Raiders veterans come up clutch in 4-3 win in Game 6

Prince Albert forces series-deciding Game 7 with Oil Kings

Lukas Dragicevic scored the Game 6 winner for the Raiders.

Lukas Dragicevic, Rilen Kovacevic, Aiden Oiring and Max Hildebrand are trying to live up to a cliché that says, “Legends are made in the playoffs.”

The four veterans had monster efforts on Sunday to ensure their Prince Albert Raiders would stave off elimination from the WHL Playoffs for a second straight game. Locked in a 3-3 tie with the host Edmonton Oil Kings late in the third period of Game 6 of a best-seven-series first round series in the WHL Playoffs, Oil Kings overage defenceman Josh Mori would take a hooking penalty with 63 seconds remaining in the frame.

Working on the ensuing power play, Kovacevic, who is a star overage right-winger, passed the puck from the right wing to Dragicevic, who was positioned on the point just inside the centre of the blue-line. Dragicevic, who is a star 19-year-old defenceman, one-timed home a shot with 52.2 seconds remaining in the frame to put the Raiders up 4-3.

The Raiders proceed to kill of the rest of the time in the frame to make the 4-3 score hold up as the game’s final outcome to the disappointment of most of the 5,052 spectators in attendance at Rogers Place.

With the win, the Raiders even up the best-of-seven series at 3-3. They force a series-deciding Game 7 that is set back at their storied and historic home rink in the Art Hauser Centre for Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The winner of Game 7 will advance to a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series to take on the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Tigers topped the Eastern Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 47-17-3-1 mark.

Dragicevic netted the winning goal for the second straight game for the Raiders. In Game 5 on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre, Dragicevic netted two goals including the winner, one assist and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department in a 4-2 win on that night.

The Raiders were trailing their series with the Oil Kings 3-1 before rallying to win the last two contests to even the series up at 3-3.

Prince Albert will be attempting to rally and win a series they were down 3-1 in for the first time 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 10th of that year.

Aiden Oiring had a pair of goals for the Raiders.

In Sunday’s win over the Oil Kings, Kovacevic had one goal, three assists and a plus-two rating. Oiring had a pair of goals and a plus-one rating. Hildebrand, who is the Raiders star 20-year-old netminder, made 30 saves to backstop the Prince Albert side to victory.

Breakout rookie defenceman Daxon Rudolph, who turned 17-years-old in March, had a pair of assists to aid the Raiders triumph.

The Game 6 clash started out as more of a tight-checking affair. The Oil Kings exited the first period with a 1-0 lead thanks to a power-play goal coming from overage centre and ace agitator Marshall Finnie. Finnie deflected home a shot from Oil Kings captain Gavin Hodnett to give the host side a one-goal lead with 2:14 to play in the opening frame.

The Raiders had a goal disallowed at the 10:17 mark of the first, when it was ruled 16-year-old rookie right-winger Ty Menuier deflected home a tally with a high stick. The officials went to a video review to confirm the call.

At the 8:34 mark of the second, the Raiders evened the score at 1-1 with their first power-play goal of the night. Kovacevic had the puck on the right-wing boards and fed a pass across the face the Edmonton goal to Oiring, who was positioned by the left post. Oiring tapped home the equalizer for the only tally of the frame.

After a tight checking first 40 minutes, the third period turned into a wide open 1980s style game.

Just 58 seconds into the frame, Kovacevic sniped home a breakaway tally short-handed to put the Raiders up 2-1. At the 6:19 mark of the stanza, Oiring netted his second of the contest lifting a shot to the top left corner of the Edmonton net close in at the left side of the goal to give the visitors a 3-1 edge.

The Oil Kings answered back just 13 seconds later. Oil Kings 20-year-old left-winger Rylen Roersma potted a rebound from Landon Hanson shot that rebounded out to the left faceoff circle to cut the Raiders lead to 3-2.

Hanson than fired home the equalizer on a shot from a right-wing rush just 61 seconds later to force a 3-3. The Oil Kings second-year right-winger snuck a shot between the legs of Hildebrand.

Daxon Rudolph had two assists for the Raiders.

It looked like all the momentum was going to go in the host side’s favour after Raiders 20-year-old left-winger Niall Crocker took a double minor for high-sticking with 8:26 remaining in the third. Crocker’s infraction will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

Oil Kings star left-winger Adam Jecho hit the post early in the four-minute power-play chance. The Raiders proceeded to get a big penalty kill to change the momentum of the contest once again.

That set the stage for Dragicevic to score his winner with Crocker providing a screen in front of Oil Kings rookie netminder Ethan Simcoe, who turned 19-years-old in early March. The officials video reviewed the goal checking for possible incidental contact by Crocker on Simcoe, but the video showed Crocker contacted Simcoe after the puck from Dragicevic’s shot entered the Edmonton net.

Simcoe turned away 19 shots to take the setback in net for the Oil Kings.

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.

Both sides are starting to deal with their issues on the health front too. Raiders star left-winger Tomas Mrsic was lost to a skate cut late in the first period of the Raiders Game 5 victory. The Oil Kings were without rookie star right-winger Lukas Sawchyn, who turned 18-years-old in February, with an undisclosed ailment for a second straight contest.

The Raiders and Oil Kings have played highly competitive and even series, so it seems fitting the set goes to a winner-take-all Game 7.

The last time the Raiders played a Game 7 in the WHL Playoffs came back on May 13, 2019 in the WHL Championship Series. On that night at the Art Hauser Centre, Dante Hannoun scored his famed overtime winner to give the Raiders a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants and helped the Raiders capture the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions.

Max Hildebrand made 30 saves in goal for the Raiders.

Now, we get to see who will shine in the upcoming Game 7 between the Raiders and Oil Kings and add to the WHL’s post-season lore.

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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Long battle ahead? – Raiders, Oil Kings delivering solid post-season fight

Daxon Rudolph, left, and Marshall Finnie have battled.

So far, the Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings are delivering your typical solid post-season series.

After two games, the series shows the potential of possibly being a longer one, which has been rare in recent WHL post-seasons. In 2023, only two of the eight best-of-seven first round series went past five games with four of those sets being sweeps. In 2024, only one of the eight first round series went past five games and there were also four series sweeps.

In this year’s battle between the Raiders and Oil Kings, a split of the first two games is a fair result for both teams. The Oil Kings claimed Game 1 this past Friday at the Art Hauser Centre 3-1 with an empty-net goal.

Edmonton held a 40-32 edge in shots on goal, but the Raiders left that contest with a feeling of what might have been. There were times in that contest it seemed like nerves of playing the first game of the post-season might have gotten to the Prince Albert side.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.

Feisty affair – Oil Kings slip past Raider 5-4 in penalty filled clash

The Raiders and Oil Kings tangle in a second period scrum.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Jeff Truitt wanted to see his team getting going a touch quicker to counter a feisty foe.

On Friday, Truitt’s Prince Albert Raiders faced the Edmonton Oil Kings in a feisty WHL regular season contest that saw the two sides combine for 71 minute in penalties. The Oil Kings took 12 infractions for 35 minutes in penalties, and the Raiders had 14 infractions for 36 minutes in penalties.

When the dust settled, the Oil Kings edged the host Raiders 5-4 before a standing room crowd of 2,691 mostly unhappy spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The Oil Kings converted on 3-of-7 power-play chances in the contest, while the Raiders were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Oil Kings celebrate a third period goal from Adam Jecho (#43).

The Edmonton side played an agitating brand of hockey that at times got under the skin of the Prince Albert players. Truitt, who is the Raiders head coach, said his squad just needs to navigate that aspect just a slight bit better.

“They’ve got speed, they’ve got size, and they’ve got grit,” said Truitt. “We’ve got to be smarter in that department as well.

“We can’t take the slashing penalties and the 10-minute misconducts. We just can’t take ourselves out of the game line that. This is where you’ve got to bite the bullet here a little bit.

“You know what? There is another game between these two teams, and we just have to show up earlier.”

Adam Jecho had the winning goal for the Oil Kings.

The Raiders and Oil Kings have split their four head-to-head encounters this season with each side collecting two regulation victories. They will meet for the fifth and final time in the regular season on Saturday, March 15 in Edmonton at Rogers Place at 7 p.m. local time.

Raiders star defenceman Lukas Dragicevic thought his squad played harder after the Oil Kings took the game to them in the opening 20 minutes. He said the biggest thing for his Raiders in the short term was to regroup for their next game.

The Raiders return to action on Saturday when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos (7 p.m., InnovationPlex).

Lukas Dragicevic had a pair of goals for the Raiders.

Dragicevic said his club wants to play the Oil Kings again to improve upon what happened in Friday’s setback to the Edmonton side.

“We’re back in Edmonton’s building,” said Dragicevic noting the upcoming March 15 encounter. “We’re just going to continue to work hard, and we’re going to owe them one when we’re back there.”

Edmonton dominated the first period of Friday’s contest, but they weren’t able to crack on to the scoreboard due to the play of Raiders netminder Dimitri Fortin. Fortin was spectacular making 16 saves in the opening 20 minutes to keep the Oil Kings off the scoreboard.

The Raiders had just four shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, but one of those shots found its way into the Edmonton net. At the 5:14 mark of the stanza,

Tomas Mrsic had a pair of assists for the Raiders.

Dragicevic got the puck inside the left faceoff circle on a rush and wired home his 15^th tally of the season on the Raiders first shot on goal in the contest. That marker allowed the Raiders head into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.

Prince Albert jumped into the second period with more intensity holding an 18-10 edge in shots on goal in what turned out to be a back and forth frame.

The Oil Kings evened the score at 1-1 just 1:45 into the second on a power-play goal from Gracyn Sawchyn. Sawchyn fired home a shot from the left side of the Prince Albert goal for the equalizer.

Import centre Miroslav Holinka added the Oil Kings second power-play goal at the 12:44 mark of the second to put the visitor up 2-1.

Rylen Roersma had three assists for the Oil Kings.

Raiders captain Justice Christensen put the host side back on even terms firing home his 21^st of the season at the 14:13 mark of the second to force a 2-2 tie. With 54.5 seconds to play in the second, Raiders star centre Aiden Oiring tallied on the power play slipping home a bad angle shot from the right side of the Edmonton goal to give Prince Albert a 3-2 lead.

Just when it seemed the Raiders would take that lead into the second intermission, Oil Kings agitating overage centre Marshall Finnie scored with 18.4 seconds remaining in the third to force a 3-3 tie.

“You have to play a complete 60 (minutes),” said Truitt. “In the second period, we started getting power plays.

Gracyn Sawchyn had the Oil Kings first goal on Friday.

“We picked up our pace a little bit and picked up our battle. Now the game gets going. We pushed back.

“I thought there was lots of intensity in the second and the third.”

With 5:56 remaining in the third, Oil Kings veteran right-winger Cole Miller scored off a set faceoff play to give the visitors a 4-3 lead. The visitors added a key insurance marker with 2:38 remaining in the third with a power-play goal coming off the stick of import right-winger Adam Jecho to give Edmonton a 5-3 advantage.

The Raiders didn’t go away. With Fortin pulled for an extra attacker, Dragicevic added his second of the contest and 16^th tally of the campaign with 86 seconds remaining in the third to cut the Oil Kings lead to 5-4. Prince Albert pressed hard in the final 86 second but was unable to come up with another equalizer.

Miroslav Holinka had the Oil Kings second goal on Friday.

“Obivously, the first period wasn’t too great,” said Dragicevic. “The second and third were.

“We got a goal on the power play that was huge. Obviously, they got a couple. Third period, I thought we battled hard, and they just ended up getting the last one.”

Dimitri Fortin turned away 36 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders. Ethan Simcoe stopped 28 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Oil Kings.

Star left-winger Tomas Mrsic had a pair of assists for the Raiders. The Raiders were without star 20-year-old right-winger Rilen Kovacevic, who was serving a one-game suspension for being accessed a kneeing major and a game misconduct in 2-1 home ice overtime loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday.

Justice Christensen had the Raiders second goal on Friday.

Rylen Roersma, who is a 20-year-old left-winger, recorded three assists and was a plus-two in the plus-minus department for Edmonton. Holinka had a pair of assists to go with his goal. 

The Oil Kings, who improved to 33-22-2-2 get back at it on Sunday when they travel to Saskatoon to face the Blades (4 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Raiders fell to 33-20-4-1 with the setback and now have the same amount of standings point as the Brandon Wheat Kings (32-18-4-3) at 71 for first in the East Division. Prince Albert holds the standings tiebreaker due to having more wins, but the Wheat Kings have one game in hand on the Raiders.

Josh Mori controls the puck for the Oil Kings.

The Saskatoon Blades (30-19-3-4) sit four points back of both the Raiders and Wheat Kings. Saskatoon has two games in hand on Prince Albert and one game in hand on Brandon.

Dragicevic said his squad is excited to be battling late in the regular season for first place in the East Division. During the stretch run, he expects his Raiders will face some more feisty battles from opponents like what they experienced against the Oil Kings on Friday.

“It is hockey, right,” said Dragicevic. “Everything is going to always be tough, and we like it that way.

The Oil Kings celebrate their win on Friday.

“That is how we want to play, and they obviously just beat is tonight, which sucks. We’ll never complain about things getting greasy like that. That is how we want to play, and we’re just going to continue to get on with our season.”

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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