P.A. aims to keep building great
memories in second half
 |
| Sean Montgomery, left, and the Raiders enjoyed a spectacular first half. |
They did not expect to be leading the entire WHL with a
31-2-0-1 regular season record along with being rated first in the CHL Top 10
rankings for most of the first half of the 2018-19 campaign.
At the moment, the Raiders are the only team in the entire
CHL to have won 30 or more games to this point in the season. The Everett
Silvertips, who are second overall in the WHL at 27-7-1-1, are the next closest
team in the CHL to hitting the 30-win
plateau.
 |
| Raiders scoring leader Brett Leason is on Canada’s world junior team. |
“Over the break, you
can have a little time to actually think about it and how great of a start it
is for us and how great of a first half it is,” said Gregor. “These guys have
been playing unbelievable, and we have a lot of guys that you know are having
really good seasons and are getting a lot of spotlight on them and that is
awesome.
“I think we are
going to continue that into the second half.”
The players that
have enjoyed the biggest spotlights so far have been 19-year-old right-winger
Brett Leason and 19-year-old goaltender Ian Scott, who are both playing for
Canada at the world junior championship tournament that started today in
Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.
 |
| Netminder Ian Scott is playing for Canada at world juniors. |
Even with having
missed time due to being at the training camp for Canada’s world junior team,
Leason is still second in WHL league scoring holding an edge over Edmonton Oil
Kings star Trey Fix-Wolansky, who has 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points,
due to having more goals.
All of Leason’s
offensive numbers are career highs, and he is a plus-44 in the plus-minus
department.
Scott is enjoying a
spectacular season with the Raiders posting a 23-2-1 record, a 1.61 goals
against average, a .943 save percentage and four shutouts. He leads the WHL in
save percentage and shutouts and has the lowest goals against average on the
circuit.
As a team, the
Raiders have scored the most goals in the WHL (165) and have allowed the fewest
(70). On the power play, the Raiders have scored on 32-of-135 chances for a
23.7 per cent success rate to sit ninth in the league.
They have the top
penalty killing unit in the WHL allowing 17 goals on 162 power-play chances for
an 89.5 per cent kill rate.
 |
| Overage C Sean Montgomery is third in Raiders team scoring. |
“We probably weren’t
expecting it to be this good at the start of the year,” said career Raider and
overage centre Sean Montgomery, who is third in team scoring with 16 goals and
19 assists. “We knew we were a good team.
“It has been great.
We are having tonne of fun, and we just want to keep it going after the break
here.”
While the Raiders
won’t have Leason or Scott to start the second half of the season, they will
get back rookie 17-year-old import centre Aliaksei Protas and 19-year-old import
defenceman Sergei Sapego, who were both representing Belarus at the world
junior division 1, group A tournament that wrapped up Dec. 15 in Fussen, Germany.
 |
| Overage RW Noah Gregor is second in Raiders team scoring. |
“We’re a team,” said
Habscheid. “I think that is our biggest strength is we are a team, and
different guys step up on different nights.
“We don’t want to be
a one-dimensional team. We want to be able to play physical or fast or however
they want to play it. We also want other guys throughout the lineup to help.
“Whether it one guy
one night or another guy another night, it makes it difficult to defend. Every
player on our team is important.”
Fans in Prince
Albert and area have also jumped on board to enjoy the run. Over 16 home dates
so far this season, the Raiders are averaging 2,514 spectators at the 2,580
seats Art Hauser Centre.
 |
| Mascot Riley the Raider has fun with a young fan at the Art Hauser Centre. |
“It has been
incredible this year,” said Montgomery. “The fans have been great.
“That obviously
gives us a big energy boost. It has been lots of fun at home this year.”
Habscheid said it
has been big for the Raiders players to play in front of big groups. The long
time veteran bench boss said the team gets a boost every time from that sight and
especially when the club returns after a long road trips, which have been
successful this season. The Raiders are 15-2-0-1 on the road.
 |
| Sergei Sapego is part of a solid Raiders defensive unit. |
“It is nice that the
people come out and support us,” said Habscheid. “Our guys have played hard.
“We think they are
pretty good citizens, and we’re playing pretty well. It is fun to come out, and
it helps them with a full building for sure.”
The Raiders return
to action from their Christmas break on Thursday, when they travel to Saskatoon
to face their archrivals the Blades (21-10-4) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.
The Raiders host the Blades on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.
 |
| Max Martin and the Raiders salute the Art Hauser Centre faithful. |
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