Party is on in P.A. – Raiders blank Oil Kings 5-0 in Game 7

The Raiders begin to celebrate their series win on Tuesday night.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Lukas Dragicevic will always have a place in his heart for the fans of the Prince Albert Raiders.

The 19-year-old star defenceman loves how the fans in “Hockey Town North” always have his team’s back. Having been traded by the Tri-City Americans to the Raiders before the 2024-25 campaign began on July 24, 2024, Dragicevic has given the Raiders faithful plenty of thrills, and the Richmond, B.C., product has taken that up a level in the post-season.

After the Raiders fell behind 3-1 in a best-of-seven first round series to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL Playoffs, Dragicevic delivered game-winning goals in Games 5 and 6 to help the Raiders even the series 3-3. On Tuesday night, he came up with another big game in a series-deciding Game 7.

Part of the sellout crowd of 3,293 spectators salutes the Raiders.

Dragicevic recorded one goal, three assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department to help power the Raiders to a 5-0 victory over the visiting Oil Kings before a raucous sellout crowd of 3,293 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, which is the Prince Albert side’s storied and historic home rink. The win allowed the Raiders to claim the series 4-3.

“I don’t even know what to say about the fans,” said Dragicevic. “It is crazy.

“I saw a video today of a school in my neighbourhood, actually, and there were about 10 to 15 kids that were all wearing Raiders jerseys. They were lining up and chanting ‘go Raiders go,’ and stuff like that. We go to Tim Horton’s down the street, and we see a bunch of guys, and they’re all just like, ‘we believe in you.’

The Raiders and Oil Kings take part in the handshake line.

“They’ll buy us coffees and stuff like that, so it is unbelievable the support that we have every single day, not even game days, just every single day, practice days and off days. We run into fans all the time, and just the support that we have is unbelievable.”

Dragicevic, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 196 pounds, played a major part in the Raiders series comeback. In the Raiders three straight wins they put together to take the series, Dragicevic posted four goals, four assists and a plus-four rating.

Lukas Dragicevic had one goal and three assists for the Raiders.

The rally marked the first time the Raiders came back to win a series after trailing 3-1 since 1996. In 1996, the Raiders trailed the Regina Pats 3-1 in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series. Prince Albert rallied for three straight wins to take the set 4-3 which included a 5-1 victory in Game 7 at the Art Hauser Centre, which was then known as the Comuniplex, on April 10^th of that year.

While he had a huge last three games and series, Dragicevic said everyone on the Raiders played a big part in the series victory over the Oil Kings.

“We play a full team game,” said Dragicevic, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Seattle Kraken. “That has been kind of our motto all year is depth and everybody contributes.

Lukas Sawchyn (#95) is checked by Harrison Lodewyk (#29).

“I’m an offensive guy. I have to put up points or else what am I doing out there, right? I’m so fortunate to play with great players that help me score goals and help me set up plays.

“It is not all me. It is not me at all. It is the other guys that are contributing offensively and putting themselves in good spots for me to hit them, and they’re burying it. It is a lot to them as well.”

Shortly after the opening faceoff, it looked like the visiting Oil Kings would get the jump on the host Raiders. Oil Kings overage defenceman Josh Mori brought the puck into the Prince Albert zone on an offensive rush and rang a shot off the crossbar.

A young fan cheers on the Raiders.

The Raiders proceeded to open the scoring at the 7:40 mark of the opening frame right as a power play expired. Dragicevic fired a shot on goal from the left point that Oil King rookie netminder Ethan Simcoe, who turned 19-years-old in March, turned away with a pad save.

The puck proceeded to rebound out to Raiders 19-year-old star centre Aiden Oiring at the right side of the Edmonton net. Oiring pushed the puck past a fallen Simcoe and it just trickled over the goal line to give the Raiders 1-0 lead.

Just over six minutes later, Oil Kings captain Gavin Hodnett bobbled receiving a pass in his down zone causing the puck to land on the stick of Raiders 16-year-old rookie right-winger Ty Meunier. Meunier skated to the front of the Edmonton goal and roofed a shot to the top right corner of the net to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0. The St. Albert, Alta., product enjoyed playing a part in the Raiders series win.

Aiden Oiring scored the Raiders first goal on Tuesday.

“It is pretty special to be winning the first round as a 16-year-old and experience this whole playoff atmosphere as a first year,” said Meunier. “I just hope it continues.”

The teams played through a fairly even second period, but the Raiders came up with a big dagger in the frame. With 1:28 remaining in the stanza, Dragicevic floated a point shot at the Edmonton goal, which ended up in the back of the net to extend the Raiders lead to 3-0.

The hosts proceeded to round out the win with a pair of power-play goals in the third. With 9:16 remaining in the frame, a Dragicevic point shot was tipped home in front of the Edmonton net by Raiders star 20-year-old left-winger Niall Crocker to give the Raiders a 4-0 advantage.

Ty Meunier had the Raiders second goal on Tuesday.

With 5:31 remaining in the third, Dragicevic and breakout rookie defenceman Daxon Rudolph combined to set up 20-year-old right-winger Rilen Kovacevic for a one-time shot, which he buried from the left side of the Edmonton net to round out the 5-0 final score.

Shortly after Kovacevic’s tally, Oil Kings right-winger Landon Hanson and Raiders rookie centre Ethan Bibeau engaged in a short fight.

Still, Kovacevic’s tally really got the part going in earnest by the Raiders faithful. Raiders interim head coach Ryan McDonald said the atmosphere in the Hauser is special.

“As a kid born and raised in Prince Albert, I mean it is exciting in this rink,” said McDonald. “It is electric.

Max Hildebrand covers up one of his 30 saves for the Raiders.

“We know how passionate our fans are and how supportive our fans are. We just can’t thank them enough for their support.”

The bench boss was impressed by the performance of Dragicevic in the Raiders three straight wins that allowed them to take the series.

“He (Dragicevic) is just taking his game to another level,” said McDonald. “He is just continuing to elevate.

“Big players shine in big moments, and he did a tremendous job for us again tonight.”

Niall Crocker tipped home a power-play goal for the Raiders.

Max Hildebrand stopped all 30 shots he faced to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Raiders. Simcoe turned away 18 shots in to take the setback in net for the Oil Kings.

The Raiders were 2-for-5 with the power play, while the Oil Kings failed to score on three chances with the man advantage.

Hildebrand did make a number of highlight reel saves for the Raiders. Overall, the star netminder thought his side played a fairly complete game.

“I thought it was very clean,” said Hildebrand. “When you play a team that many times especially in a row like that, it is kind of just you’re bound to know kind of what is coming.

“I thought we did a great job with our systems tonight and played hard. This one for the most part, the P.K. came up huge. Obviously, the power play was very big again for us.”

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Rilen Kovacevic, centre.

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 were without star left-winger Tomas Mrsic for a second straight contest having suffered a skate cut late in the first period of the Raiders victory in Game 5. Raiders breakout 19-year-old star right-winger Brayden Dube was also out of the lineup with a nagging injury he tried to play with in Game 6 but was used sparingly in that contest.

The Raiders pour off their bench to celebrate their series win.

The Oil Kings had rookie star right-winger Lukas Sawchyn, who turned 18-years-old in February, back on the ice after missing two games with an undisclosed ailment.

The Raiders now advance to a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Medicine Hat Tigers. Game 1 of that series is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. local time at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.

The Tigers topped the Eastern Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 47-17-3-1 mark.

McDonald said his team’s ability to persevere will key as the Raiders go forward in the post-season. On top of battling back to win the series against the Oil Kings, McDonald remembers his club started the regular season 2-7-2 after going on a road trip through B.C. and rebounded to win a division title. He appreciates his team’s ability to grind.

“We have a really resilient group,” said McDonald. “We’ve fought the fight since October to get to where we are.

The Raiders salute their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.

“(We have) the brotherhood in there and the compete and the willingness to continue to just stick to it no matter what happens. We play until the final buzzer goes, and we’ve been doing that for years and years and years. It is great to see the guys get rewarded.”

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