Raiders power play comes alive at timely time

Prince Albert surges to 5-2 win over Wild

A young player’s mistake was all that was needed to ignite the power play of the Prince Albert Raiders.

On Saturday night, the Raiders found themselves trailing the visiting Wenatchee Wild 2-1 in the third period of a tightly contested WHL regular season game to that point at the Art Hauser Centre. At the 5:36 mark of the third, Wild defenceman Boston Tait, who is a 15-year-old associate player call up, cleared the puck over the glass from his own zone to draw a delay of game penalty.

On the ensuing power play, the Raiders got buzzing hard in the Wenatchee zone. A short time after Raiders star offensive-defenceman Lukas Dragicevic hit the goalpost, the puck during a scramble got to the stick of Raiders 19-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube.

Dube potted a power-play goal for his 23^rd tally on the season to force a 2-2 tie. That goal started the Raiders on a four-goal surge to allow them to post a 5-2 victory to an appreciative crowd of 2,526 spectators.

The win was a third straight for the Raiders, and during their past nine outings, the Raiders have posted eight wins and one shootout loss. Thanks to this hot stretch, the Raiders sit first in the East Division with a 27-15-3-1 mark.

The Raiders sit four standings points ahead of both the Brandon Wheat Kings and Saskatoon Blades, who have identical 24-16-3-3 records. The Wheat Kings hold the standings tiebreaker against the Blades collecting two wins and an overtime setback in the four head-to-head meetings between those two sides. Brandon collected a 5-2 victory over the Pats in Regina on Saturday.

In Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Wild in Prince Albert, the visitors got out to a good start taking a 2-0 lead in the first period. Wild 18-year-old right-winger Luka Shcherbyna scored at the 3:16 mark, and 19-year-old right-winger Shaun Rios tallied with 2:02 remaining in the frame.

Tait picked up his first career WHL point in his second career WHL regular season game with an assist on Rios’s goal. The young rearguard was selected in the first round and 12^th overall by the Wild in last year’s WHL Prospects Draft and has been playing solid minutes with the Regina Pat Canadians under-18 AAA squad. In 35 games with the Pats Canadians this season, Tait has two goals and 18 assists.

He actually had a really good outing on Saturday posting a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department to go with his helper outside of his third period gaff that resulted in a delay of game penalty that the Raiders scored on.

Just 16 seconds after Rios scored to put the Wild ahead 2-0, Raiders captain Justice Christensen one-timed home a shot from the point for his 16^th goal of the season that cut the visitor’s lead to 2-1. Raiders rising 16-year-old star defenceman Daxon Rudolph fed Christensen a nice pass that he could drive to the back of the goal.

The Wild proceeded to carry play in the second outshooting the Raiders 15-7 in the frame, but Raiders star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand held the visitors at bay.

Just past the 10-minute mark of the second, a fight broke out between Wenatchee left-winger Deagan McMillan, who turned 20-years-old last month, and Raiders right-winger Oli Chenier, who recently turned 18-years-old. Chenier likely surprised a few people with how well he could throw punches and got the better of McMillan in the bout.

That set the stage for a strong Raiders finish in the third period that started with Tait taking a delay of game penalty that resulted in Dube’s power-play goal. With 7:53 remaining in the third, Raiders star 18-year-old left-winger Tomas Mrsic blew home his 29^th goal of the season from the front of the Wenatchee net to give the Raiders a 3-2 lead.

Shortly after Mrsic’s tally, the Raiders found themselves on the power play once again. With 5:56 remaining in the third, Raiders standout 20-year-old right-winger Niall Crocker scored with the man advantage with one his textbook goals banging home the rebound of one of his own shots from the front of the Wenatchee net. That tally pushed the Raiders advantage out to 4-2.

With 5:23 remaining in the third, the Wild pulled 19-year-old netminder Brendan Gee for an extra attacker. That opened the door for Raiders star 19-year-old centre Aiden Oiring to score into an empty net to give the Raiders a 5-2 lead.

After Gee returned to Wenatchee crease after Oiring scored, Wild 18-year-old left-winger Zane Saab thought he scored with 2:35 remaining in the third to trim the Raiders edge to 5-3. The officials went to a video review and disallowed Saab’s goal ruling it was knocked in with a high stick.

The 5-2 final outcome in the Raiders favour held up the rest of the way. Crocker and Oiring each finished the contest recording one goal and two helpers for the Raiders.

The Raiders went 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Wild failed to score on four opportunities with the man advantage.

Hildebrand stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Gee turned away 26-of-30 shots to take the setback in net for the Wild, who fell to 17-26-3-1.

The Wild sit one standings point back of the Kamloops Blazers (18-26-3) and the Seattle Thunderbirds (18-27-2-1) from forcing a three-way tie for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Western Conference.

Wenatchee returns to action on Tuesday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the 11-31-4-2 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

The Raiders get back at it on Wednesday when they hit the road to face the Hitmen in Calgary (7 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).

Thunderbirds end Tigers winning streak at 12, other notes

The Medicine Hat Tigers didn’t go down easy, when it came to protecting their winning streak.

The scrappy Seattle Thunderbirds went the distance to earn a much needed win as they continue to fight for a post-season berth.

On Saturday at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., the Tigers and Thunderbirds went through regulation and overtime locked in a 3-3 tie in a WHL regular season clash. They then ventured through a marathon tiebreaking shootout that lasted 11 rounds.

Ultimately, the Thunderbirds claimed the tiebreaking shootout 4-3 to also post a 4-3 victory in the overall contest.

The result brought an end to the Tigers 12 game winning streak. The extra time setback also closed the Tigers six-game road trip through the U.S. Division, where they won the first five games of that jaunt.

With the win, the Thunderbirds improved to 18-27-2-1 to equal the Kamloops Blazers (18-26-3) at 39 standings points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Blazers have one game in hand on the Thunderbirds.

If there is a tie between two teams for the final conference playoff berth in the WHL, the two squads that are in the deadlock would play a tiebreaking game.

Saturday’s clash between the Tigers and Thunderbirds got off to a spirited start with Tigers 18-year-old defenceman Bryce Pickford and Thunderbirds 17-year-old defenceman Jaxson Pawlenchuk engaging in a fight at the 2:52 mark of the opening frame.

The two squads then played through a scoreless opening 20 minutes with the Tigers holding a 14-10 edge in shots on goal.

In the second, Coster Dunn and Matej Pekar netting singles to give the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead. With 2:54 remaining in the second, Tigers star 19-year-old left-winger Hunter St. Martin scored his 31^st goal of the season to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 2-1.

St. Martin proceeded to add his 32^nd goal of the campaign and second tally of the night at the 9:48 mark of the third to even the score at 2-2.

With 7:07 remaining in the third, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna potted his 27^th goal of the season to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

That advantage didn’t hold. With 5:37 remaining in the third, Thunderbirds overage centre Hayden Pakkala netted the equalizer during a net scramble to force a 3-3 tie.

During the tiebreaking shootout, Oasiz Wiesblatt, Liam Ruck and Marcus Pacheco scored for the Tigers. Braeden Cootes, Nathan Pilling, Colton Gerrior and Radim Mrtka scored for the Thunderbirds, with Mrtka’s tally holding up as the shootout winner.

Jordan Switzer started in goal for the Tigers and played the first two periods turning away 22-of-24 shots he faced. He was pulled for a suspected leg injury.

Harrison Meneghin played the rest of the way for the Tigers taking the extra time setback. He turned away 14-of-15 shots in the third period and overtime and 7-of-11 shooters in the shootout.

Scott Ratzlaff stopped 31 shots over 65 minutes and turned away 8-of-11 shooters in the shootout.

Medicine Hat was without star defenceman Tanner Molendyk due to an undisclosed ailment.

The Tigers are off until Friday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m., Co-op Place).

The Thunderbirds also get back at it on Friday when they host the Spokane Chiefs (7 p.m. local time, Accesso ShoWare Center).

• On Saturday, Andrew Cristall recorded one goal, five assists and a plus-five rating in the plus-minus department as his Spokane Chiefs hammered the WHL leading Silvertips in Everett 10-3. The Silvertips have gone 1-2 over their last three games being outscored 20-13 over that stretch. They dropped a 7-3 decision to the Tigers on Wednesday.
• On Saturday, Cameron Schmidt recorded one goal, three assists and a plus-two rating as his Vancouver Giants thumped the visiting Kamloops Blazers 9-2. The Giants went 3-for-4 on the power play in the contest.
• On Saturday, Marek Rocak record one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating as his Swift Current Broncos doubled up the Rockets in Kelowna 6-3. Jackson Gillespie recorded two goals, one assist and a plus-three rating for the Rockets in the loss.
• On Saturday, netminder Ethan Simcoe made 35 saves to pick up a shutout victory as his Edmonton Oil Kings blanked the Hurricanes in Lethbridge 2-0. Marshall Finnie had a goal and an assist for the Oil Kings.
• On Saturday, the Red Deer Rebels blanked the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-0; the Victoria Royals slipped past the Portland Winterhawks 2-1; the Prince George Cougars downed the Tri-City Americans 5-2; and the Brandon Wheat Kings dumped the Regina Pats 5-2.

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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Blades get much needed win, down visiting Wild 4-2

The Blades celebrate a goal from Rowan Calvert (#23).

The Saskatoon Blades got something that had escaped their grasp for a frustrating stretch – a solid win.

On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades scored first and led the visiting Wenatchee Wild 2-1 after 20 minutes. The hosts proceeded to push their edge out to 4-1 at the second intermission, and they then closed out a 4-2 victory to the delight of the 3,905 spectators in attendance.

That marked the Blades first regulation time win since downing the Warriors in Moose Jaw 4-2 back on January 4. In the eight games between that victory over the Warriors and Friday’s triumph over the Wild, the Blades posted two overtime wins, an overtime loss, a setback after a tiebreaking shootout and four regulations defeats.

In the six games they lost, the Blades had moments in each of those contests where carried momentum for enough of a stretch that they could have realized victory. Friday’s win was a much needed outing where the Blades posted a textbook victory.

Hunter Laing scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

While they dealt away a number of key veterans for younger players and draft capital leading to the WHL trade deadline on January 9, the Blades still on paper have a solid squad. They needed a solid win to get a little confidence going as the clubs’ relatively new lineup works to find chemistry.

The Wild came out of the gates getting the first three shots on goal in the contest, but the Blades would break onto the scoreboard first. 

At the 4:52 mark of first, Blades 18-year-old right-winger Hunter Laing blew home a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle to give the host side a 1-0 edge. Laing’s goal came on his club’s second shot on goal of the contest.

Cooper Williams reacts to scoring the Blades second goal.

Wenatchee pulled even at 1-1 at the 7:34 mark of the opening frame when 20-year-old centre Tye Spencer deflected a puck past Blades netminder Ethan McCallum from the front of the Saskatoon net. Spencer converted a smart setup pass from linemate Luka Shcherbyna.

The Blades proceeded to answer back.

With 2:01 remaining in the first, Blades 16-year-old rookie centre Cooper Williams stole the puck from Wild 19-year-old right-winger Shaun Rios from just inside the Wenatchee blue-line. Williams drove in alone to the left side of Wenatchee net, cut across the front of the goal and put a backhand shot between the legs of Wild netminder Brendan Gee to give the Blades a 2-1 lead.

Tye Spencer scored the first goal for the Wild.

Saskatoon exited the first period with that 2-1 edge holding a 14-9 edge in shots on goal.

In the second, a couple of the Blades steady veterans found the back of the net. At the 13:21 mark of the frame, Blades right-winger Tyler Parr, who turned 20-years-old on Thursday, converted a backdoor feed at the right side of the Wenatchee net to push the host side’s edge out to 3-1. Sophomore 17-year-old centre Hudson Kibblewhite made a beauty pass from the left side of the Wenatchee net across the face of the goal to set up Parr for his marker.

Just under five minutes later, Blade 19-year-old left-winger Rowan Calvert collected a rebound from one of his own shots in front of the Wenatchee net and put home a backhand shot to give the Blades a 4-1 advantage.

Tyler Parr had one goal and one assist for the Blades.

Slovakian 19-year-old centre Frantisek Dej, who was playing his sixth game for the Blades, picked up an assist on Calvert’s goal for his first point in the WHL. Dej spent last season with the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL.

With less than 30 seconds to play in the second, Dej was cross checked from behind in the lower back by Wild 20-year-old captain Evan Friesen away from the puck and behind the play. The officials stopped play with 15.7 seconds remaining in the frame for the Blades trainers to attend to Dej.

Dej was helped off the ice and returned to finish the game in the third period. No penalty was assessed to Friesen, and nothing else came from that moment in a contest that was fairly tame when it came to the rough stuff.

Ethan McCallum made 25 saves in goal for the Blades.

Saskatoon held that three-goal lead going into the second intermission as well as 23-18 edge in shots on goal.

The Wild, who are in a big battle for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference, came with a push back in the third period. At the 3:28 mark of the frame, Wild 19-year-old right-winger Dawson Seitz blew past the Blades defenders to get a breakaway and tucked home a power-play goal to trim Saskatoon’s lead to 4-2.

That was as close as the Wild got as the Blades shut things down defensively the rest of the way.

McCallum stopped 25 shots in goal for the Blades. Gee turned away 23 shots to take the setback in net for the Wild.

Williams and Parr each finished with one goal and one assist on the night for the Blades.

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

The Wild fell to 17-25-3-1 with the loss to sit one point behind the Kamloops Blazers (18-25-3) for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Wenatchee side returns to action on Saturday, when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the 26-25-3-1 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades improved to 24-16-3-3 to sit two points back of the Raiders for first place in the East Division. “The Bridge City Bunch” gets back at it on Sunday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Going forward, Saskatoon still has the potential to be a team that turns head before the current WHL campaign comes to a close. Friday’s win provides a good step to start moving in that direction.

Lazaruk honoured with bobblehead doll

A Les Lazaruk bobblehead doll.

“Hi ho, let’s go!”

The Saskatoon Blades home game on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre was bobblehead night for Les Lazaruk, who is the team’s iconic play-by-play voice. Lazaruk, who will turn 66-years-old in late February, became the Blades play-by-play voice at the start of the 1994-95 campaign.

Friday’s 4-2 victory over the visiting Wenatchee Wild was the 2,250^th game Lazaruk has called as the Blades play-by-play voice. He was also the play-by-play voice for a time of the CJFL’s storied Saskatoon Hilltops.

During his 31 years as play-by-play voice of the Blades, Lazaruk is best known for developing a list of catch phrase calls including “winner, winner, chicken dinner” for overtime winners scored by the Saskatoon side.

Les Lazaruk, centre, performs the ceremonial faceoff on Friday.

Before Friday’s clash with the Wild, the Blades gave out 1,000 Lazaruk bobblehead dolls to those in attendance. He dropped the puck for the pre-game ceremonial faceoff and sung national anthems of both the United States and Canada before the start of the contest.

The Blades played catch phase goal calls from Lazaruk before giving the official announcements for the club’s goals. A song also played during the first intermission that was written about Lazaruk.

Before coming to Saskatoon, Lazaruk, who is from Winnipeg, spent 15 years working in the media in Manitoba. That included working just over 10-and-a-half years hosting the hour-long pre-game and post-game shows for NHL games of the original Winnipeg Jets that aired on CJOB radio.

Lazaruk was part of the play-by-play team for the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team during their inaugural season in the Northern League in the spring and summer of 1994 before coming to Saskatoon to be the play-by-play voice of the Blades. Last summer, Lazaruk served as the play-by-play voice of the Saskatoon Berries baseball team for their inaugural WCBL campaign.

Parents Weekend for Blades

Blades players meet their parents and billet parents pre-game.

This weekend is also Parents Weekend for the Saskatoon Blades.

Before their 4-2 home ice victory over the Wenatchee Wild on Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades honoured the parents and billet parents of the Blades players. During pre-game festivities, the parents and billet parents of the Blades players came out on to the ice.

The players met up with their respective parents and billet parents and stood by them for a video presentation and the singing of the national anthems of the United States and Canada. The video presentation showed the Blades players saying good things about their parents and billet parents.

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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