Allan ensures Raiders playoff push stays alive

Defenceman picks up four points in 6-1 win

Nolan Allan collected four points for the Raiders on Saturday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Nolan Allan made certain his Prince Albert Raiders stayed alive as far as a playoff push is concerned as the WHL regular season draws to a close.

On Saturday night, the 18-year-old standout defenceman recorded one goal and three assists to power the Raiders to a 6-1 victory over the Regina Pats before a season high crowd of 3,040 fans at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The win allows the Raiders hopes of chasing down a WHL playoff berth to remain very much alive.

The triumph over the Pats was a big bounce back effort for the Raiders, who dropped a 4-2 decision one night earlier on home ice to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Nolan Allan and his Raiders stayed alive in the WHL playoff chase.

“We were more ready to go tonight I think,” said Allan, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. “We weren’t real happy with our game against Brandon last night.

“We came in prepared today and got the job done. It was just our mindset. We are do or die right now.

“Everyone has to bring more. We need every inch we can get. We have to stick to that mentality and play that way every night.”

With the victory, the Raiders to improve to 26-33-4-1 to jump into ninth place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference standings with 57 points to sit one point ahead of the 24-31-6-2 Calgary Hitmen.

Nolan Allan scored a key second period goal on Saturday.

The Raiders trail the 26-32-5-2 Swift Current Broncos by two points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

The Pats fell to 24-33-3-2 with Saturday’s setback to the Raiders. Regina remains 11^th overall in the Eastern Conference six points behind the Broncos for the final playoff berth in the conference.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes gave themselves a little breathing room when it comes to locking up a playoff berth posting a 6-1 road victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat on Saturday. The Hurricanes improved to 29-30-3-1 to sit three points ahead of the Broncos for seventh in the Eastern Conference.

The Pats have six games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Hurricanes and Hitmen have five contests remaining on their slates, the Raiders have four games left on their schedule and the Broncos are set to hit the ice for three more contests this season.

Keaton Sorensen scored the Raiders first goal on Saturday.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said he liked how his players took ownership when it came to playing well in Saturday’s game with the Pats.

“That was all on the players,” said Habscheid. “We had one power play meeting before the game.

“It was time they took over the show. In the end, the players have to own it, and they owned it tonight. They deserved the benefits.”

Just 2:12 into the opening frame, the Raiders jumped ahead 1-0 on a goal from left-winger Keaton Sorensen. Sorensen entered the Regina zone on a rush down the right-wing, cut in close to the Pats goal and tucked home his 10^th tally of the season.

Connor Bedard fires home his breakaway goal for the Pats.

With 7:01 remaining in the opening frame, Pats 16-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard snapped home his 45^th tally of the season on a short-handed breakaway glove side on Raiders import rookie netminder Tikhon Chaika to even the score at 1-1.

Bedard sprung himself on the breakaway intercepting a pass in his own zone from Allan, who was working the point.

On top of evening the score of the contest at 1-1, Bedard tied the Pats record for most goals in a season by a 16-year-old matching the 45 markers former NHLer Jeff Friesen put up in the 1992-93 campaign.

Reece Vitelli scored the winning goal for the Raiders.

While the Pats got even on the scoreboard, Habscheid was pleased to see Allan didn’t get down on himself after Bedard scored.

“It was important the way he (Allan) responded after that first goal,” said Habscheid. “(Connor) Bedard is a pretty good player.

“You can say it was a lucky play, but really it wasn’t. I just like the way Nolan responded.”

The opening frame had an intense playoff feel to it where the Pats held an 11-9 edge in shots on goal, and both sides brought some physical play.

The Raiders started to gain an edge in the second period and ultimately captured the games momentum scoring two goals in a span of seven seconds to go up 3-1 with just under five minutes to play in the frame.

The Raiders celebrate Nolan Allan’s second period goal.

With 4:52 remaining in the third, Raiders captain Reece Vitelli blew home a midrange shot for a power-play goal that put the Raiders up 2-1. Allan and centre Evan Herman combined to set Vitelli up for the one-time chance that resulted in the power-play tally.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Vitelli won the draw to Allan. Allan zipped down the right wing into the Regina zone and banked home a bad angle shot to give the Raiders their 3-1 advantage just seven seconds after Vitelli’s goal.

Allan said that two-goal spark proved to be important in allowing the Raiders to ultimately take the game.

“It was big,” said Allan, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 184 pounds. “I think it turned the momentum our way.

The Raiders celebrate an Evan Herman power-play goal.

“We obviously got a couple of more on the power play to kind of put them to bed. Those were huge.”

Just 41 seconds in the third, the Raiders struck again on the power play with offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior firing home a point shot to post his 18^th goal of the season to give the hosts a 4-1 advantage. Allan picked up his second assist of the night on Kosior’s tally.

At the 9:04 mark of the third, Allan and Vitelli combined to set up Herman for the Raiders third power-play goal of the night. Herman tucked home his 23^rd goal of the season from the centre left side of the Regina goal.

Eric Johnston (#3) scored the Raiders last goal on Saturday.

The Raiders went 3-for-8 on the power play on Saturday, while the Pats were unable to capitalize with four chances with the man advantage.

Rookie defenceman Eric Johnston scored a point shot goal to round out the 6-1 final for the host side.

Chaika stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. 

Drew Sim turned away 22 shots to take the setback in net for the Pats.

When asked about his four-point game, Allan chuckled and deadpanned that it really wasn’t that big of a deal.

“I guess some of those assists were just secondary assists,” said Allan. “They are not really that nice.

The Raiders salute their fans after their win on Saturday.

“It is whatever. We got the win is the main thing. It was a huge two points against this team.”

The Pats now get back into action on Tuesday when they travel to Brandon to face the Wheat Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westman Place).

The Raiders are off until this coming Friday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on their archrivals the Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Allan said his squad has to keep up the urgency going forward.

“It is do or die,” said Allan. “We pretty much have to win all of our games here.

“Every night you are putting everything on the line. That is just the mentality that we need that we are going to have going forward to try and get into playoffs here.”

Injury ends season for Raiders’ Wiesblatt

Ozzy Wiesblatt is out for the rest of the season due to injury.

On Saturday afternoon, the Prince Albert Raiders announced star forward Ozzy Wiesblatt has been brought to an end due to an upper body injury.

A decision was made to shutdown Wiesblatt through consultation of the doctors from the Raiders and the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. The Calgary, Alta., product, who turned 20-years-old earlier this month, has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Sharks.

The Sharks selected Wiesblatt in the first round and 31^st overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Wiesblatt last suited up for the Raiders on March 12, when they downed the Blades at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon 1-0.

With 3.8 seconds remaining in the first period of that contest, Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart nailed Raiders left-winger Sloan Stanick hard into the right wing boards in the Prince Albert zone by the blue-line. Wiesblatt took exception to the hit and engaged Rhinehart in a fight.

The two had a short fight with Rhinehart getting in the majority of the hard shots. Wiesblatt left the game and did not return appearing to favour his left wrist.

Wiesblatt appeared in 43 games with the Raiders this season posting 10 goals, 31 assists and a minus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

Before leaving Prince Albert, Wiesblatt was a guest of the 900 CKBI post-game show in the Ches Leach Lounge hosted in front of fans following the Raiders 6-1 home ice victory over the Regina Pats.

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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Raiders start “go time” stretch on hot streak

Dallyn Peekeekoot (#26) and Keaton Sorensen (#20) battle for the Raiders.

The Prince Albert Raiders might be catching fire at the right time to give the 2021-22 campaign a memorable ending.

The current season has been a reload, reset or transition type campaign for the Raiders. On the ice, the team aims to set groundwork that will result in benefits in future seasons as only 19-year-old forward Ozzy Wiesblatt remains from the 2018-19 WHL Championship winning team.

In the present, the Raiders are in the thick of the race to earn a post-season berth, and the team’s current group could leave a memorable mark with how they do in this push.

To start their final 18 games or about the final quarter of their regular season schedule, the Raiders have rolled off four wins and one extra time setback. Entering play on Tuesday, that little hot stretch vaulted the Raiders into eighth place and holders of the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

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

Lisowsky hatty powers Blades to 6-4 victory over Raiders

Brandon Lisowsky celebrates his hat trick goal.

Brandon Lisowsky was on fire, and that was a welcome development for the Saskatoon Blades.

On Thursday night, Lisowsky potted three goals to power his Blades to a 6-4 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders to the delight of most of the 2,729 spectators in attendance at the SaskTel Centre.

The hat trick was the second of the season for Lisowsky, who scored three times in a 5-4 overtime victory over the Warriors in Moose Jaw on December 14.

On the season, Lisowsky, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 167 pounds, has 19 goals and seven assists in 32 games.

In Thursday’s clash between the Blades and Raiders, the contest had some jerky ebbs and flows that saw the two sides combine for 10 goals on 37 total shots.

Brandon Lisowsky has two hat tricks for the Blades this season.

Both teams started out kind of playing each other cautious over the opening 15 minutes. The Raiders broke thru on the scoreboard with 4:06 remaining in the first period.

With the Blades working on the power play, the hosts were trying to break out of their own end.

Raiders star center Ozzy Wiesblatt intercepted a pass at the Saskatoon blue-line and broke into the Blades zone on a breakaway. He snapped a short-handed marker past Blades star overage netminder Nolan Maier to give the visitors their 1-0 edge.

Ozzy Wiesblatt had the Raiders first goal on Thursday.

The Raiders extended their lead to 2-0 at the 2:18 mark of the second on a goal from defenceman Landon Kosior. Kosior pinched down from the point to the front of the Saskatoon net, received a pass from left-winger Evan Herman and popped home his eighth of the season.

The Blades proceeded to even things up 2-2 heading into the second intermission thanks to Lisowsky scoring his first two goals on the night.

The Port Coquitlam, B.C., product potted his first goal on the power-play banging home a rebound from a shot taken by linemate Jayden Wiens.

Lisowsky bagged his next marker scoring on a shot from close in front of the Blades net after converting a nice setup pass from 17-year-old right-winger Kyren Gronick coming from behind the Prince Albert goal.

The Raiders bench checks out the replay of a disallowed goal.

With under 50 seconds to play in the second, the Raiders thought they went ahead 3-2, when 18-year-old left-winger Sloan Stanick snapped a shot past Blades star overage netminder Nolan Maier.

The Blades coaches challenged that the play was offside, and the officials ruled the play was indeed offside after video review causing the goal to be disallowed.

The replay in the building showed Raiders centre Hayden Pakkala was unable to keep the puck onside while holding it at the Saskatoon blue-line.

Just 34 seconds into the third, the Blades jumped ahead 3-2 on a tally from captain Aiden De La Gorgendiere. De La Gorgendiere received a pass on the Prince Albert zone, skated into the left slot and wired a shot past Raiders netminder Tikhon Chaika.

Sloan Stanick (#23) jets up ice for the Raiders.

Lisowsky proceeded to net his hat trick goal to extend the Blades lead to 4-2 at the 5:59 mark of the third. Working hard on the forecheck in the Prince Albert zone, Lisowsky took the puck from a Raiders player in front of the Prince Albert net and blasted home his 19^th of the season.

Just 46 seconds after that tally, the Blades struck on the power play, when Wiens tipped home a point shot from De La Gorgendiere to the top corner of the Prince Albert goal.

Following that tally, the Raiders pulled Tikhon, who stopped 15 of 20 shots sent his way. He took the setback in goal for the Raiders (12-17-1-1).

Cole Tisdale played the rest of the way in relief stopping one of two shots sent his way.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere had a key goal for the Blades.

Blades star centre Tristen Robins beat Tisdale on a sick deke move to put the hosts up 6-2.

The Raiders attempted to make a comeback as import left-winger Vladislav Shilo scored with 3:06 remaining in the third and 17-year-old left-winger Niall Crocker potted his second marker of the season with 1:23 remaining in the third to cut Saskatoon’s lead to 6-4.

Maier stopped 11 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (17-13-1-1).

The two archrivals have met six times this season with each side claiming three wins. At the moment, these squads aren’t slated to meet again until well into the new year on March 11, 2021.

Since returning from the WHL Christmas break, both the Blades and the Raiders have each played three games in four nights, and overall both teams haven’t looked sharp in the defensive end and in goal resulting in those clubs being involved in high-scoring games.

The Blades celebrate their victory on Thursday.

Both squads would likely welcome at least four consecutive days of practice to be able iron things out on the defensive end and in net. For the moment, the two sides have a fairly quick turnaround before taking the ice again.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they host their traditional New Year’s Day game against the 23-8-2-1 Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

The Raiders get back at it on Sunday when they host the Oil Kings (6 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Following those games with the Oil Kings, the Blades and Raiders will get an adequate practice stretch that will allow them to sharpen up on the defensive end and in goal.

Raiders ink Ritchie to WHL player agreement, other notes

The Prince Albert Raiders have both of their first round picks in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft locked up.

On Thursday, the Raiders signed forward Ryder Ritchie to a WHL Standard Player Agreement. The Raiders selected Ritchie in the first round and 14^th overall in the WHL Prospects Draft held on December 9.

Ritchie, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 145 pounds, has a pair of goals and five assists in six games with Kelowna’s Rink Hockey Academy Under-18 prep team. He is the son of former NHLer Byron Ritchie.

The Raiders now have their top four picks from the WHL Prospects Draft held on December 9 signed to WHL Standard Player Agreements including their other first round selection in forward Cole Peardon, who was picked 13^th overall. They also previously signed forward Grady Martin (second round, 32^nd overall) and defenceman Seth Tansem (second round, 43^rd overall).

• On Thursday, the WHL announced that all team activities were paused for the Swift Current Broncos after the number of players on their CHL COVID-19 Protocol List grew to four. The Broncos home game on Thursday against the Winnipeg Ice and their scheduled home contest on Friday against the Regina Pats have been postponed.
• Bailey Peach had a monster game for the Victoria Royals on Thursday night. The 20-year-old left-winger was in on every Royals goal posting a hat trick and four assists as the Royals downed the visiting Vancouver Giants 7-3. The Royals, who have won three straight, improved to 12-13-4, while the Giants fell to 14-16-1.
• Garin Bjorkland, a 19-year-old netminder, made 41 saves on Thursday helping the Medicine Hat Tigers down the visiting Calgary Hitmen 3-2. The Tigers received a pair of goals from 17-year-old left-winger Tyler MacKenzie in improving to 6-19-3-1, while the Hitmen fell to 12-12-3-2.

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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Raiders’ Gislason gets early Christmas souvenir

Defenceman’s first career WHL goal comes up a winner

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Tayem Gislason (#5).

Tayem Gislason picked up a special milestone as an early Christmas gift.

On Saturday night, the 18-year-old defensive-defenceman scored his first career WHL goal. As an extra bonus, Gislason’s tally ended up being the winner as his Prince Albert Raiders downed the host Saskatoon Blades 4-1 in a WHL regular season clash played before 4,004 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

With the two sides locked in a 1-1 tie and 7:46 remaining in the third period, Gislason fired home a point shot through a screen to put his side in front 2-1.

“It felt really good,” said Gislason, who is skating through his second season with the Raiders. “We were working them for a long time in the O-zone in the second and third there.

Tayem Gislason scored his first career WHL goal on Saturday.

“I just got lucky that it was me who scored. I had a lane, and I saw we had a guy in front. I just threw it on net and hoped for the best.

“I thought it got tipped by someone else, but it ended up being mine.”

Following that tally, Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt and left-winger Evan Herman sealed victory for the visitors scoring empty-net goals inside the final 95 seconds of the third.

Saturday’s clash was the last contest for both sides before going into their respective WHL Christmas breaks.

Going into that break, Gislason was pumped to get his first WHL tally, and now he has a goal puck and a story to tell to family and friends when he returns home to Winnipeg, Man.

Tayem Gislason is known as a defensive-defenceman.

He was also happy to finally tally a goal after going goalless last season appearing in 23 contests of the Raiders abbreviated 24-game campaign.

“It just feels good like a weight off the shoulders,” said Gislason, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 181 pounds. “It was exciting.”

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was pleased to see Gislason get rewarded with his first career WHL goal. Habscheid said his sophomore defender made the smart and non-difficult play in throwing a puck on net when a screen was set up allowing the Raiders rearguard to pick up a goal where the puck had enough juice to cross the goal-line.

“He (Gislason) is a good kid,” said Habscheid, whose team has won six of their last nine games. “He is a defender, and then he gets the game winner like that, so guys are happy for him.

Tikhon Chaika stopped 26 shots for the Raiders.

“He just shot it, and it kind of banked around a little bit. I don’t think it touched the back of the net, but it really doesn’t matter.”

As for the rest of Saturday’s game, the teams played through a fairly tight checking first 40 minutes where the shots on goal were tied 16-16.

On the physical front, Blades defenceman Rhett Rhinehart put on a big hit driving Raiders rearguard Nolan Allan into the boards late in the first period.

In the second period, Raiders defenceman Terrell Goldsmith flattened Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere with an open ice hit.

While the game was scoreless after 40 minutes, Gislason said his Raiders felt like they were on the cusp of breaking thru with a goal.

Misha Volotovskii, right, netted the Blades teddy bear goal.

“We were in their zone pretty much the whole second period,” said Gislason, whose squad had a 10-6 edge in shots on goal in the second frame. “We just said we’ll get one eventually.

“We just have to keep doing what we are doing.”

The Raiders did indeed break thru on the scoreboard at the 3:57 mark of the third period while working on the power play. During a net scramble, Raiders veteran defenceman Landon Kosior pinched down from the point, collected a loose puck and wired it to the top corner of the Saskatoon goal to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Just under three minutes later, the Blades evened the score at 1-1. Blades centre Misha Volotovskii had the puck at the right side of the Prince Albert net, and he snapped a shot past Raiders netminder Tikhon Chaika

The clean up after the Blades teddy bear toss goal was scored.

As Saturday’s contest was the Blades Teddy Bear Toss game, Volotovskii’s goal caused teddy bears and other stuffed animals to rain down to the ice from the stands. The tally was the second goal of the season for the 16-year-old rookie.

The teddy bears and stuffed animals were collected to give out to Saskatoon and area charities.

That set the stage for Gislason to score his winner.

With the Raiders holding a 2-1 edge, the Blades thought they might have evened the score during a frantic net scramble around the Prince Albert net that resulted in a stopped with 1:47 remaining in the third when Chaika covered the puck.

Misha Volotovskii has two goals as a 16-year-old rookie.

The officials went to a video review to see if the Blades had scored and ruled no goal due to the fact the puck did not cross the goal-line.

The Raiders promptly followed up scoring their two empty-net goals to seal the win.

Nolan Maier turned away 22 of 24 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades (15-13-1). Chaika stopped 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (12-14-1-1).

Saturday’s game concluded a home-and-home series between the two sides, where the Blades pulled out a 3-2 win over the Raiders in Prince Albert on Friday thanks to a screen point shot goal from De La Gorgendiere.

The Blades thought they scored during this mad scramble.

Habscheid was glad his club was able to split the series after falling on Friday thanks to Saturday’s win.

“It is a win,” said Habscheid, whose team has won three out of the four head-to-head encounters with the Blades this season. “The last game before the Christmas break and guys are thinking about going home, and it is tough to get their focus.

“I thought they did a good job. It was a close game, and I though both goaltenders were pretty good. It could have went either way.

“They got the bounce last night, and we got it tonight.”

The Raiders celebrate their victory on Saturday.

Both teams return to action when they face each other once again on Monday, December 27 at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

Gislason was happy his team heads into the Christmas break on a high note and notes netting his first WHL goal was a nice bonus too.

“It is going to be really good,” said Gislason. “We have good energy going into the break.”

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 positive bounce from De La Gorgendiere does in Raiders

The Blades celebrate Aidan De La Gorgendiere’s winning goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – When it came down to puck luck, the last positive bounce belonged to the Saskatoon Blades.

On Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Blades found themselves locked in a 2-2 draw with the host Prince Albert Raiders late in the third period of a WHL regular season contest.

With 3:21 remaining in the third, the Blades went ahead 3-2, when captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere slipped home a point shot through a screen into the Prince Albert goal. The puck hit a body in front of the net and took a positive Saskatoon bounce off the ice before finding its way past Raiders netminder Tikhon Chaika.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere came through for the Blades.

That tally stood up as the winner giving the Blades their first win this season against their arch-rivals in three tries.

“I thought we were OK,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, whose team had posted two straight wins leading into Friday’s game. “I thought a lot of times we wanted to make plays we shouldn’t have.

“We wanted to make hard plays instead of easy plays. Sometimes that comes with feeling a little bit overconfident. We weren’t efficient I didn’t think.

“Like I said, we were OK, but on the other side, you could see some pucks just went off the end of our sticks or instead of going that way they went that way. It wasn’t an easy night, and how you get through that is by making the right plays. When we didn’t, it kind of bounced around and ended up in our net.”

Reece Vitelli scored for the Raiders in the third period.

The Raiders came out of the gate with good jump. They went ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal at the 6:59 mark of the first period, when left-winger Sloan Stanick fired home a rebound from his own shot close in on the Saskatoon goal.

Just when it seemed the Raiders were carrying all the momentum, the Blades turned things around at the 9:35 mark of the opening frame when right-winger Brendan Lee fired home a mid-range shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal to even the score at 1-1.

The visitors went ahead 2-1 just under two minutes later when Blades centre Trevor Wong blasted home another mid-range shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal. Wong’s tally was nearly identical to Lee’s goal.

At the 15:49 mark of the first, Stanick received a double minor for high sticking, which will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

Sloan Stanick scored the Raiders first goal on Friday.

The double minor was part of three straight power plays the Blades had to end the opening 20 minutes, and they were unable to score on any of those opportunities.  The Raiders actually held a 14-9 edge in shots on goal in the opening frame.

In the second period, Blades star goalie Nolan Maier came up with some big stops.

He turned away right-winger Tyson Laventure on a wraparound early in the frame.

At around the 7:30 mark, Maier stopped Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt on a wraparound. Wiesblatt and the Raiders thought at first he scored on the play, but the officials on the ice ruled no goal.

The next stoppage came with 11:01 remaining in the frame, and the officials went to a video review to check out the Wiesblatt chance. 

Ozzy Wiesblatt thought he scored on a wraparound.

The video evidence upheld the call on the ice as Maier trapped the puck on the goal-line.

“There were some things we didn’t do efficiently, and that was kind of the key word tonight,” said Habscheid. “We weren’t as efficient as we were maybe against a team like Winnipeg.

“We weren’t happy making the easy play. We wanted to look for that harder play. That is good, because that means you are confident, but sometimes in the game of hockey, it is hard enough.

“When you have a chance to make an easy play you need to make it. You always take what is given, and I didn’t think we did a real good job of that tonight.”

Maier proceeded to make a couple of big stops after Blades giveaways in their own zone.

Nolan Maier made 31 saves for the Blades on Friday.

The Yorkton, Sask., product then made a sweet glove stop on Raiders overage defenceman Remy Aquilon.

Late in the second, Stanick was sprung on a breakaway into the Saskatoon zone. He made a deke on Maier and had an open net on a backhand chance only for the puck to roll off his stick.

“We definitely had good chances in the game,” said Raiders captain Reece Vitelli. “It didn’t go our way tonight for some of them.

“Obviously, we would like to have those goals. Bounces will happen during a hockey game. We just have to go out try harder tomorrow and have a full 60 and have a good last game here.”

The Raiders evened the score 2-2 with a power-play goal at the 3:55 mark of the third. Vitelli deflected home a point shot from Wiesblatt for the equalizer.

Brendan Lee scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

That set the stage for De La Gorgendiere to come through with his winner.

Even after the Blades went ahead 3-2, the Raiders had a glorious chance to net the equalizer in the final seconds of the third. In the dying seconds of the third, Raiders right winger Carson Latimer found himself alone on Maier close in on the left side of the Saskatoon goal.

Maier came up with a big stop to preserve victory for the Blades.

Vitelli said it was tough to fall due to De La Gorgendiere’s positive bounce goal.

“We worked so hard there,” said Vitelli. “We came back there and tied it up.

“To have a goal like that, it sucks obviously. It cost us the game. Bounces happen in a hockey game, and we just have to come out stronger tomorrow.”

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

Chaika stopped turned away 25 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders (11-14-1-1). Nolan Maier stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in net for the Blades (15-12-1).

The two sides go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre in what will be the Blades Teddy Bear Toss game. Following that contest, both squads depart on their respective Christmas breaks.

Vitelli said Friday’s loss makes it easy to focus on Saturday’s contest in Saskatoon.

“Definitely playing Saskatoon is always fun,” said Vitelli. “Going into their building should be good.

“That is where our focus is right now and worrying about tomorrow.”

Prince Albert reassigns Serhyenko

Carter Serhyenko in action for the Raiders on November 5.

The Prince Albert Raiders cleared up a crowded crease.

On Friday, the Raiders reassigned 19-year-old netminder Carter Serhyenko to a junior A team that is still to be determined. The Saskatoon product, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 198 pounds, appeared in 17 games this season for the Raiders posting a 6-10-1 record, a 3.55 goals against average and a .881 save percentage.

Serhyenko had been with the Raiders since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. Overall, he appeared in 42 regular season games posting a 15-20-5 record, a 3.20 goals against average and a .887 save percentage.

Last Saturday, the Raiders acquired 19-year-old goaltender Cole Tisdale, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 170 pounds, from the Tri-City American in exchange for a seventh round selection in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft.

With Serhyenko’s reassignment, the Raiders are down to two goalies on their active roster in Tisdale and rookie 18-year-old Belarusian import Tikhon Chaika.

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First time a charm in shootout for Raiders’ Kosior

Prince Albert rallies for victory over Hitmen

Landon Kosior reacts to scoring in a tiebreaking shootout.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Landon Kosior capped a Prince Albert Raiders comeback victory cashing in on a personal WHL first.

On Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre, Kosior’s Raiders entered the third period training the visiting Calgary Hitmen 3-2. The Raiders tied the game 3-3 in the third to send the contest to overtime.

After a scoreless three-versus-three overtime period, the game went to a tiebreaking shootout where the Raiders were shooting first. The Raiders held a 1-0 edge in the tiebreaking session after two rounds after star 19-year-old centre Ozzy Wiesblatt score on the team’s second shot attempt.

Kosior was picked to shoot for the Raiders in the third round. The 19-year-old defenceman, who is in his third WHL season, would be taking his first career attempt in the shootout.

Landon Kosior had a big blocked shot for the Raiders.

The Regina, Sask., product snapped home a shot glove side on Hitmen netminder Ethan Buenaventura to clinch a 2-0 win in the tiebreaking session and give the Raiders a 4-3 outright victory in the WHL regular season contest to the delight of the 2,115 spectators in attendance.

“I was excited,” said Kosior, who team was picked up a win for the first time this season when trailing after two periods. “Any time you can be relied on like that by your coach, it is always exciting.

“I think I just made the most out of it and took it as a boost of confidence and made a good shot.”

Kosior was pumped his shootout goal clinched the win for his squad.

“It was nice to get that,” said Kosior, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 189 pounds. “I saw Ozzy (Wiesblatt) kind of do the same thing (with the snap shot glove side).

The scene after Landon Kosior scores his shootout clincher.

“I went out there with the mindset that if it was open I would take that.”

Besides scoring the shootout clincher, Kosior was in on a couple of other big plays for the Raiders.

On the Raiders tally that tied the contest 3-3 with 8:16 to play in the third period, Kosior picked up a second assist on that play. He made a backhand pass to his defensive partner on that shift in Remy Aquilon on the right point.

Aquilon put a shot on goal that was tipped home by left-winger Keaton Sorensen for the equalizer.

Tikhon Chaika stops a shot in the tiebreaking shootout.

Right before the buzzer that ended the three-versus-three overtime session, Kosior blocked a shot from Hitmen rearguard Keegan Slaney to preserve the 3-3 tie and cause the contest to move to the shootout.

“I just saw the puck come out in front,” said Kosior, who has four goals and 11 assists appearing in all 25 of his team’s games this season. “I just saw a guy all alone.

“I knew on the clock there wasn’t much time left, so I just gave it everything I could to block it.”

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said Kosior has taken his game up to another level, and the bench boss was pleased to see the veteran defenceman come up with big plays in big moments.

Cale Sanders celebrates scoring the Raiders first goal on Saturday.

“He (Kosior) has been good,” said Habscheid. “There was a time all of a sudden the light switch went on for him.

“He laughs about it. He agrees. He is a really talented player not only for our team but in the league.

“He is a good two-way player. He is smart. He makes good passes, and his defensive game has come up quite a bit. He is a really important guy.”

The Raiders got out to a good start in Saturday’s game. At the 4:16 mark of the opening frame, Raiders right-winger Cale Sanders wired home a shot to the top right corner of the Calgary goal on a rush up the right wing to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.

The clean up after the Raiders toque and mittens toss goal.

As Saturday’s contest was the Raiders toque and mittens toss night, the spectators rained down toques and mittens to the ice along with teddy bears and other stuffed animals. The Raiders weren’t selling teddy bears at Saturday’s game, but fans were allowed to bring teddy bears and stuffed animals to the contest to throw on the ice.

All the items collected will go to Prince Albert area charities.

“Honestly, I forgot about it,” said Sanders about what was to happen when the Raiders scored their first goal on Saturday. “When I scored, I was like, ‘Oh. I guess I scored it.’”

A short time later, Hitmen centre Riley Fiddler-Schultz netted his 13^th goal of the season to even the score at 1-1.

Raiders captain Reece Vitelli potted his ninth of the season just under three minutes later to give the hosts a 2-1 edge heading into the first intermission.

Keegan Slaney (#7) scored for the Hitmen on Saturday.

In the second, the Hitmen got singles from centre Oliver Tulk and Slaney to take a 3-2 advantage into the second intermission.

That set the stage for the Raiders comeback the rest of the way.

“We know that we didn’t have our best game out there, but we did crawl back in the third,” said Sanders. “We had a great third and out battled them.

“We had to get a goal and we did. We came through in the third, and that is all that matters.”

Tikhon Chaika stopped 28 shots over 65 minutes and both shooters he faced in the shootout to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (10-13-1-1). Buenaventura turned away 22 shots over 65 minutes and stopped one of three shooters in the shootout to take the extra time setback in net for the Hitmen (11-9-2-2).

The Raiders celebrate their victory on Saturday night.

With Hitmen having downed the Blades in Saskatoon 4-2 on Friday night to enter Saturday’s game with some good momentum, Habscheid was pleased his Raiders found a way to pull out the comeback victory.

“When you are not above .500, any victory is good,” said Habscheid. “The comeback is nice.

“Calgary has been playing well. They’ve score a lot of goals, and they beat Saskatoon last night. We knew they were coming in really confident, and they are a good team.”

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they host the Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Hitmen return to Calgary and get back at it on Wednesday on home ice when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings (7 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).

Habscheid gets friendly one up on Stajan

Marc Habscheid points out directions during a stoppage.

Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was happy to get the friendly upper hand on one of his former world junior players.

On Saturday, the Raiders downed the visiting Calgary Hitmen 4-3 after a tiebreaking shootout at the Art Hauser Centre. One of the Hitmen’s assistant coaches is Matt Stajan, who joined the staff of Calgary’s WHL franchise before the start of the current campaign.

When Habscheid coached Canada’s entry at world juniors that were held jointly between Halifax and Sydney, N.S., in the 2002-03 season, Stajan was one of forwards on the Canadian side.

Saturday’s game was the first meeting of the current campaign between the Raiders and Hitmen.

It was also the Raiders toque and mittens toss game, and the fans could throw teddy bears or other stuffed animals on the ice after the Raiders first goal. All the items collected will go to Prince Albert area charities.

Raiders right-winger Cale Sanders netted the toque and mittens toss goal at the 4:16 mark of the first period.

That allowed Habscheid and Stajan to have a visit.

Marc Habscheid, centre, works the Raiders bench on Saturday.

“Just a little sidebar here, but it was fun for me, because Matt Stajan was on the other team,” said Habscheid. “I talked to him at the teddy bear break.

“He was my last choice at the world juniors in Halifax, and now he is on the bench across from me. It tells me two things. One, that world juniors Matt said was about 20 years ago, and two, I’m old I guess.”

Canada won silver at that world juniors in the 2002-03 campaign.

Following that world juniors, Stajan would go on to play 1,003 regular season games in the NHL spread over 15 seasons for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames collecting 146 goals and 267 assists. He last suited up in the NHL for the Flames in the 2017-18 campaign.

Habscheid was happy to see Stajan decided to get into coaching after his playing days wrapped up.

“It was good to see him,” said Habscheid. “It just goes to prove how precious every day is and how fast time flies.

“Matt is a heck of a guy, and it is good to see that he is in coaching, because he’ll make a good coach.”

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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