Raiders good, not consistent enough for WHL leading Ice

Winnipeg prevails 4-3, deals big blow to P.A. playoff hopes

The Ice celebrate a goal from Graham Sward, centre.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The Prince Albert Raiders came out hot, but the skill of the WHL leading Winnipeg Ice ultimately prevailed.

On Tuesday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes over the visiting Ice. At that point, Ice star 18-year-old centre Conor Geekie dished out three assists like he was Wayne Gretzky allowing the Winnipeg side to roar back and pull out a 4-3 win in the WHL regular season clash to the disappointment of most the 2,427 spectators in attendance.

“What we did in the first period we didn’t do in the second,” said Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt. “We turned pucks over.

Conor Geekie had three assists for the Ice on Tuesday.

“We tried to get cute through the neutral zone. They turned pucks over and got into their transition game. They’re an explosive team.

“We told them they were going to be better in the second period, and they were.”

When the dust settled on Tuesday, the Ice won their fifth straight improving to 53-9-1 to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds (50-9-1-2) by four points for first overall in the WHL. The Ice have five games remaining on their regular season schedule, while the Thunderbirds have six contests remaining on their regular season slate.

Winnipeg equaled its franchise record for regular season wins in a campaign, which was set last season after the Ice posted a 53-10-3-2 mark to top the WHL standings. Geekie was pleased his Ice, who are rated third in the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings, regrouped to pull out a fifth straight win on Tuesday.

Matthew Savoie had two goals for the Ice on Tuesday.

“I think it was a hard-fought game,” said Geekie. “You can never come into this building and expect to win.

“They came out hard, but I think we pieced together and kind of pulled together for the win.”

The Raiders fell to 26-34-3 and will now scoreboard watch on Wednesday to see where their slim chances at earning a post-season berth sit before they return to action on Friday, when they travel to Brandon to face the Wheat Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

The Raiders sit 11^th in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and are five standing points behind the Wheat Kings (26-29-8), the Swift Current Broncos (28-30-1-3) and the Calgary Hitmen (26-27-5-3) who are all tied for eighth and the final playoff berth in the conference with 60 points. The Wheat Kings have five regular season games remaining, the Broncos have six regular season contests left and the Hitmen have seven regular season matches left to play.

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Cole Peardon, centre.

All three of those squads are in action on Wednesday with the Wheat Kings traveling to Regina to take on Connor Bedard and the Pats, the Hitmen host the Lethbridge Hurricanes and the Broncos host the Saskatoon Blades. 

A win by either the Wheat Kings, Hitmen or Broncos will push the Raiders, who have five regular season games left to play, that much closer to mathematical elimination from playoff contention.

Raiders 16-year-old rookie centre Cole Peardon said he will be doing some scoreboard watching on Wednesday night, but when the Raiders return to action on Friday, he said his team will focus on the task at hand in attempting to get a win.

Sloan Stanick (#23) celebrates scoring the Raiders second goal.

“I think we just have to keep it simple that is the biggest thing,” said Peardon. “I think we got away from that, and that is what hurt us in the second.

“(If we) just keep it simple we should be good.”

As for Tuesday’s contest between the Raiders and Ice, the Raiders came out flying in the opening 20 minutes holding a 13-9 edge in shots on goal and jumping out to a 2-0 lead. Peardon opened the game’s scoring at the 6:24 mark of the second tipping home a shot by star 20-year-old offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior.

With 55.3 seconds remaining in the first, Raiders star 19-year-old left-winger Sloan Stanick potted his 24^th of the season to put the hosts up 2-0. Kosior picked up his second assist of the contest on that tally.

Landon Kosior had two assists for the Raiders on Tuesday.

“I was really happy about the way that we generated speed,” said Truitt about the opening 20 minutes. “There wasn’t a lot of turnovers through the neutral zone, because we just made simple plays.

“We didn’t over pass the puck. We didn’t over think things. We just got pucks in deep and started to go to work.

“I thought that really kept the flow for us going in the first period.”

Early in the second, the Raiders went on the power play, but it turned out to be the opportune time for the Ice to get back into the contest. While on the penalty kill, Geekie got the puck on the forecheck in the left corner of the Prince Albert zone.

The Raiders and Ice scrum it up late in the second period.

Geekie centred the puck to Ice 20-year-old star right-winger Connor McClennon, who was all alone in from of the Prince Albert net. McClennon put a short-handed goal past Raiders import netminder Tikhon Chaika to cut the Raiders lead to 2-1.

Just 48 seconds later with play back at even strength, Ice star centre Matthew Savoie got in alone on the Prince Albert goal and put home his 36^th goal of the season to even the score at 2-2. Savoie’s opportunity was created by another nice pass by Geekie.

Graham Sward scored with 2.3 seconds remaining in the second.

After a scrum occurred by the Raiders net with 1:23 remaining in the second, the Ice used their skill to take advantage of the four-versus-four situation. Geekie had the puck by the right boards deep in the Prince Albert zone.

He fed a pass to the front of the net to a pinching 19-year-old defenceman Graham Sward. Sward fired home a goal with 2.3 seconds remaining on the clock to put the Ice in front 3-2.

“I think we just started playing a little more simple,” said Geekie. “We really focused on our D-zone, and maybe caught them in transition a few times.

“I think we buried on our chances, and obviously, the scoreboard shows it. Obviously, I think they are all real important goals for us. I think Connor (McClennon’s goal) was kind of a momentum changer.

Raiders C Aiden Oiring, left, battles Ice C Matthew Savoie.

“Obviously, he has some pretty sick hands, so he knows how to put it in the back of the net.”

At the 3:15 mark of the third, Savoie potted his second of the contest where he broke his stick on a backdoor tap at the left side of the Prince Albert net to increase the Ice advantage to 4-2. Savoie converted a beauty pass from Ice star 20-year-old left-winger Owen Pederson.

Any thoughts of a Raiders comeback appeared to be dashed, when centre Hayden Pakkala was given a high sticking minor with 2:01 remaining in the third.

With 69 seconds remaining in the third, Raiders 17-year-old rookie centre Aiden Oiring sprung 20-year-old captain Evan Herman into the Winnipeg zone on a breakaway and Herman buried his 17^th of the season to cut the Ice lead to 4-3.

Owen Pederson set up the Ice’s winning goal.

On the ensuing faceoff, the Ice got control of the puck and pretty much kept possession of the puck for most of the remaining 69 seconds to hold on for the victory.

Chaika turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders. Daniel Hauser stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Ice, who improved to 41-0 when leading after two periods.

Injury troubles caused the Ice to play with 17 skaters on Tuesday. The Ice injury list includes highly touted prospect centre Zach Benson (upper body, day-to-day), right-winger Carson Latimer (lower body, month-to-month) and defencemen Wyatt Wilson (lower body, day-to-day) and Carter Prosofsky (upper body, week-to-week). Associate player call up Landon Young, who has been with the Edmonton Junior Oilers under-18 AAA team, played his sixth game of the season for the Ice.

Evan Herman scored the Raiders third goal on Tuesday.

The Ice get back it on Saturday when they host the Raiders (7 p.m. local time, Wayne Fleming Arena). That will be the second of a stretch where the Raiders play three games in three nights. The Raiders and Ice will face each other on Sunday in Winnipeg (5 p.m. local time, Wayne Fleming Arena).

For now, Truitt said the focus is on getting ready for the Wheat Kings on Friday.

“There will be quite a bit of video work tomorrow, and we’ll go through what we did well in the first and what we didn’t do well in the second,” said Truitt. “We’ll talk about consistency in our game.

The Ice celebrate their win on Tuesday.

“We didn’t get it here tonight. We still have to sell 60 minutes here and play the way that we need to play to win to give ourselves the best chance.”

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