Wheat Kings wipe out Blades 5-1

P.A. product Schneider posts goal, assist and plus-three rating

Braden Schneider had a goal, an assist and was a plus-three for Brandon.

    Braden Schneider had a Prince Albert moment playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings.
    With his team holding a 3-0 advantage on the host Saskatoon Blades, the 18-year-old defenceman saw his goaltender Jiri Patera get knocked to the ice via a trip from veteran Blades right-winger Zach Huber. Schneider, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 208 pounds, confronted Huber, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 197 pounds, starting a scrum.

    Schneider was given minor penalties for cross-checking and roughing, while Huber was assessed minors for goaltender interference and roughing.

    Schneider, who is a Prince Albert, Sask., product and played for the Prince Albert Raiders bantam AA team and the Prince Albert Mintos midget AAA club, admitted a little bit of his personality from his hometown coming out in that moment.

Braden Schneider (#2) takes part in Brandon’s head butt goal celebration.

    “I think I am a competitive guy,” said Schneider. “I think any guy on our team would do the same.

    “I think we are just a tight-knit group, and I think we have each others’ back no matter what happens. If we think it is dirty, we will be standing up for each other for sure.”

    Had the officials stretched the call and given out fighting majors in that moment, Schneider would have ended up with the Gordie Howe hat trick. Still, he had a great night posting one goal, one assist and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

Braden Schneider controls the puck at the point for the Wheat Kings.

    Overall, the Wheat Kings rolled to a 5-1 victory in Wednesday’s WHL regular season clash played before 2,815 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

    Schneider said it was cool to have nights where seemingly everything went right for his side, but he added that isn’t always the case.

    “All our guys rose to the occasion,” said Schneider. “After the game, we reset and get ready for the next one, because the next one is just as big.”

    On a personal front, Schneider is having a breakout campaign in his third season in the WHL. He has posted six goals and 28 assists for 34 points to go with a plus-11 rating in 49 regular season appearances with the Wheat Kings.

Braden Schneider is having a breakout season with the Wheat Kings.

    Schneider’s assist and point totals are already career highs. He said the experience he gained over his first two major junior campaigns is helping out now.

    “Everyone is a bit bigger, a bit faster and a bit stronger,” said Schneider. “It is a little bit of an adjustment from midget, but once you get used to it, it almost seems easier.

    “I know where the little soft spots are now, and I am using my guys and carrying the puck a little bit more and shooting a little bit more. I think just the comfort level and the opportunity is helping me find the net a little bit more.”

    Wednesday’s game got off to an auspicious start for the Blades, which seemed to foreshadow what was to come. About a couple of minutes into the opening frame, Blades netminder Nolan Maier had the puck behind his net and nonchalantly sent a backhand pass into the left slot right to Wheat Kings centre Jake Chiasson.

Braden Schneider starts a rush up ice for the Wheat Kings.

    Chiasson wasn’t able to capitalize on the gift firing a shot wide of the Saskatoon goal.

    The Wheat Kings proceeded to a pot a goal seconds into a power-play at the 6:02 mark of the frame. Off a draw on from the faceoff circle to the left of the Saskatoon goal, Wheat Kings captain Connor Gutenberg slipped a pass across the face the Blades net to linemate Cole Reinhardt, who buried his 26^th goal of the season.

    Before the first ended, the Blades had a couple of strong chances to net the equalizer. 

Ridly Greig had two goals and two assists for Brandon.

    Patera made a glove stop on a drive by feisty Blades left-winger Riley McKay and then stoned Huber from point blank range.

    With 2:31 remaining in the first, the Wheat Kings expanded their edge to 2-0 off an offensive rush, where a pinching Schneider potted a backdoor pass from centre Luka Burzan at the left side of the Saskatoon goal.

    The assist was Burzan’s 100^th of his WHL career.

    Just 12 seconds into the second, Gutenberg netted his 11^th of the season to put the Wheat Kings up 3-0.

Connor Gutenberg had a goal and three assists for Brandon.

    The Wheat Kings took further control of the contest with 2:07 remaining in the second, when centre Ridly Greig fired home a power-play goal from the right boards to put the visitors up 4-0.
    The only thing that seemingly didn’t go right for the Wheat Kings was that Greig was stopped on a penalty shot about a couple of minutes before his power-play goal.

    “It is a lot easier to play, when everyone is going like that, and we are playing the way we want to be playing,” said Schneider. “We came prepared tonight, and it was a big game. “

    The Blades showed a bit of fight at the start of third. Following a penalty kill, overage Blades defenceman Nolan Kneen jetted into the Brandon zone on a breakaway and fired home his 11^th of the season to the top right corner of the Wheat Kings net.

    If there were any dreams of a comeback by the home side, the Wheat Kings burst that bubble scoring a short-handed goal on a two-on-one break with nine minutes remaining in the third. 

Nolan Kneen had the Blades lone goal on Wednesday.

    Greig potted his second of the night converting a setup pass from right-winger Ty Thorpe to give the visitors a 5-1 advantage.

    Greig had a pair of assists to go with his two goals for a four-point night. Gutenberg had three helpers to go with his goal for a four-point night as well.

    Patera turned away 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Wheat Kings (28-19-3-2). Maier turned away 27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades (27-21-2-3).

    Back on Dec. 28, the Wheat Kings had a 15-17-1-2 record, and there was uncertainty in which direction their season could go. In their 17 outings since, the Wheat Kings have posted a 13-2-2 record.

    “I think everyone is just buying in to what we are given,” said Schneider. “When we do that, we are a pretty tough team to beat.

Jiri Patera makes one of his 22 saves for the Wheat Kings.

    “I think everyone has learned their role and is buying into the system. I think it is all just coming around full circle for us. I think at the start some people were starting to write us off.

    “We were a little inconsistent. We were trying to find our stride, and I think once we found it, it was pretty scary.”

    The Blades and Wheat Kings will go at it again on Friday in Brandon (7:30 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

    Schneider expects the intensity will be a lot higher in Friday’s encounter than it was on Wednesday.

    “The challenge is that they are going to be coming harder than they did tonight,” said Schneider. “I think the challenge for us is to be prepared and be ready to go and reset.

The Wheat Kings celebrate their win on Wednesday.

    “We know that they are going to be coming for blood from us.”

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

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Wytinck’s OT winner caps playoff style desperate effort by Wheat Kings

WHL leading Raiders do some soul searching after setback

The Wheat Kings celebrate Zach Wytinck’s OT winner.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Zach Wytinck was pumped to give his Brandon Wheat Kings a just result after a big desperate effort.

    On Friday night before a standing room crowd of 2,848 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre, the 19-year-old veteran defenceman drove home the overtime winner to deliver his Wheat Kings to a 5-4 victory over the host Prince Albert Raiders in a WHL regular season contest.

    At the 3:08 mark of overtime, Wytinck got the puck at the point from teammate Chad Nychuk, skated to a midrange point in front of the Prince Albert net and drove home the deciding goal.

    “Obviously, it is a pretty crazy ending to the game (with) lots of back and forth action and goals,” said Wytinck. “We wanted to get the extra point obviously.

Zach Wytinck gets set to skate in to score his OT winner.

    “I think we played a really good game leading up to that point. I just got a good pass at the blue-line and kind of walked in. They backed off a little bit, and I tried to put it on net.

    “Luckily, it ricocheted in, and that is a big two points for our team.”

    The win was a second in the row for the Wheat Kings, and they will take all the victories the can get at this point in the campaign. They improved to 25-22-3-4 but still six points behind the Calgary Hitmen (29-21-4-1) and the Red Deer Rebels (29-20-4-1) for the two wildcard and final playoff berths in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

    The Wheat Kings have a game in hand on the Hitmen.

    Against the Raiders, who still lead the overall WHL standings with a 46-7-1-2 mark, Wytinck believed his side played like they were in a post-season game.

    “I think we had a really good win,” said Wytinck. “Our desperation level was really high, and that is where it needed to be.

    “You look at the standings. We can’t waste time. We have to get wins.

Zach Wytinck reacts to scoring his OT winner.

    “That is really exciting for our group that we’re playing with that desperation level and doing what it takes to win.”

    The setback was a tough one for the Raiders to take as two third period leads slipped through their fingers.

    The two sides entered the final frame locked in a 2-2 tie.

    At the 2:48 mark of the third, import centre Aliaksei Protas potted his 10^th goal of the season to give the Raiders a 3-2 advantage.

    Brandon tied things up at 3-3 at the 8:43 mark of the third off an unassisted goal from centre Caiden Daley that seemed to come out of nowhere.

    With 6:35 remaining in the third, Raiders star left-winger Parker Kelly drove home a power-play goal, which was his second tally of the night, to give the Raiders a 4-3 advantage.

Parker Kelly said he needed to play better after the Raiders loss.

    Just 15 seconds later, Brandon tied things up 4-4 on a bit of a strange tally. Wheat Kings left-winger Cole Reinhardt threw a bad angled shot on the Prince Albert net and a slow scramble ensured where the Raiders player seemingly just stood around.

    Wheat Kings star right-winger Luka Burzan got the puck by an open right side of the Prince Albert net and made no mistake burying the equalizer.

    Kelly finished the game with a pair of goals and an assist, but he was a minus-two in the plus-minus department. 

Ben McCartney (#22) celebrates scoring for the Wheat Kings.

    The Camrose, Alta., product was on the ice for four of Brandon’s five goals including Burzan’s equalizer and the overtime winner, and that didn’t sit well with the Raiders standout, who is one of the team’s assistant captains.

   “I thought we were all pretty soft tonight myself included,” said Kelly. “It wasn’t a very great defensive game for us, and ultimately, that is what it comes down to.

    “We have to change some stuff in our D-zone if we want to make a deep playoff run. I thought we were really easy to play against. I have to change myself too.

    “I was really soft tonight. Ultimately, it comes down to leadership doing their job and figuring things out.”

Aliaksei Protas scored a third period goal for the Raiders.

    Sean Montgomery had the Raiders other tally on Friday. Ben McCartney and Reinhardt had singles for the Wheat Kings over the game’s first 40 minutes.

    Boston Bilous made 23 saves to take the overtime setback in goal for the Raiders. Jiri Patera turned away 28 shots to pick up the win in net for the Wheat Kings.

    With the Raiders being rated second in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, Kelly said opposing team’s aren’t going to give his club any free passes.

    “Every team we’re playing against right now, they’re gunning for us,” said Kelly. “It has been like that all year.

    “Every team we play is also pushing for playoffs. We need to start using this as practice for playoff games, because if we take our foot off the gas pedal, I don’t know if we will be able to get it back on the time playoffs come.”

Luka Burzan scored to allow the Wheat Kings to force overtime.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid gave the Wheat Kings full marks for the win.

    “They have a good team,” said Habscheid. “(Wheat Kings owner) Kelly McCrimmon always has a good team.

    “This is no different. They played hard tonight. They played physical, and I thought we just wanted to play river hockey.

    “There were some of our key guys that weren’t very good tonight.”

    The Raiders and Wheat Kings go at it again on Saturday at Westoba Place in Brandon at 7:30 p.m. local time. Habscheid his team basically has to regroup in the simplest of ways.

   “(We) just have to feel sorry for ourselves today, and tomorrow is a new day,” he said.

    NOTES – The Raiders honoured Habscheid for picking up his 500^th WHL career regular season coaching victory as a head coach before Friday’s game. Habscheid accomplished the milestone when the Raiders downed the Hurricanes in Lethbridge 6-5 last Saturday.

Head coach Marc Habscheid and the Raiders look to regroup for Saturday.

    In a pre-game ceremony on Friday, Habscheid was presented with a jacket and a framed display that contained the game puck and scoresheet from his 500^th win.

   The Raiders were still without star right-winger Brett Leason and star netminder Ian Scott, who are both listed as day to day with lower body injuries.

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

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Blades’ McKay at his pest best in win over Wheat Kings

Blades LW Riley McKay (#39) chirps Wheat Kings D Zach Wytinck (#29).

    It’s a Riley McKay world and the Brandon Wheat Kings are just living in it.

    The feisty 19-year-old left-winger with the Saskatoon Blades started and ended the proceedings with an exclamation point on Sunday in a 6-3 WHL regular season victory over the Wheat Kings. 

    In between, the Swan River, Man., product was at his agitating best getting into all sorts of extra-curricular activities on the ice, while scoring two goals and engaging in a fight before 4,815 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

    McKay provided the exclamation point with 1:33 remaining in the third period scoring into an empty-net to seal the win, and he proceeded to chirp Wheat Kings 19-year-old defenceman Zach Wytinck after the tally.

Riley McKay scored a pair of goals for the Blades on Sunday.

    “I was just having some fun with it,” said McKay. “(I was) just giving a little bit of trash talk to make sure that he knows we won the game.”

    The fifth meeting between the two sides was fairly chippy and saw both sides goes 2-for-7 on the power play. It seemed like the type of game that was built for McKay, who has 117 penalty minutes this season, and he didn’t deny it.

    “I really like when games are like this,” said McKay. “It is fast paced, hard hitting and it is lots of fun.”

    All parts of McKay’s game were on display Sunday besides the side that sees him play the role of agitator. He can make some pretty creative offensive plays as well.

Riley McKay (#39) celebrates his breakaway goal.

    In opening the game’s scoring at the 9:23 mark of the first period, he looked like former Blades captain Derek Hulak going in on a breakaway switching from forehand to backhand and sliding a shot past Wheat Kings netminder Jiri Patera.

    “That was a good one,” said McKay, who has 11 goals and nine assists this season. “I didn’t know it went in for sure or not, because it went slow over the line.

    “I thought it went in, so it felt good.”

    A little under four minutes later, McKay engaged in a spirited fight with Wheat Kings defenceman Braydyn Chizen. McKay, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 192 pounds, was outsized by Chizen, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 207 pounds, but more than held his own in the bout.

    Blades overage right-winger Max Gerlach said his team gets pumped up, when McKay is out there doing his thing.

Blades LW Riley McKay, left, fights Wheat Kings D Braydyn Chizen (#5).

    “He is awesome to have in the room,” said Gerlach, who had three assists in the win. “It is awesome when he goes out there and fights probably the biggest guy in the league early in the game.

    “It gets us fired up on the bench. I thought it was good from all the boys. I think that everyone was pretty emotionally invested in the game.

    “That is how the playoffs are going to be. It is good to see everyone comfortable in those situations and come out with a big two points.”

    Shortly after McKay’s fight, the Blades struck for a pair of goals 31 seconds apart from each other coming from the sticks of rookie left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, who celebrated his 17^th birthday on Sunday, and captain Chase Wouters. 

Riley McKay controls the puck in the offensive zone.

    The surge gave the Blades a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

    Brandon pushed back in the second frame. Overage left-winger Linden McCorrister scored a short-handed goal 32 seconds into the frame, and captain Stelio Mattheos netted a power-play goal at the 10:39 mark to cut the Blades lead to 3-2.

    Just 43 seconds later, Wouters netted his second of the game to give the Blades a 4-2 advantage. Sunday marked the first time this season Wouters scored twice in one game.

    “I hadn’t scored two goals in a game in a while,” said Wouters. “That was a pretty cool experience for me.”

    Before the second period ended, the Wheat Kings cut the Blades lead to 4-3 with a power-play goal coming from 16-year-old rookie left-winger Ridly Greig.

    The Blades jumped ahead 5-3 at the 5:02 mark of the third, when offensive-defenceman Dawson Davidson wired a point-shot that was tipped by centre Tristen Robins to the top right corner of the Brandon goal.

    That set the stage for McKay to get his empty-netter near the end of the frame.

    Wouters had a sly smile, when he talked about McKay.

Kyle Crnkovic scored for the Blades on Sunday.

    “Riley, he is a big part of our team,” said Wouters. “He’s physical, and he does all the right things for us.

    “He gets goals when he can, so it’s perfect.”

    Nolan Maier made 25 saves in goal for the Blades, who have won four straight to improve to 34-13-8 to sit fourth overall in the league. Jiri Patera would turn away 31 of 36 shots in goal for the Wheat Kings, who feel to 23-22-3-4 with the setback.

    Besides winning their last four straight, the Blades have collected points in the standings in their last 10 straight games going 8-0-2 over that stretch of time.

Captain Chase Wouters had a pair of goals for the Blades on Sunday.

    “The guys have been playing awesome,” said McKay. “We’re just staying the course.

    “We always say that in the dressing room, just stay the course and play a full 60 (minutes). No matter what happens in the game just keep playing hard and keep working, and we know we’ll have a good outcome.”

    The Wheat Kings return home to host the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday at Westoba Place at 7 p.m. local time.

    The Blades now head out on a four game road swing beginning on Wednesday, when they travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Tigers at 7 p.m. local time. McKay is looking forward to the upcoming crunch time push.

Blades G Nolan Maier (#73) stops Wheat Kings LW Cole Reinhardt (#23).

    “We’re getting into that last stretch here, where it is all like playoff hockey,” said McKay. “We just have to play simple and play hard and try to get the win.”

    NOTES – The Blades were without star centre Kirby Dach, who left Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the Broncos in Swift Current after taking a puck in the throat. Dach sat out as a precaution.

    Aiden De La Gorgendiere, who is a 16-year-old defenceman, is listed as being out indefinitely with an upper body injury. He suffered the injury taking a hit from Edmonton Oil Kings left-winger Jake Neighbours in a 4-3 overtime setback the Blades took at home on Feb. 2. 

The Blades celebrate their victory on Sunday.

    Neighbours was given a boarding major and a game misconduct on the play and was suspended for four games by the WHL office.

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

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Harsch fitting in with Blades, nets goal in 5-2 win

Reece Harsch was recently acquired by the Blades via a trade with Seattle.

    Saskatoon Blades newcomer Reece Harsch showed how important it was to play to the whistle.

    On Sunday before 3,627 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, Harsch was skating in just his third game with the Blades as they took on the Brandon Wheat Kings. Harsch, who is a 19-year-old defenceman, was acquired in a trade last Wednesday with the Seattle Thunderbirds in exchange for 17-year-old defenceman Zach Ashton and a fifth round selection in the 2022 WHL Bantam Draft.

    With the Blades locked in a 1-1 tie in the first period with the Wheat Kings, Harsch found an opportune time to score his first goal with his new club.

    Left-winger Riley McKay, who is the Blades agitator, took a cross check behind the Wheat Kings goal from Brandon defenceman Vinny Iorio, and the officials were set to blow the whistle on a delayed penalty call as soon as a Brandon player touched the puck.

Reece Harsch scored his first goal with the Blades on Sunday.

    The Wheat Kings players on the ice seemingly stopped, when Iorio’s cross check occurred. Blades centre Josh Paterson had the puck at the left side of the Brandon goal, and he slipped a pass across the front of the net to Harsch, who pinched down from the point.

    Harsch skated to the Brandon net untouched and slipped a shot past Wheat Kings netminder Jiri Patera to give the Blades a 2-1 lead. Saskatoon ultimately skated to a 5-2 victory in the WHL regular season clash.

    “It was pretty special,” said Harsch, who has three goals and eight assists in 31 games played between the Thunderbirds and Blades this season. “It was a nice pass by Patty (Josh Paterson).

    “It was great vision by him. I was just able to slip it through the arms of him (Patera). What do you know, it went in.”

    Following his goal, Harsch realized something else must have happened on the play. Since McKay wasn’t hurt, Harsch’s goal was celebrated and the focus returned to the game.

The Blades celebrate Reece Harsch’s first period goal.

    “I didn’t really notice it until after I was just looking at the net to see if the puck actually went in,” said Harsch, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 198 pounds. “Then, I looked up and I just saw McKay laying on the ground.

    “I’m not really too sure what happened actually.”

    Harsch played three-and-a-half seasons with the Thunderbirds before arriving in Saskatoon. During his time in Seattle, he helped the Thunderbirds win a WHL title in the 2016-17 campaign and qualify for the Memorial Cup tournament, which was held that season in Windsor, Ont.

Goalie Jiri Patera (#33) makes one of his 32 saves on Sunday.

    With Saskatoon having finished a stretch of playing three games in three days on Sunday, Blades head coach Mitch Love said Harsch brought everything that was expected from a veteran presence. Saskatoon lost 19-year-old defenceman Nolan Kneen to a lower body injury in Friday’s 2-1 overtime win over the Regina Pats, which added extra significance to Harsch’s arrival.

    “He (Harsch) is a very calming influence back there,” said Love. “He doesn’t seem to be rattled by too much.

    “He is an experience guy who has been to a Memorial Cup and won a league championship here. I am sure there is not a lot that gets to him. That is the way he plays the game.

Nolan Maier makes one of his 27 saves in goal for the Blades.

    “He has definitely helped our back end, especially this weekend.”

    Harsch’s play has also impressed Blades captain Chase Wouters.

    “I thought he (Harsch) has played really well,” said Wouters. “He is a really good addition to the back end.

    “He is a right-handed shot that like to get pucks up early, and he is a big body out there. He helps us a lot.”

    “He won the championship there (in Seattle). He adds a piece to our group that we don’t have.”

    Harsch said he has been accepted really quickly into the group the Blades have.

    “It is awesome,” Harsch. “It is a little different coming to a (new) team. I only knew a couple of guys.

Max Gerlach scored the Blades first goal on Sunday.

    “Guys were so nice. They’ve been really helpful for me.”

    In Sunday’s contest, the Wheat Kings got a quick jump on the host side with left-winger Ben McCartney scoring 53 seconds into the contest to take a 1-0 lead.

    The Brandon lead didn’t last. Just under three minutes later, Blades overage right-winger Max Gerlach potted his 24^th goal of the season to tie things up at 1-1.

    Harsch then potted his tally to give the Blades a 2-1 edge. With 43.3 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Wheat Kings star right-winger Luka Burzan scored on a two-man advantage to even things up at 2-2.

    From there, the Blades slowly took control of the game.

    At the 3:27 mark of the second period, the Blades jumped ahead 3-2, when Paterson slid home a goal underneath Patera.

Luka Burzan had the Wheat Kings second goal on Sunday.

    Saskatoon extended its advantage to 4-2 at the 7:45 mark of the third period, when right-winger Zach Huber knocked home a loose puck in the crease of the Brandon goal.

    Blades star netminder Nolan Maier made a sensational kick save on a breakaway by McCartney. Saskatoon import defenceman Emil Malysjev rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal with 33.8 seconds remaining in the third.

    After going ahead in the second period, Blades 17-year-old rookie defenceman Majid Kaddoura left the game for a short time, when he was hit by Wheat Kings right-winger Baron Thompson. Thompson received a major penalty for checking to the head and a game misconduct, and that play will be automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    Kaddoura actually got cut on the play by his own stick. He finished the game after getting stitched up.

Zach Huber (#19) scores to put the Blades up 4-2 in the third period.

    Maier made 27 stops in goal for the Blades, who sit third overall in the WHL at 25-12-5. Patera turned away 32-of-36 shots to take the setback in goal for the Wheat Kings (16-15-3-3).

    “I really liked how our guys battled tonight,” said Love, whose team has played seven games in 11 days since returning from the WHL Christmas break. “I think it was evident.

    “We had a few guys leave the hockey game in stretches just because they put themselves in the battle. That was the big message going into today’s hockey game of just playing the game the right way the way we want to play with structure and what not.

    “At the same time, we just needed to be more competitive and have a little bit more fight, especially against a team that was sitting here waiting for us. I was very proud of our guys and our effort, and we are going to try and build off of that.”

The Blades celebrate their 5-2 win on Sunday.

    The Wheat Kings return home to host the Portland Winterhawks at 7 p.m. local time at Westoba Place.

    The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they host the Seattle Thunderbirds at 7 p.m. local time at the SaskTel Centre.

    Harsch said he has lots of good memories from his time in Seattle, and it will be strange for himself to face the Thunderbirds so soon after being traded to Saskatoon.

    “It is going to be different,” said Harsch. “I’ve been wearing that jersey for three-and-a-half years.

    “Now coming in and seeing all these familiar faces, it is going to be different, but it is going to be pretty special.”

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

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Fonstad heats up for Raiders, scores twice in Saturday’s win

Cole Fonstad (#24) celebrates his second goal for the Raiders on Saturday.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Cole Fonstad is all about team success, but he still wants to play a bigger part in making the party great.

    The 18-year-old left-winger, who was selected in the fifth round and 128^th overall in last June’s NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens, has contributed to a special start this season season for the Prince Albert Raiders. With that said the Estevan, Sask., product hasn’t been the biggest driving offensive force that has helped the Raiders get voted into the top spot on the CHL’s Top 10 rankings.

    It appears Fonstad is starting to find his time to play a bigger part in contributing to the Raiders success.

    On Saturday night before a packed standing room crowd of 3,107 at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, Fonstad scored two key goals to power the Raiders past the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-2 in a WHL regular season tilt.

Cole Fonstad has points in his last six games for the Raiders.

    The win allowed the Raiders to improve their WHL leading record to a remarkable 28-1-0-1.

    Fonstad now has points in his last six straight games totalling four goals and four assists over that span of time.

    “I think that is my role is to contribute offensively,” said Fonstad, who has 10 goals and 13 assists appearing in all of the Raiders 30 games this season. “Obviously at the start of the year, it wasn’t going as well as I thought.

    “It is nice to kind of get back and start making plays again and feeling more confident with the puck and build some chemistry with my linemates.”

    In recent games, Fonstad has been played on the line with overage standout Noah Gregor at centre and talented 16-year-old rookie Ozzy Wiesblatt at right wing. Fonstad said he has found a groove playing with Gregor and Wiesblatt.

    “Once you get chemistry, you kind of know where guys are,” said Fonstad, who was selected by the Raiders in the first round and fifth overall in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft. “Then, you can just get rolling.

    “It is a lot easier on the ice to kind of know where guys are.”

Cole Fonstad was selected in the NHL Entry draft by Montreal.

    When he wasn’t putting up points, Fonstad was pumped to see his teammates have success. He said he will always support and congratulate his teammates, when they do well.

    He was really excited to see how well 19-year-old right-winger Brett Leason has done in his third full season in the league. Leason had a pair of assists on Saturday, and he has netted at least one point in all 30 games the Raiders have played to this point in the campaign.

    The Calgary, Alta., product has obliterated his career highs in leading the WHL in scoring with 28 goals and 36 assists for 64 points. Leason and Raiders star goaltender Ian Scott have been invited to the main selection camp for Canada’s world junior team, which starts Tuesday and runs through to Friday in Victoria, B.C.

Cole Fonstad controls the puck in the offensive zone.

    “We all knew Leas (Brett Leason) was a great player last year,” said Fonstad. “To see him come and how much he is producing this year, it is special to see.

    “It is pretty amazing for a guy to go unnoticed the last couple of years and just come into this year and take off like that. Obviously, we are really happy for him to go to the world junior camp. We think he is going to be great there.”

    As for Saturday’s game, the Wheat Kings withstood the Raiders initial push and opened the game’s scoring at the 14:18 mark of the first period. While working on the power play, Wheat Kings left-winger Linden McCorrister gathered a loose puck in front of the Raiders net and popped home his 10^th tally of the season to give Brandon a 1-0 lead.

    At the start of the second, Brandon tried to clamp down on the host side with some tight checking.

Cole Fonstad, right, celebrates his first goal in Saturday’s game.

    With 5:29 to play in the second, the Raiders offence exploded scoring three times in a span of 89 seconds to go ahead 3-1.

    Fonstad started the surge sniping home a shot from the slot.

    Just 40 seconds later, fan favourite and power forward Kody McDonald knocked home a rebound from a shot taken by offensive defenceman Max Martin to put the Raiders ahead 2-1.

    Just 49 seconds after that tally, overage centre Sean Montgomery scored on the power play to complete the Prince Albert surge. Leason picked up an assist on Montgomery’s goal to ensure his point scoring streak to start the season stayed alive.

    Fonstad was pumped he was able spark his club scoring his team’s first goal.

Brett Leason has points in all of the Raiders 30 games this season.

    “It felt good,” said Fonstad. “We were taking some penalties there and kind of got away from our game.

    “It was good to kind of get the momentum back. I think it got some energy back. I think, when we are on our game or get some little momentum like that, we can score a lot of goals really fast.”

    The Wheat Kings gained some traction before the second frame ended, when star right-winger Luka Burzan scored 50 seconds after Montgomery’s marker to cut Prince Albert’s edge to 3-2.

    At the 1:56 mark of the third, Fonstad scored his second of the night firing home the rebound of a shot taken by Gregor to give the Raiders a 4-2 advantage.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was pleased to see Fonstad hit another gear and expects the third-year winger will have more big moments as the campaign moves on. 

Noah Gregor had three points for the Raiders on Saturday.

    Habscheid said it will make the Raiders that much more able to keep winning, if Fonstad keeps hitting a higher gear.

    “He is a big part of our team,” said Habscheid. “He is a big part of last year.

    “If he can step up and keep playing, that will help our depth and just make us more hard to defend against. Goal scorers score goals, and if they don’t, they get frustrated and they lose a little bit of confidence. He got a couple tonight, and that should help his confidence.”

    Brandon appeared to trim the Raiders edge to one goal later on in the third, but McCorrister had a goal disallowed because he grabbed the puck and chucked it into the Prince Albert goal on a net scramble.

    Gregor scored the Raiders final goal with 5:30 remaining in the third period to go along with two assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department. The tally by the Beaumont, Alta., product was his 100th career WHL regular season goal.

    Scott turned away 39 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Jiri Patera turned away 42 shots to take the setback in net for the Wheat Kings, who fell to 14-9-3-3.

Riley the Raider has fun with a young fan.

    Fonstad wants to keep his hot streak going, especially considering the Raiders could potentially be without Leason and Scott for some time if they make Canada’s world junior team.
    Both are slated to leave the Raiders for the Hockey Canada selection camp on Monday.

    “Obviously, those guys are huge parts of our team,” said Fonstad. “Scotty (Scott), he can win you a game.

    “He is the best goalie in the league by far. We feel that, and we’re lucky to have him. People are going to have to step up and fill their roles.

    “We’re just going to have to buckle down and get these wins.”

The Raiders salute the fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The Raiders return to action on Sunday, when they travel to Saskatoon to face the Blades (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

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

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