebound of a shot taken by linemate Jadon Joseph.

    The Raiders evened things up at 1-1 at the 10:44 mark of the first, when import left-winger Aliaksei Protas fired home the rebound from a shot taken by linemate Sean Montgomery.

    In the final seconds of the opening frame, the Giants had a golden chance to go ahead off a set play on an offensive zone faceoff. Vancouver won the draw to star offensive defenceman Bowen Byram, but he fired a shot wide of the goal.

    The two sides proceeded to engage in a wild and wide open second period.

    Just 2:45 into the frame, Tendeck got crossed up trying to give the puck to one of his defenceman causing the puck to be turned over. Raiders star right-winger Brett Leason passed the puck out to standout overage centre Dante Hannoun, and he fired a shot past Tendeck to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage.

    Only 50 seconds later, the Giants evened things up at 2-2, when Byram fired home a shot from the left slot in the Prince Albert zone after taking a nice set up pass from Joseph.

Bowen Byram had a goal and an assist for the Giants.

    Vancouver went ahead 3-2 at the 9:24 mark of the second, when overage forward Davis Koch fired home the rebound of a shot taken by defenceman Seth Bafaro.
    The Giants expanded their edge to 4-2 at the 11:13 mark of the second, when rearguard Dylan Plouffe blew home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.

    With 4:06 remaining in the third, the Raiders cut the Giants lead to 4-3, when star overage centre Noah Gregor received a pass from Ozzy Wiesblatt and lifted a backhander past Tendeck.

    Before the second ended, Gregor had a chance to tie things up on a breakaway, but he rang his shot off the post of the Vancouver goal.

    In the third, play was tilted inside the Vancouver zone as Tendeck stood on his head to preserve a one-goal win for his team. The Raiders had a 15-5 edge in shots on goal in the frame.

    Tendeck had to make a blocker stop off Raiders star left-winger Cole Fonstad. The Giants puck stopper also turned away a dangerous redirection chance from Montgomery.

    There was a nervous pause when Tendeck got the glove on a long off-speed shoot in that bounced off the ice from five feet in front of the Vancouver goal.
    The NHL Entry Draft selection of the Arizona Coyotes stopped 37 shots to keep his team’s season alive.

David Tendeck made 37 saves in goal for the Giants on Friday.

    Scott, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, turned away 26 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders.
    Leason finished the game with two assists and has scored points in his last eight consecutive game netting seven goals and six assists over that time.
    The Raiders had offensive defenceman Max Martin back in the lineup after he missed two games after taking an awkward fall in the boards in the Raiders 4-0 win in Game 2 of the WHL final in Prince Albert.

    Byram and Watts each had a goal and an assist for the Giants, while Joseph finished with two helpers.
    Saskatoon product Dawson Holt had an assist for the Giants in their win.

    The excitement of Friday’s game was something you would come to expect from the WHL’s two top clubs in the regular season.

    The Raiders topped the WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    Vancouver finished second overall in the WHL with a 48-15-3-2 mark and was rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    The winner of the WHL final will earn a berth to the Memorial Cup, and this year’s CHL championship tournament is being held May 17 to 26 in Halifax, N.S.

Dawson Holt had an assist for the Giants on Friday.

    The Giants are trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit to win the WHL final since the Victoria Cougars pulled the trick in 1981 against the Calgary Wranglers.
    While desperation allowed Vancouver to pull out the win, the Giants will be hard pressed to win two games in similar fashion in Prince Albert in order to capture their first WHL title since 2006.

    The Raiders are in all likelihood coming out of Friday’s game thinking they should have won. Their confidence of locking up the series in front of their adoring fans has to be sky high.

    The Giants still face a daunting task of trying to push the series to a Game 7.

    The Raiders are still in perfect position to capture their first WHL title since 1985, and odds are still in their favour that they will prevail.

Storm win away from Memorial Cup after 4-3 win over 67’s

    The Guelph Storm are a victory away from earning a berth in the Memorial Cup after winning their third straight game in the Ontario Hockey League Championship series.

    On Friday, the visiting Stormed posted a 4-3 win over the host Ottawa 67’s in Game 5 of the OHL final played before 8,855 spectators at TD Place.

    With the win, the Storm take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, which they trailed 2-0 at one time. They will try to close the series out in Game 6 in Guelph on Sunday.

    Tye Felhaber gave the 67’s a 1-0 lead in the first period, but Guelph exited the opening frame holding a 2-1 edge on goals from Cedric Ralph and Isaac Ratcliffe.

    Early in the second, Alexey Toropchenko scored for the Storm to give the visitors a 3-1 edge. Sasha Chmelevski replied for the 67’s just under three minute later to cut the Storm lead to 3-2.

    Nate Schnarr tallied for the Storm to give the visitors a 4-2 edge heading into the second intermission.

    Felhaber scored his second of the contest in the third for the 67’s to cut the Storm lead to 4-3, but the host side couldn’t find the equalizer.

    Anthony Popovich turned away 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Storm. Cedrick turned away 25 shots to take the setback in goal for the 67’s.

    The 67’s were without star goaltender Michael DiPietro, who was injured in Ottawa’s 4-3 victory on home ice in Game 2. DiPietro is reported to have a high ankle sprain.

    The Memorial Cup tournament for the CHL title runs from May 17 to 26 in Halifax, N.S.

Huskies hold 3-2 edge in QMJHL final over Mooseheads

    The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies will try to close out the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Championship series on Saturday to capture their second league title in the last four years.

    The Huskies took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series downing the Halifax Mooseheads 6-3 in Game 5 on Thursday before 3,428 spectators at Arena Iamgold in Rouyn-Noranda. Game 6 of the series is set for Saturday in Halifax.

    Game 5 contained some big momentum swings. The Huskies took a 4-0 lead in the first period, but the Mooseheads cut the gap to 4-2 heading into the first intermission.

    Halifax scored early in the third to trim the Huskies lead to 4-3. The Huskies sealed victory scoring two empty-net goals inside of the final minute of the third period.

    Rafael Harvey-Pinard netted a hat trick for the Huskies, which included the two empty-net goals. Peter Abbandonato, Jakub Lauko and William Cyr scored singles for Rouyn-Noranda.

    Arnaud Durandeau, Raphael Lavoie and Samuel Asselin replied with singles for the Mooseheads.

Samuel Harvey turned away 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies, who last won the QMJHL title in 2016. Alexis Gravel turned away 39 of 43 shots to take the setback in goal for the Mooseheads.

    As Halifax is playing host to the Memorial Cup from May 17 to 26, both clubs already have berths locked up in the CHL championship tournament.

    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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Massacre at Langley Events Centre – Raiders rip Giants 8-2

Brett Leason had two goals and two assists for the Raiders on Tuesday.

    Well that one got ugly fast.

    If Game 3 of the WHL Championship series was a boxing match, the referee would have stop things very early.

    The visiting Prince Albert Raiders owned the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C., on Tuesday night. Just 41 seconds into the festivities against the host Vancouver Giants, Raiders power forward Parker Kelly snapped home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Giants goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

    By the 8:20 mark of the opening frame, the Raiders were up 5-0, and they added two more goals to go ahead 7-0 heading into the first intermission to shock the 4,733 spectators in attendance.

    The Raiders ripped apart the Giants 8-2 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven set. Game 4 is set for 7 p.m. local time at the Langley Events Centre on Wednesday.

    After what took play in Game 3 on Tuesday, one wonders how the Giants were even able to get one win so far in this series.

Parker Kelly had two goals for the Raiders on Tuesday.

    The Giants took Game 1 in Prince Albert last Friday 5-4.

    The Raiders bounced back one night later with a convincing 4-0 victory in Game 2 in Prince Albert.

    The Giants, who finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 48-15-3-2 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings, never looked so ordinary.

    The Raiders looked every bit deserving of their WHL regular season leading record of 54-10-2-2 and being rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    You had to wonder if Raiders popular athletic therapist Duane “Puff” Bartley would be allowed to lace up the skates for a shift in Tuesday’s game.

    After Kelly opened the scoring, the Raiders kept the fun coming.
    At the 2:27 mark of the first, rookie right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt one-timed a set up pass from import winger Aliaksei Protas for a power-play goal to put the Raiders up 2-0.

Cole Fonstad had a goal for the Raiders.

    The Giants pulled starting netminder David Tendeck for Trent Miner following the Raiders second goal.

    Star right-winger Brett Leason was sprung on a breakaway by Protas and lifted home a backhander to give the Raiders a 3-0 edge at the 4:15 mark of the first.

    With the Raiders working on a five-on-three power play that became a six-on-three advantage on a delayed penalty, star left-winger Cole Fonstad scored to bring an end to a personal slump of going 12 straight games without scoring a point.

    At the 8:20 mark, Leason netted his second of the game knocking home a power-play goal from the doorstep of the right side of the Vancouver net to put the Raiders up 5-0.

    Kelly, with his second of the night, and star overage centre Noah Gregor rounded out the scoring in the opening frame with breakaway goals to put the Raiders up 7-0. Gregor scored on a backhander with under 20 seconds to play in the frame.

    In the second, the Raiders attempted to call off the dogs a little bit as the Giants held a 13-3 advantage in shots on goal for the stanza. Tendeck re-entered the contest at the start of the second.

Sean Montgomery had two assists for the Raiders on Tuesday.

    With 3:49 remaining in the second, the Raiders lead expanded to 8-0 as standout overage centre Dante Hannoun tipped home a shot from Leason for the team’s fourth power-play goal of the contest.
    Inside of the final minute of the second, Vancouver got on the board, when Giants left-winger Brayden Watts snapped home a power-play goal from in close by the left side of the Prince Albert net. That tally trimmed the Prince Albert lead to 8-1.

    Giant import winger Yannik Valenti rounded out the game’s scoring netting a goal on a five-on-three power play with 5:16 remaining in the third.

    Leason had two assists to go along with his two goals to finish with four points in the contest. Hannoun had an assist to go with his goal for a two-point night, while Gregor had a two-point night too with a goal and an assist.

    Protas and overage career Raiders centre Sean Montgomery each had two assists on Tuesday for Prince Albert.

    Ian Scott made 27 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders.

    Tendeck turned away 10 of 13 shots during his time in goal for the Giants. Miner stopped nine-of-14 shots during his appearance in the Vancouver net. 

Dante Hannoun had a goal and one assists for the Raiders.

    The Raiders manufactured the blowout without the services of offensive defenceman Max Martin, who sat out with an undisclosed injury. Martin was injured in the second period of the Raiders win in Game 2, when he took an awkward fall into the boards.

    For the Giants, the biggest plus was the fact Tuesday’s game did eventually come to an end, and the Raiders can’t transfer any of their goals into Game 4.

    Right now, the Raiders have all the momentum in the series.

    If the Giants don’t come up with an answer or a way to rebound, the Raiders will in all likelihood be flying back to Prince Albert with the Ed Chynoweth Cup following Game 5 of the series on Friday in Langley.

Mooseheads even QMJHL title series 2-2 with Huskies

    The Halifax Mooseheads and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are playing for keeps in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Championship series.

    On Tuesday before 8,216 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, the host Mooseheads downed the Huskies 5-1 in Game 4 of the QMJHL final. With the win, Halifax evened the best-of-seven set 2-2.

    Game 5 is set for Thursday in Rouyn-Noranda.

    In Tuesday’s clash, the two sides were locked in a 1-1 draw after the first period. The Mooseheads pushed out to a 3-1 edge going into the second intermission before rounding the scoring out with two goals in the third.

    Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Samuel Asselin, Jocktan Chainey, Arnaud Durandeau and Maxim Trepanier had singles for the Mooseheads. Peter Abbandonato replied with a single for the Huskies.

    Alexis Gravel made 29 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Mooseheads. Samuel Harvey turned away 32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies.

    With the Mooseheads hosting the Memorial Cup from May 17 to 26, both participants in the QMJHL final have berths in the CHL championship tournament.

67’s lead OHL final 2-1 over Storm

    The Ottawa 67’s hold a 2-1 lead over the Guelph Storm in the Ontario Hockey League Championships series.

    Ottawa had won its first 14 straight games in this year’s OHL playoffs before falling to the Storm on Monday. Playing before 4,898 spectators at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, the host Storm jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first period before romping to a 7-2 victory.

    Isaac Ratcliffe, Alexey Toropchenko and MacKenzie Entwistle each had two-goal nights for the Storm, while Nate Schnarr had a single.

    Sasha Chmelevski and Graeme Clarke had singles for the 67’s.

    Anthony Popovich made 18 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Storm. Cedrick Andree turned away 29 shots to take the setback in goal for the 67’s.

    The 67’s were without star goaltender Michael DiPietro, who was injured in Ottawa’s 4-3 victory on home ice in Game 2. DiPietro is reported to have a high ankle sprain.

    Game 4 of the best-of-seven OHL final is set for Wednesday in Guelph.

    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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