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| Raiders captain Brayden Pachal (#8) battles Blades centre Kirby Dach. |
If there were any questions about encounters between the
Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades having a renewed intensity, the two
teams cleared up those doubts on Sunday at the SaskTel Centre. In the third
clash of the WHL regular season between the two clubs, the Raiders entered the
contest as clear favourites having gone 28-1-0-1 over their first 30 games and
being voted the top rated club in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings.
The Raiders had dumped the Blades in their first two encounters
of the campaign including a 4-1 result in Prince Albert on Sept. 30 and 6-2 final
in Saskatoon on Oct. 14.
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| Blades RW Riley McKay (#39) battles Raiders LW Parker Kelly (#27). |
With the win, the Blades improved to 19-10-3 to sit fourth
overall in the WHL with 41 points in the standings. The Red Deer Rebels sit a
point back of the Blades holding two games in hand with a 19-9-2 record.
The Raiders fell to 28-2-0-1 with the setback to Saskatoon
but still remain first overall in the WHL. Prince Albert was 21-0-0-1 in its
previous 22 contests before falling to the Blades.
Last season, the Blades won six of their eight head-to-head
encounters with the Raiders, where one of the two losses came in extra time.
 |
| Blades RW Max Gerlach battles a Raiders player. |
“I think so,” said
Maier. “With their confidence and their kind of record going into this year,
they don’t really feel like we are competition to them.
“I think we proved
them wrong tonight.”
Maier admitted the
Blades did get a little tired of hearing how good the Raiders are and have been
this season. He said his side had a pretty good record too so far this season
and believes Sunday’s victory by the Blades will turn heads around the league.
“This is huge,” said
Maier. “We were talking about it before in the room saying that this was a statement game to be heard around the whole league.
“I think we really
put it to work. I think it shows.
“I think we just
kind of played with that extra grit like we need to just being a rival. I think
it just paid off for us.”
The two squads played
through an even first period, which saw the Blades kill off four straight Raiders
power plays.
At the 5:14 mark of
the second period, the Blades netted the game’s only goal. Tristen Robins, who
is a 17-year-old rookie centre, got the puck from 19-year-old defenceman Nolan
Kneen, broke down the left wing and roofed a shot to the top right corner of
the Prince Albert goal past Raiders netminder Ian Scott.
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| Raiders captain Brayden Pachal (#8) hits Blades LW Eric Florchuk. |
While the Blades
were helping clear the ice surface, Maier moved off to have a moment by
himself.
“I think I just
tried to keep focused,” said Maier. “I don’t know if you guys were watching.
“I kind of stayed on
the bench the whole time drinking my water and just not getting caught up in the
moment. I think it kind of worked out in the end.”
Robins played a
gritty game and made a couple of key plays in the defensive zone including
calmly skating the puck out of harm’s way during a third period net scramble
around Maier.
Blades 17-year-old
centre Kirby Dach arguably had one of his best games despite not recording a
point.
 |
| The Blades celebrate the lone goal in Sunday’s clash with the Raiders. |
Dach confronted
Raiders captain Brayden Pachal in the third period after Pachal wiped out Dach’s
linemate Eric Florchuk. Pachal was given a boarding penalty on the play.
The Blades received
a huge shutdown game from their top defensive pairing of Brandon Schuldhaus and
Kneen. Schuldhaus, who is an overager, was acquired in a trade early in the
campaign with the Moose Jaw Warriors, while Kneen was a more recent acquisition
in trade with the Kamloops Blazers.
Saskatoon ended the
scoring run of Raiders star right-winger Brett Leason, who had points in all of
the Raiders first 30 games. Leason leads the WHL in scoring with 28 goals and
36 assists for 64 points.
 |
| Tristen Robins scored the Blades goal on Sunday. |
Maier proceeded to
slam the door to prevent a Raiders comeback.
After the Raiders
pulled Scott for an extra attacker, Maier made a huge glove save on Raiders overage
centre Noah Gregor and somehow saw and stoned Leason on a screen shot from the
point.
Prince Albert had
one last offensive zone faceoff with 8.1 seconds to play in the frame, and
Maier stopped one final Raider shot off a faceoff play to secure a Blades
victory.
Maier said he was in
a good spot mentally in the third period noting he has had the odd rocky patch
so far this season.
“I think I felt
really good,” said Maier. “I was kind of back to my old self there a little bit.
“I think our team
really played well. If we keep the number one team in the CHL under 20 shots in
the (first) 40 minutes, I think is a kind of congratulations to us. I got a
shutout, so it kind of glorifies everything.
“I thought our
forwards played real well, and our D-men, they were awesome in not letting them
get too much. I can’t thank them enough for that.”
 |
| Blades D Brandon Schuldhaus helps pick stuffed toys off the ice. |
The Blades return to
action on Tuesday when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings at 7 p.m. at the
SaskTel Centre.
The Raiders return to Prince Albert, and they will host the
Oil Kings on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. Prince Albert will
be without Leason and Scott for that contest and the foreseeable future as they
depart to Victoria, B.C., for the
selection camp for Canada’s world junior team that starts Tuesday and runs through
to Friday.
Going forward, Maier
said the Blades have an extra jump in their step now that they have beaten the
Raiders.
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| The Blades celebrate their victory on Sunday night. |
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