Dragicevic, Raiders drag series back to Edmonton

Prince Albert stays alive with Game 5 win over Oil Kings

The Raiders celebrate their Game 5 on Friday night.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Lukas Dragicevic is dragging everyone back to Edmonton.

With his team facing elimination from the WHL Playoffs, the Prince Albert Raiders star defenceman came up with a monster effort scoring a pair of goals and collecting an assist to go with a plus-two rating in the plus-minus category. Thanks to his big Friday night, Dragicevic powered the Raiders to a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings in Game 5 of a best-of-seven first round series before an ecstatic standing room crowd of 3,222 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre.

Lukas Dragicevic had two goals and an assist on Friday.

The win allowed the Raiders to cut the Oil Kings lead in the series to 3-2. Game 6 is set to be held at Rogers Place in Edmonton at 4 p.m. local time on Sunday.

“It was huge,” said Dragicevic. “Obviously, we knew what was at stake.

“We talked about that in the room. Leading up to the game, we knew what was at stake. We pushed, and we had a great team effort.”

Having been traded by the Tri-City Americans to the Raiders before the 2024-25 campaign began on July 24, 2024, Dragicevic has taken the Raiders faithful to heart. The Richmond, B.C., product loves the support his Raiders receive from the folks in “Hockey Town North” that fill the Hauser on a nightly basis.

Max Hildebrand stopped 36 shots in goal for the Raiders.

“They’ve been by our side all year,” said Dragicevic. “They’ve showed up every single night.

“To win for them is great. We’re going to force a Game 7, and we’re going to be back in front of them.”

If the Raiders win Game 6 in Edmonton on Sunday, they will force a series-deciding Game 7, which is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. back at the Hauser. To start that journey to get to a potential Game 7, the Raiders had to take care of business in Game 5 first on Friday.

The Oil Kings came out with some early zip getting the first six shots on goal in the contest, but they were stoned by Raiders star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand. Hildebrand denied Oil Kings overage centre and ace agitator Marshall Finnie close in twice on one sequence and turned away a toe drag snipe shot from Edmonton captain Gavin Hodnett on another.

Tomas Mrsic had the Raiders first goal on Friday.

The Raiders proceeded to push back at that point resulting in an offensive zone faceoff just over six minutes in the opening frame. Raiders star centre Aiden Oiring won the draw back to 19-year-old import defensive-defenceman Vojtech Vochvest, who passed the puck to Dragicevic at the right point.

Dragicevic fed the puck down to star left-winger Tomas Mrsic, who was skating through the right faceoff circle. Mrsic put home a backhand shot through a screen to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead at the 6:17 mark of the frame.

Unfortunately, the Raiders would lose Mrsic for the night with about four minutes to play in the opening frame while working on the power play. Mrsic was in the left corner of the Edmonton zone when he was accidentally cut in the face area by the skate of a falling Oil Kings player.

Ethan MacKenzie had the Oil Kings first goal on Friday.

Mrsic left the game and didn’t return. Raiders interim head coach Ryan McDonald didn’t have an update on the status regarding the skilled forward at game’s end.

Moments after Mrsic left the game and the Raiders still working the power play, the hosts entered the Edmonton zone on a rush. Dragicevic received a pass from star 20-year-old left-winger Niall Crocker and roofed home a shot from the right faceoff dot to the top left corner of the Edmonton net to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0.

While the Raiders held that two-goal edge going into the first intermission, Dragicevic said his squad knew the rest of the game would still be a battle.

“Obviously when we get up 2-0, we know that they’re going to push, and they did,” said Dragicevic. “We pushed harder, and we ended up winning.”

Landon Hanson had the Oil Kings second goal on Friday.

Early in the second, Raiders physical defensive-defenceman Matteo Fabrizi did his best impression of former NHL star offensively gifted rearguard Nicklas Lidstrom. Fabrizi jetted down the left wing with the puck cut across the front of the Oil Kings net and put a backhand shot on target.

Fabrizi’s shot slipped through Oil Kings rookie netminder Ethan Simcoe, who turned 19-years-old in March, and the puck was slowly sliding towards going into the Edmonton net. Oil Kings sophomore 17-year-old defenceman Blake Fiddler stopped the puck just before goal line and slid it under Simcoe to get a stoppage in play.

From that point, the Oil Kings mounted a push back. At the 11:59 mark of the second, Oil Kings 18-year-year old defenceman Ethan MacKenzie drove home a midrange shot through a screen from the front of the Prince Albert net for a power-play goal that cut the Raiders lead to 2-1.

Blake Fiddler made a big defensive play to prevent a goal.

With 3:37 remaining in the second, Dragicevic wired home his second of the contest to the top left corner of the Edmonton net to push the Raiders lead out to 3-1. McDonald was pleased to see Dragicevic come up with a clutch performance.

“He (Dragicevic) was fantastic,” said McDonald. “He made a great entry play on the power play and had a great shot.

“His second one he just came down off the point, and what a shot to be the goalie. He is moving pucks quick and making sure he is playing north and jumping in the rush when he has opportunities.”

The visitors responded with 93 seconds remaining in the second when Oil Kings right-winger Landon Hanson jetted into the Prince Albert zone on a rush down the right wing and wristed home a shot to the top right corner of the Raiders net to trim the host side’s lead to 3-2.

Aiden Oiring (#19) had an empty-net goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders ensured the Oil Kings wouldn’t comeback all the way. With 82 seconds remaining in the third, Oil Kings star right-winger Gracyn Sawchyn was coming up ice the with the puck and blew a tire and went down on his own in front of the Raiders bench.

Oiring pounced on the gift of a loose puck and sent it into the Edmonton goal for a long empty-net tally that sealed the 4-2 final outcome in favour of the Raiders.

The contest did end with a big scrum in the Prince Albert zone that was calmly broken up by the officials.

Hildebrand stopped 36 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Simcoe turned away 22-of-25 shots to take the setback in net for the Oil Kings.

Matteo Fabrizi created excitement with an offensive rush.

Oiring had a pair of assists to go with his empty-net goal in the win.

Both sides are starting to deal with their issues on the health front too. Raiders breakout star right-winger Brayden Dube participated in warm up but didn’t play in Friday’s contest due to an undisclosed ailment. When Mrsic was lost to a skate cut late in the first, the Raiders were without their two players who surpassed the 30-goal plateau during the regular season.

The Oil Kings were without rookie star right-winger Lukas Sawchyn, who turned 18-years-old in February, with an undisclosed ailment.

McDonald was impressed how his players raised the level of their game when they had teammates have to leave the lineup due to injury.

Niall Crocker had an assist for the Raiders on Friday.

“It just speaks to the character in that room,” said McDonald. “The guys, they battle, and they battle hard.

“They play the right way and manage pucks. It is the next man up mentality. They cheer each other on, and they battle hard for each other.”

The Raiders entered the series having won the WHL’s East Division title with a 39-23-5-1 mark. The Oil Kings were seventh overall in the Eastern Conference with a 37-27-2-2 mark.

Prince Albert took the regular season series against Edmonton claiming three regulation victories in five head-to-head encounters.

The Raiders and Oil Kings scrum it up to end Friday’s game.

The winner of the series between the Raiders and the Oil Kings will advance to face the Medicine Hat Tigers in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series. 

The Tigers, who finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark, eliminated the Swift Current Broncos in five games in a first round series between those two clubs. 

The Tigers claimed a 3-2 victory in Game 5 on Friday in Medicine Hat.

The Calgary Hitmen, who were third overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 45-17-3-3 mark, will face the Lethbridge Hurricanes, who were sixth overall in the league during the regular season with a 42-21-3-2 record, in the other Eastern Conference semifinal. 

The Raiders faithful cheer on their team.

The Hurricanes beat the visiting Wheat Kings 5-2 in Game 5 on Friday in Lethbridge to close out that first round series.

Starting in the second round, the conference brackets in the WHL Playoffs reseed via regular season standing points. The division winners are given the top two seeds in the first round.

For the moment, the Raiders focus is on winning Game 6 of their series with the Oil Kings on Sunday in Edmonton to continue to stay alive in the WHL post-season.

The Raiders salute their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.

“We’re in a one-game series again,” said McDonald. “We’re working on the next one, and that is the next game in Edmonton.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------                                                                

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.