Fortin’s 39 saves holds off Hitmen
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| Niall Crocker, left, enjoys his winning goal with Aiden Oiring. |
On Friday night playing before 2,432 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders built a 3-0 lead on the visiting Calgary Hitmen and carried a 3-1 advantage into the third period. The Hitmen evened the score at 3-3 in the third, but the Raiders ensured the Calgary comeback was not to be.
With 4:08 remaining in the third period, Raiders 20-year-old standout right-winger Niall Crocker came up with one is his specialties. He banged home a gritty power-play goal from the front of the Calgary net on a four-on-three advantage to ultimately deliver the Raiders to a 4-3 victory.
“I really liked our compete,” said Truitt. “I thought that we skated real well.
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| Justice Christensen had the Raiders first goal on Friday. |
“We’re not going to get pushed around, and we showed that here tonight. It was kind of a team effort that way. We had to grind her out under some weird conditions in the third period and got her done.”
Raiders captain Justice Christensen opened the game’s scoring firing home a shot from the left point at the 9:56 mark of the opening frame. With Friday’s contest being the Raiders Toque and Teddy Bear Toss night, stuffed animals and mitts rained down on to the Art Hauser Centre’s ice surface after Christensen’s tally.
The players and off-ice staffers along with the game’s linesmen made sure the clean up was completed in rapid order.
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| The Raiders celebrate a Teddy Bear goal from Justice Christensen. |
The Hitmen coaching staff argued loudly from the bench with the officials for a penalty for hitting from behind, and no infraction was called. Just 18 seconds later, Hitmen 20-year-old import left-winger Max Muranov forearm hit Raiders 16-year-old rookie defenceman Daxon Rudolph in the Calgary zone starting a big scrum. The Raiders came away with a power play with Muranov being given an interference minor making the difference in how the penalties were sorted out.
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| The Raiders show off some of the stuffed animals that were collected. |
Just 33 seconds into second working that two-man advantage, Raiders star offensive-defenceman Lukas Dragicevic wired home a power-play goal from the left point to push the host side’s edge out to 2-0. For Dragicevic, that was his first goal since he tallied once in a 6-4 loss to the Royals in Victoria back on October 18.
His tally on Friday came on a Raiders power play that entered the day’s action leading the WHL with a 28.3 per cent success rate.
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| The Raiders and Hitmen engage in a first period scrum. |
“It just fits that I got it on the power play. I play with good players on that line. They set me up pretty good, and I just had to do the rest.”
At the 4:07 mark of the second, the Hitmen gave the puck away to Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Niall Crocker. Crocker got the puck to import left-winger Krzysztof Macias, who wired home a mid-range shot to give Prince Albert a 3-0 advantage.
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| Lukas Dragicevic scored the Raiders second goal on Friday. |
With 10:02 remaining in the second working on a power play, Hitmen star 19-year-old left-winger Tanner Howe thought he scored a goal during a mad scramble. The officials first called the play a goal, proceeded to have a conference over the call and waved the tally off on the ice.
The Hitmen thought they had another goal with 3:53 remaining in the second with a shot coming off the stick of captain Carson Wetsch. That goal was waved off as Hitmen 17-year-old centre Ben Kindel was given a minor penalty for goaltender interference.
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| Krzysztof Macias, left, enjoys scoring the Raiders third goal. |
The Hitmen evened the score a 3-3 with 5:21 remaining in third on a power-play goal from star 19-year-old right-winger Oliver Tulk.
Tulk tipped home a puck from the front of the Prince Albert net that came from a pass by Wetsch.
That set the scene for Crocker to come through with the winning tally.
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| Dimitri Fortin made 39 saves in goal for the Raiders. |
“We’ve grown as individuals. We knew we were going to get one on that power play. Our power play is too good to get stopped there.
“Crocks (Crocker) obviously banged that one home. It was a couple of passes before that one that led to that, and it was a nice goal.”
Fortin stopped 39 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (12-9-3). Anders Miller turned away 27 shots to take the setback in net for the Hitmen (13-9-3-1).
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| Tomas Mrsic had a pair of assists for the Raiders. |
Truitt has been pleased with how solid Fortin has been for the Raiders after joining the club in a trade with the Moose Jaw Warriors on November 27.
“Since he has come in, he has been calm and cool,” said Truitt. “He has just done his job.
“He has made some key saves, but he hasn’t had to make many circus saves here. He has been pretty good. The guys in front of him have been good as well, but he has been solid.”
The Hitmen return to action on Saturday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the 17-6-1-2 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).
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| The Raiders salute their faithful after Friday’s win. |
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