Desperation brings out best effort in Raiders

Prince Albert bashes Blades 8-1 at SaskTel Centre

The Raiders celebrate a second goal from Keaton Sorensen (#20).

It was a great afternoon to cheer, if you were a fan of the Prince Albert Raiders, and an afternoon to sit in stunned silence, if you were a booster of the Saskatoon Blades.

On Sunday, the Raiders showed the desperation they needed for 60 minutes to keep their post-season hopes realistic. They bombed their archrivals in the Blades 8-1 before 4,875 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

The win allowed the Raiders to end a four-game losing streak and improve to 26-33-3 to get closer into the WHL’s playoff chase that is in the stretch run. The Blades, who won seven of the 10 head-to-head contests with the Raiders this season, saw their seven game winning streak come to an end.

Keaton Sorensen (#20) celebrates his first goal on Sunday.

Prince Albert still sits 11^th in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, but moves to within five points of the final playoff berth in the conference. The Brandon Wheat Kings (26-29-8), Swift Current Broncos (28-30-1-3) and Calgary Hitmen (26-27-5-3) all sit tied for eighth and the Eastern Conference’s final playoff berth with 60 standings points.

The Hitmen have seven games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Raiders and Broncos have six contests to play on their regular season slates, and the Wheat Kings have five regular season games left.

Raiders 21-year-old centre Keaton Sorensen led the way for a great all-around effort by his club with a pair of goals and an assist. The Red Deer, Alta., product along with captain Evan Herman and offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior, are playing out the final games of their major junior careers.

Keaton Sorensen has career highs in goals (25) and assists (28).

Sorensen said the urgency of trying to keep the campaign going for as long as possible is felt by the trio.

“It is not just something that comes up now,” said Sorensen, who has career highs in goals (25), assists (28) and points (53) this season. “It has kind of been a thought in the back of our mind all year just thinking that it is our last shot.

“It is now or never. There is no next season for us in this league, so it is definitely a big step here. I guess it has been almost the whole season we’ve kind of felt that way.

“It is good to see all the boys pulling in the right direction.”

The Raiders broke through on the scoreboard at the 10:21 mark of the opening frame Sorensen potted his 24^th goal of the season from the front of the Saskatoon net to give the visitors a 1-0 edge. Sorensen converted a sweet pass from Raiders star 16-year-old right-winger Ryder Ritchie from behind the icing line at the right side of the Saskatoon net.

Brandon Lisowsky had the Blades lone goal on Sunday.

Just 46 seconds later, the Blades pulled even at 1-1 as star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky drove down the left wing and fired home his 33^rd tally of the season.

Prince Albert jumped back ahead 2-1 just under three minutes later, when captain Evan Herman blasted home his 16^th of the season from the front of the Saskatoon net. Herman converted a beauty setup pass from 19-year-old star left-winger Sloan Stanick, who was position by the left boards at the edge of the faceoff circle.

Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt said he could see his club was playing with an elevated effort compared to when the Blades dumped the Raiders 6-2 on Friday in Prince Albert.

Evan Herman had the Raiders second goal on Sunday.

“I liked our response from 48 hours ago,” said Truitt. “You didn’t know what the guys were thinking, but when we talked about it, we could just see that a lot of the guys are determined coming into the game.

“It was good that we got off to a good start in the first period. We never looked back. I thought pace, our determination and our compete we played the right way.”

At the 5:37 mark of the second, the Raiders pushed their advantage out to 3-1, when 18-year-old left-winger Carter Anderson banged home a rebound from point blank range in front of the Saskatoon goal. Anderson’s gritty tally was his 11^th of the season.

Things proceeded to get feisty shortly after Anderson’s tally. Blades import rookie 17-year-old defenceman Tomas Zizka nailed Ritchie with a hard hit into the boards in the Prince Albert zone.

Carter Anderson celebrates scoring for the Raiders on Sunday.

Raiders 16-year-old rookie centre Grady Martin proceeded to quickly skate towards Zizka to start a fight. Martin, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 167 pounds, and Zizka, who stands 6-feet and weighs 172 pounds, traded some good punches before falling to the ground, where the officials proceeded to break up the bout.

Martin received a minor for instigating, a major for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct, and Zizka was assessed a major for fighting.

At the 11:02 mark of the second, the Raiders had control of the puck in the Saskatoon zone and scored on a delayed penalty call extend their lead to 4-1 on a goal from centre Hayden Pakkala. Pakkala deflected home a point shot from Herman to account for his eighth tally of the season.

Blades D Tomas Zizka (#45) fights Raiders C Grady Martin (#28).

The Blades pulled starting netminder Ethan Chadwick after Pakkala’s tally. Chadwick turned away 5-of-9 shots sent his way to take the setback in goal for the Saskatoon side. Austin Elliott turned away 12-of-16 shots playing the rest of the way in relief.

The Raiders weren’t done there. With 0.6 seconds remaining in the second, 17-year-old rookie defenceman Justice Christensen fired home a shot from the high slot to give the visitors a 5-1 lead.

Sorensen enjoyed seeing numerous players on the Raiders roster find success on the ice on Sunday.

“It is awesome,” said Sorensen. “I haven’t had many of those games in my career.

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Justice Christensen (#7).

“It is awesome to see everyone clicking. All the bounces, I guess, are going our way too. Everyone is just working.

“It is very contagious out there when one line is going and then the next line is going. It just goes down the whole lineup starting from our goaltender just right up to the forwards.”

Just 89 second into the third, Sorensen netted his second of the contest and 25^th marker of the season and Stanick tallied 68 seconds later to surge the Raiders out to a 7-1 lead. Sophomore left-winger Harrison Lodewyk popped in the Raiders final goal on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the third to round out the games scoring.

With 1:27 remaining in the third, Anderson and Blades centre Jayden Wiens engaged in a short fight, which was quickly broken up by the officials. Both were given fighting majors.

Ryder Ritchie had a pair of assists for the Raiders.

Ritchie and 17-year-old defenceman Terrell Goldsmith each had a pair of assists for the Raiders.

Tikhon Chaika stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in net for the Raiders and many of his stops were quality ones. Truitt said Chaika’s play keeping the Blades at bay proved to be key in the Raiders pulling away on the scoreboard.

“We said even after the first period that he was kind of dialled in,” said Truitt. “It was a situation where he was quick in the net.

“Our defence were there to clear pucks away, but he obviously the difference in this game. It could have went either way. We had some pucks bouncing in the slot that they couldn’t get to.

Terrell Goldsmith had two assists for the Raiders on Sunday.

“He had a couple of saves that he made that you might not think he could. That is what we needed. We needed a big goaltending performance tonight, and we got it.”

The Blades, who are rated 10^th in the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings, fell to 44-14-4-1 with their loss on Sunday to sit fourth overall in the WHL, and they need to earn four standings points in their last five games to finish second overall in the Eastern Conference. Saskatoon sits five points up on the Red Deer Rebels (41-17-3-3), who have locked up first in the Central Division.

In the first round of the WHL Playoffs, the two division winners are given the first and second seeds. From the second round onwards, the teams are reseeded by standings points, which means the Blades at the moment would have home ice advantage for any potential post-season encounters with Red Deer.

Tikhon Chaika made 32 saves in goal for the Raiders.

Saskatoon has five games remaining on its regular season slate, while Red Deer has four regular season outings left to play.

The Raiders get back at it on Tuesday when they return home to host the WHL leading 52-9-1 Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos (7 p.m., InnovationPlex).

Sorensen said the Raiders have to get ready to have a good focused effort against the Ice.

“It is definitely important just kind of after a game like this to reset,” said Sorensen, who clubs still had to play the Ice three more times this season. “It is a zero-zero hockey game every game we start with.

The Raiders celebrate their win on Sunday.

“We just have to get after them right away and keep to our structure all game and just burying our chances and playing good in the D-zone. I think we’ll have good shots and good games against Winnipeg.”

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Hurricanes’ Laventure finally finds luck in P.A.

Tyson Laventure celebrates scoring for the Hurricanes.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Luck finally went Tyson Laventure’s way in Prince Albert.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes veteran right-winger, who turned 20-years-old in late January, seemed to have a dark cloud hanging over him when it came to putting up points when he played with the Prince Albert Raiders. Taken by the Raiders in the second round and 31^st overall in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft, Laventure began playing with the Raiders on a full-time basis at the start of the 2019-2020 season.

Laventure brought a tonne of effort and energy creating various chances in the offensive zone, but the points followed at a trickle pace.  In 93 career regular season games with the Raiders, Laventure had 15 goals and 13 assists.

Tyson Laventure has career highs in goals (20) and points (42).

He was traded by the Raiders to the Hurricanes on December 31, 2021.

On Friday night, Laventure and his Hurricanes were in Prince Albert taking on the Raiders in a WHL regular season clash at the Art Hauser Centre. In that contest, luck finally went Laventure’s way.

With the teams locked in a scoreless tie, Laventure record his 20^th goal of the season on a positive bounce play to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 9:17 mark of the second period. Laventure had the puck at the right side of the Prince Albert net and made a backhanded pass across the front of the goal trying to find linemate Brayden Edwards backdoor.

Laventure’s pass deflected off the skate of Raiders 17-year-old centre Aiden Oiring into the Prince Albert net to give the visitors the lead. That tally held up as the winning goal as the Hurricanes came away with a 3-0 victory to disappoint most of the 2,445 spectators in attendance.

Tyson Laventure has enjoyed playing for the Hurricanes.

“Obviously, I’m playing my former team, so I really want to get the win,” said Laventure, who Hurricanes won three of their four head-to-head encounters with the Raiders this season. “Obviously, it was great to be able to help out my new team there and contribute with a goal in my old building.”

In 53 games with the Hurricanes this season, Laventure, who is from Lloydminster located on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, has 20 goals and 22 assists for 42 points to go with a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department. His goal, point and plus-minus totals are career highs.

He has also played 93 career regular season games with the Hurricanes putting up 26 goals and 39 assists for 65 points.

Brayden Edwards scored the Hurricanes second goal on Friday.

“I’m a little bit luckier like that one tonight,” said Laventure, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 190 pounds. “I think that I’ve just been playing a little bit of a harder game this year and scoring a lot more right in front of the net and staying a little bit out of the perimeter.

“I’m an older guy now, so I thought it was time to step up and start really helping the team out.”

Laventure had a huge following in attendance on Friday. His family, his Raider billet family, his girlfriend and her family were all part of his entourage. He was pumped to get a highlight with his good-luck goal.

While he enjoyed his time in Prince Albert, Laventure said the change of scenery did help kick start his game. He said he has enjoyed playing for Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt, assistant general manager and assistant coach Matt Anholt and head coach Brent Kisio.

Tyson Zimmer had the Hurricanes third goal on Friday.

Under their guidance, Laventure said he has found his way towards being a more productive player.

“It has been awesome for me,” said Laventure. “Pete (Anholt), Matty (Anholt) and Brent (Kisio) are all great guys.

“They’ve really helped me improve my game. I’m really enjoying it in Lethbridge.”

Laventure and the Hurricanes got out to a good start in Friday’s game recording the first four shots on goal. They kept the Raiders off the shot clock until the 10:44 mark of the opening frame.

The host Raiders hit high gear in the final 9:16 of the first and exited the stanza holding an 11-6 edge in shots on goal. Prince Albert came out on fire in the second forcing Hurricanes 20-year-old netminder Bryan Thomson to make a trio of big saves on Raiders forwards Harrison Lodewyk, Oiring and Carter Anderson.

Bryan Thomson made 31 saves for a shutout win on Friday.

Thomson’s glove was working in prime form with the stops on Lodewyk and Anderson.

The contest’s complexion proceeded to turn on Laventure’s tally at the 9:17 mark of the second. The Raiders were outshooting the Hurricanes 17-10 at that point in the contest.

With 1:22 remaining in the second, the Hurricanes went up 2-0 on a smart play by Edwards. After the Hurricanes lost a draw in the left faceoff circle in the offence zone, Edwards quickly stole the puck from Raiders 20-year-old defenceman Landon Kosior and slid home his eighth of the season to give the visitors a two-goal edge going into the second intermission.

Harrison Lodewyk fires a shot on goal for the Raiders.

“That was huge,” said Laventure. “Obviously, it was completely an individual effort by Eddie (Edwards) there.

“It was a really nothing play that he made into a great scoring chance and scored going into the second intermission. That was obviously a huge goal for us going into the third period and in winning the game.”

Lethbridge sealed victory at the 5:04 mark of the third, when 18-year-old right-winger Tyson Zimmer slid home a shot between the legs of Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand to round out the 3-0 final score.

Terrell Goldsmith (#10) makes a rush up ice for the Raiders.

Hildebrand turned away 27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders. Thomson stopped 31 shots to pick the shutout win for the Hurricanes. The shutout was the third of the season for Thomson.

“We didn’t compete hard enough,” said Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt. “I thought that we were light on pucks.

“I thought that we didn’t hustle to checks. We didn’t get to the front of the net enough. I thought we were pretty light out there tonight.”

The Raiders fell to 25-30-3 with the setback to sit 11^th overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 10 games remaining on their schedule. They sit four points back of the 27-27-1-2 Swift Current Broncos for eighth and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Carter Anderson (#27) tracks a shot he put on goal.

Prince Albert begins its final 10-game stretch run on Saturday traveling to Moose Jaw to take on the 35-22-0-3 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

Truitt said his players didn’t have the extra hustle that was needed on Friday as teams crank up their intensity as the post-season nears. He said his squad has to play a more playoff style game against the Warriors.

“You can’t have excuses this time of year,” said Truitt. “You can’t have a lack of urgency this time of year.

“It is disappointing especially when we know that we only have 10 games left now. It has to be desperation time. There wasn’t enough of it tonight.”

Miguel Marques set up in the offensive zone for the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes improved to 32-21-3-3 with Friday’s win to sit fifth overall in the Eastern Conference. They sit three points back of the Warriors for fourth in the conference and the right to have home ice advantage for a first round best-of-seven playoff series.

Lethbridge will continue to make a push for that home ice spot traveling to Saskatoon on Saturday to face the 40-13-4-1 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

“Obviously, there are not many games left in the season,” said Laventure, whose Hurricanes have nine games remaining on their regular season slate. “We still think we are going to be pushing for the fourth place there and hopefully get home ice in playoffs.

“These are big games for us here. We’re hoping to move forward and have a great playoff run.”

The Hurricanes celebrate their win on Friday.

NOTES – Raiders veteran athletic therapist and equipment manager Duane “Puff” Bartley worked his 1,500^th WHL game with the team on Friday, and he was honoured during a pre-game ceremony. Bartley began his career with the Raiders at the start of the 2001-02 campaign. 

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Raiders spoil milestone night for Pats phenom centre Bedard

Prince Albert skates away with 6-5 firewagon win

The Raiders begin to celebrate their victory on Friday night.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Connor Bedard picked up the milestones, but the Prince Albert Raiders picked up victory.

At first, Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre looked like it was going to be a banner night for the Regina Pats 17-year-old phemon centre. Bedard posted two goals and two assists to help stake his Pats out to a 5-4 lead early in the third period in a WHL regular season clash with the Raiders.

At the 5:19 mark of the third, Raiders 16-year-old rookie right-winger Grady Martin knocked home the rebound from his own shot from the front of the Regina net to even the score at 5-5. The tally was Martin’s first career WHL goal.

Exactly four minutes later, Raiders 17-year-old rookie centre Aiden Oiring popped home his ninth of the season from the front of the Regina net to give the Raiders a 6-5 lead. Oiring converting a beauty drop setup pass from left-winger Sloan Stanick at the right side of visitors’ net.

Connor Bedard had two goals and two assists for the Pats.

The young and gutty Raiders made that 6-5 score hold up as the final to the delight of the sellout crowd of 3,299 spectators that packed into the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. While the Raiders first sellout of the current campaign came due to people wanting to see Bedard, almost the whole crowd was firmly behind the Raiders.

When time expired in the third period, the home side faithful gave their Raiders a rousing ovation as sophomore 18-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand gave a kick and fist pump celebration before being mobbed by his teammates. Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt said the sellout crowd got their money’s worth with Friday’s game.

“It took six to beat them (the Pats),” said Truitt. “I didn’t think at the beginning of the night it was going to take six.

Aiden Oiring scored the winning goal for the Raiders.

“It opened up quite a bit. There were some good quality chances on both sides. It was pretty wide open that way.

“The score was indicative of the play, because there were breakdowns on either side and good quality chances.”

The Raiders victory spoiled a banner night for Bedard, who barring something unforeseen will be the first overall selection in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. That draft will be held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 28 and 29.

With his two tallies, Bedard now had 50 goals on the season. He scored those 50 goals in 40 games played.

The last player to score 50 goals in 50 or few games in a WHL regular season was Jayden Halbgewachs of the Moose Jaw Warriors back in the 2017-18 campaign. Halbgewachs netted 50 goals in his first 47 contests that season. He appeared in all the Warriors 72 regular season games in 2017-18 recording 70 goals, 59 assists and a plus-43 rating in the plus-minus department.

Alexander Suzdalev had a pair of goals for the Pats.

Bedard now has 100 points on the season coming off his 50 goals and 50 assists to go with a plus-32 rating. He leads the WHL in points and goals. The North Vancouver, B.C., product hit the 50-goal and 100-point plateaus in back-to-back seasons.

Besides Bedard’s exploits, Friday’s contest between the Raiders and Pats was as wild as a mid-1980s NHL clash between the Hartford Whalers and the Quebec Nordiques.

The Pats opened the scoring at the 4:37 mark of the opening frame when import right-winger Alexander Suzdalev netted a Michigan style lacrosse goal. Just over four minutes later, left-winger Tanner Howe, who is from Prince Albert, increased the Pats advantage to 2-0 scoring on the power play in close to the left side of the Prince Albert net thanks to a beauty pass from the point by Bedard.

Ryder Ritchie had a goal and an assist for the Raiders.

Rookie 17-year-old left-winger Brayden Dube tallied for the Raiders at the 12:44 mark of the opening frame to cut the Pats lead to 2-1.

With 29.9 seconds remaining in the first, Bedard potted his first goal of the contest to push the Pats lead out to 3-1. Coming down the left wing, Bedard looked like he was going to skate behind the Prince Albert net.

As he was about to go behind the Raiders goal, Bedard stopped, took a stride backwards and deflected home a tally off Hildebrand into the Prince Albert goal.

The Raiders came storming out of the gate in the second surging for three straight goals by the 7:59 mark of the frame to take a 4-3 lead. Left-winger Carter Anderson scored an even strength tally to start the surge. After Anderson’s goal, 16-year-old rookie standout right-winger Ryder Ritchie and overage centre Keaton Sorensen each tallied on the power play to give the Raiders their one-goal edge.

Tanner Howe (#43) had a goal for the Pats on Friday.

Truitt said the host side came out skating a lot better coming out of the second intermission than they did in the opening 20 minutes of the contest.

“I thought we were on pucks,” said Truitt. “I thought that we gained control of pucks in the offensive zone.

“I thought that we cut some seams and made them guess a little bit. We took the ice that was given to us, and we made some really good plays.”

With 2:59 remaining in the second, Bedard scored on the power play for his second goal of the contest driving a mid-range shot through a screen for his 50^th goal of the season. Bedard’s second tally forced a 4-4 tie heading into the second intermission.

Brayden Dube scored the Raiders first goal on Friday.

Just 90 seconds into the third, Suzdalev scored on a five-on-three power play to account for his second goal of the contest and 30^th tally of the campaign to give the Pats a 5-4 edge. Bedard picked up an assist on that tally to account for his fourth point on the night and 100^th point of the season.

That set the stage for Martin and Oiring to come through with their singles to deliver victory to the Raiders. Martin was pumped to net his first career WHL goal.

“I was just so full of joy,” said Martin. “It feels good to get that monkey off the back.

Connor Bedard (#98) reacts to scoring his 50th goal of the season.

“I’ll just keep going from here.”

After Martin scored the equalizer that forced a 5-5 tie, Hildebrand stopped Bedard on a breakaway with 11:48 remaining in the third. That allowed the host side to take the lead on Oiring’s goal.

Hildebrand stopped 32 shots in goal for the Raiders. Drew Sim turned away 25 shots in goal for the Pats.

Ritchie and Oiring each had assists to go along with their goals to post respective two-point nights. Raiders 20-year-old defenceman Landon Kosior collected a pair of helpers in the win. Import defenceman Stanislav Svozil had a pair of assists for the Pats.

Terrell Goldsmith returns after missing eight games due to injury.

The Raiders returned 17-year-old physical defensive-defenceman Terrell Goldsmith to their lineup on Friday after he missed eight games with an upper body injury. Goldsmith, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 219 pounds, is rated 202^nd among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings, and he played a sizable amount of minutes in the host side’s winning effort.

“Obviously, it was awesome to be back,” said Goldsmith. “I had to shake the rust off a bit in the first period.

“After that, I kind of just tired to play my game, and it felt good to be back.”

Raiders LW Sloan Stanick, left, rubs out Pats D Stanislav Svozil.

With the setback, the Pats fell to 25-23-2-1. They sit tied for sixth to eighth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 53 standings points along with the Swift Current Broncos (25-23-1-2) and the Calgary Hitmen (23-23-5-2).

The Raiders improved to 21-28-3 with the second straight win to sit eight points back of the Pats, Broncos and Hitmen. The top eight teams in the Eastern Conference qualify for the WHL Playoffs.

The Pats return to action on Saturday when they return home to face the WHL leading 42-7-1 Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., Brandt Centre).

The Raiders want to keep holding frequent goal celebrations.

The Raiders also get back at it on Saturday as they host the 33-18-0-3 Moose Jaw Warriors (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre). Martin believes his Raiders will keep their positive momentum going against the Warriors.

“We’re very confident with our game,” said Martin. “Today, we really showed what we can do and where we are at.

“We’ll get Moose Jaw tomorrow.”

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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Sidorov delivers OT victory to beat up Blades

Egor Sidorov scored the OT winner for the Blades on Saturday.

Egor Sidorov played the role of savour for a Saskatoon Blades side that seems to be getting more physically beat up by the game.

On Saturday, the Blades found themselves in overtime locked in a 2-2 draw taking on the host Calgary Hitmen at the Tsuut’ina Seven Chiefs Sportsplex in a WHL regular season contest. During the three-versus-three session, Sidorov collected the puck in his own zone, blew coast-to-coast down the left wing and roofed home a shot top corner to the short side of Hitmen netminder Ethan Buenaventura.

Sidorov’s tally delivered the visitors to a 3-2 victory before 1,232 spectators. That marker came at the 2:30 mark of the extra session.

The goal completed a two-point night for Sidorov, who picked up an assist on the Blades first goal of the contest. The 18-year-old Belarusian import right-winger, who is living in Canada full time, is continuing a strong sophomore season having posted 27 goals, 21 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department in 33 games.

Last year as a 17-year-old rookie, Sidorov appeared in 58 regular season games for the Blades collecting 23 goals, 12 assists and a minus-two rating.

This season, Sidorov tops the Blades with six game-winning goals and two overtime tallies. The Saskatoon side needed the skilled winger to deliver in the clutch on Saturday.

The Blades entered play on Friday without centre Jayden Wiens and overage star right-winger Josh Pillar with lower body injuries. Both are listed as being out week to week. Saskatoon also entered play on Friday without the services of centre Tyler Parr, who is out indefinitely with an upper body injury.

During a 5-1 loss to the Rebels in Red Deer on Friday, the Blades lost centre Mikhail Volotovski and left-winger Justin Lies due to upper body injuries. Lies taken off the ice on a stretcher at the 5:29 mark of the second period after being on the receiving end of a hit from Rebels left-winger Carson Birnie. Birnie received an interference major and a game misconduct on the play.

The penalty triggered an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension, but no suspension was issued to Birnie. During that same contest, Rebels 19-year-old centre Craig Armstrong was given a double minor for slew-footing near the end of the second period, and the WHL office gave him a one-game suspension in the automatic review for that infraction.

Austin Elliott stopped 24 shots in net for the Blades.

Against the Hitmen on Saturday, Blades overage captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere and star left-winger Conner Roulette both were unable to finish that contest due to undisclosed injuries.

The Hitmen got on the board first against the short-staffed Blades with 17-year-old defenceman Carter Yakemchuk scoring with 2:34 remaining in the opening frame.

Just 14 seconds into the second period, the Blades pulled even at 1-1 on a goal by star right-winger Brandon Lisowsky, who collected his 24^th tally of the season. Lisowsky deflected home a point shot taken by star 17-year-old defenceman Tanner Molendyk to pull the Blades even on the scoreboard.

With 5:13 remaining in the third, Blades standout right-winger Jake Chiasson jetted across the front of the Calgary net and put home a backhand shot to give the Blades a 2-1 advantage. The tally was Chiasson’s first goal as a member of the Blades after being acquired in a trade with the Brandon Wheat Kings made before the WHL’s trade deadline on January 10.

The Blades looked like they were going to make Chiasson’s tally stand up as the winner. With 68 seconds remaining in the third, Yakemchuk netted his second goal of the contest to pull the Hitmen even with the visitors at 2-2. Yakemchuk’s equalizer came with the Hitmen having pulled Buenaventura to play with five skaters versus the Blades four skaters due to some staggered minor penalties that were called.

That set the stage for Sidorov to net the winner in overtime.

Austin Elliott made 24 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (29-11-3-1). Buenaventura turned away 42 shots to take the extra time setback in net for the Hitmen (23-17-4-1).

Saskatoon is 5-6-3-1 since returning to action after the WHL’s Christmas break.

The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Brandon to face the 19-21-5 Wheat Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

The Hitmen return to action on Sunday when they host the WHL leading 34-6-1 Winnipeg Ice (4 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).

Herman, Pakkala push Raiders past Cougars

Evan Herman scored twice for the Raiders on Saturday.

Captain Evan Herman and birthday boy Hayden Pakkala ensured that Saturday night was alright for the Prince Albert Raiders on the road in Prince George.

Herman scored twice and Pakkala had a goal and an assist to push the Raiders past the host Cougars 4-1 in a WHL regular season game played Saturday before 5,101 spectators at the CN Centre. The win marked the beginning of a stretch of six straight road games for the Raiders that will see them take on all five clubs that make up the B.C. Division.

Just 61 seconds into the contest, the Cougars jumped ahead 1-0 as 18-year-old rookie Czech import right-winger Ondrej Becher put a backhander past Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand.

The Raiders evened the score at 1-1 working on the power play with 1:36 remaining in the first period when Pakkala, who turned 19-years-old on Saturday, put home a backhand shot through at crowd into the Prince George net.

Prince Albert jumped ahead 2-1 with 4:44 remaining in the second period thanks to a goal coming from 18-year-old left-winger Carter Anderson. After getting the puck from Pakkala, Anderson jetted down the left wing and wired home his eighth goal of the season to the top right corner of the Prince George goal.

With 2:29 remaining in the second Herman, who is an overager, netted his first to two goals on the night to increase the Raiders advantage to 3-1. Herman added his second of the contest on the power play at the 3:43 mark of the third to ultimately round out the 4-1 final in favour of the Raiders.

Max Hildebrand stopped 28 shots in goal for the Raiders.

Hildebrand stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (17-25-3). Ty Young turned away 26 shots to take the setback in net for the Cougars (19-21-4). 

The two sides, who only play once a season, also engaged in three different fights. In the first period, Raiders centre Cole Peardon took on Cougars centre Carlin Dezainde.

The second frame saw Raiders defenceman Easton Kovacs take on Cougars rearguard Ross Stanley, and the third period featured bout between Raiders defenceman Seth Tansem taking on Cougars left-winger Fischer O’Brien.

The Raiders now travel to Victoria to take on the 14-28-4-1 Royals (7 p.m. local time, Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena).

The Cougars are off until Friday when they host the Royals (7 p.m. local time, CN Centre).

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