Raiders start hot, cruise to 8-3 win over Tigers

The Raiders mob Sloan Stanick after he scored the game’s first goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – A hot start and timely goals allowed the Prince Albert Raiders to tame the Medicine Hat Tigers.

In a WHL regular season clash played between 2,428 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday night, the Raider stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and boosted their edge to 4-0 scoring inside the first two minutes of the second. From that point, the Raiders proceeded to cruise to an 8-3 victory.

“(We had) pretty timely scoring,” said Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt. “Goals are scored at key times.

Sloan Stanick had a goal and three assists for the Raiders.

“Sometimes, they are not. Early in periods, I thought that it deflates a team. We’ve been on the other side of it where somebody comes in and 10 seconds in you are chasing the game.

“We put the throttle down here tonight with a determined effort that kind of put them being behind the eight ball that way. It was key to score at different times in those periods. It got us off to a good start.”

Numerous players had big games for the Raiders in the win over the Tigers. Raiders star 20-year-old left-winger Sloan Stanick led the way recording one goal, three assists and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

Thanks to the four-point night, Stanick hit another milestone surpassing the 80-point plateau in scoring for a season. Appearing in all the Raiders 62 games this season, Stanick has posted 81 points coming off 30 goals and 51 assists to go with a plus-six rating.

Ryder Ritchie had a pair of goals for the Raiders.

Stanick totals in assists, points and plus-minus are all career highs, and he needs one more goal to equal his career high in that department from one season ago. The Rapid City, Man., product was pumped to break the 80-point plateau for the first time in his WHL career.

“It is pretty surreal,” said Stanick. “It obviously feels really good.

“I’ve got some great guys to play with that get me the puck and put the puck in the back of the net. It is obviously really special. You have to keep building.”

Stanick got the Raiders going on Saturday scoring on a wrist shoot from the left faceoff circle eight minutes into the opening frame to give the host side a 1-0 edge. The Raiders proceed to receive tallies from Niall Crocker and Ryder Ritchie to push their lead out to 3-0 going into the first intermission.

Brayden Dube had a pair of goals for the Raiders on Saturday.

Working on the power play early in the second, Slanick fed a pass to Raiders right-winger Brayden Dube, which sprung him on a rush down the right wing. He wired a shot past Tigers netminder Zach Zahara to give the Raiders a 4-0 advantage.

Stanick said there are never any complaints when you are part of a game where everything is clicking.

“It was great,” said Stanick. “Obviously, everyone was electric in the crowd, and everyone on the ice was wanting to score.

“Every line was clicking tonight. It is awesome to get contribution from everyone.”

Justice Christensen had a goal and two assists for the Raiders.

Tigers 18-year-old offensive-defenceman Reid Andresen got the visitors on the board at the 4:36 mark of the second to trim the Raiders lead to 4-1. Raiders 18-year-old offensive-defenceman Justice Christensen popped home a backdoor feed at the left side of the Medicine Hat net after receiving a beauty pass from Stanick to push the host side’s edge out to 5-1.

With 6:21 remaining in the second, 18-year-old centre Hunter St. Martin tallied for the Tigers to trim the Raiders lead to 5-2.

Just 39 seconds into the third, Raiders 18-year-old centre Aiden Oiring popped home his 17^th of the campaign to give the host squad a 6-2 advantage. Tigers captain Tyler MacKenzie tallied at the 10:47 mark of the third to cut the Raiders lead to 6-3.

Aiden Oiring recorded a goal and two assists for the Raiders.

Ritchie and Dube each proceeded to add their respective second goals of the night to round out the 8-3 final in favour of Prince Albert.

“I thought we got rewarded tonight,” said Truitt. “I thought we played physical.

“We played pretty good defence. Then, we generated a lot of offence. We worked in that offensive zone winning pucks and battles and getting shots.

“We shot the puck with a mentality here tonight that we will put it in.”

Max Hildebrand stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Zahara turned away 23 shots to take the setback in net for the Tigers.

Oiring and Christensen each had a pair of assists to go with their goals. Christensen also posted a plus-five rating.

Tyler MacKenzie had a goal for the Tigers.

With the win, the Raiders improve to 30-27-2-3. They sit tied for the seventh and eighth positions in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 65 standings points. Both squads sit five points up on the ninth place Calgary Hitmen (26-29-7-1), and both the Raiders and Hurricanes have a game in hand on the Hitmen.

The Raiders and Hurricanes are also two standings points behind the sixth place Brandon Wheat Kings (30-27-6-1). Both the Raiders and Hurricanes have two games in hand on the Wheat Kings.

With the Raiders having six games remaining on their regular season schedule, Stanick said it has been a blast playing numerous big games late in the season during the last sprint to chase down a post-season berth.

Niall Crocker had a goal for the Raiders.

“It makes it fun,” said Stanick. “The energy in the room is great.

“The practices are very competitive, because we all want to be our best. It is just really exciting for our group here coming down the stretch.”

The Tigers fell to 35-22-5-2 with the setback but still sit first in the Central Division. The Tigers lead in the Centre Division has dwindled to one standings point ahead of the Swift Current Broncos (35-20-4-2). The Broncos have three games in hand on the Tigers.

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they host the Broncos (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Tigers are off until Friday when they travel to Swift Current to face the Broncos (7 p.m., InnovationPlex).

Going forward, Truitt wants to see his Raiders keep their level of desperation up high.

The Raiders salute their faithful after their win on Saturday.

“We have to keep going,” said Truitt. “We just can’t lay back.

“That is not we are all about. Especially if you are going to challenge for a playoff spot, you have to be playing at the peak of your game right now. We have to keep our focus, our discipline and our structure and everything.

“It is not easy, because every day the meter is right at the top, and we’ve to continue to have it.”

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