Raiders power play comes alive at timely time

Prince Albert surges to 5-2 win over Wild

A young player’s mistake was all that was needed to ignite the power play of the Prince Albert Raiders.

On Saturday night, the Raiders found themselves trailing the visiting Wenatchee Wild 2-1 in the third period of a tightly contested WHL regular season game to that point at the Art Hauser Centre. At the 5:36 mark of the third, Wild defenceman Boston Tait, who is a 15-year-old associate player call up, cleared the puck over the glass from his own zone to draw a delay of game penalty.

On the ensuing power play, the Raiders got buzzing hard in the Wenatchee zone. A short time after Raiders star offensive-defenceman Lukas Dragicevic hit the goalpost, the puck during a scramble got to the stick of Raiders 19-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube.

Dube potted a power-play goal for his 23^rd tally on the season to force a 2-2 tie. That goal started the Raiders on a four-goal surge to allow them to post a 5-2 victory to an appreciative crowd of 2,526 spectators.

The win was a third straight for the Raiders, and during their past nine outings, the Raiders have posted eight wins and one shootout loss. Thanks to this hot stretch, the Raiders sit first in the East Division with a 27-15-3-1 mark.

The Raiders sit four standings points ahead of both the Brandon Wheat Kings and Saskatoon Blades, who have identical 24-16-3-3 records. The Wheat Kings hold the standings tiebreaker against the Blades collecting two wins and an overtime setback in the four head-to-head meetings between those two sides. Brandon collected a 5-2 victory over the Pats in Regina on Saturday.

In Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Wild in Prince Albert, the visitors got out to a good start taking a 2-0 lead in the first period. Wild 18-year-old right-winger Luka Shcherbyna scored at the 3:16 mark, and 19-year-old right-winger Shaun Rios tallied with 2:02 remaining in the frame.

Tait picked up his first career WHL point in his second career WHL regular season game with an assist on Rios’s goal. The young rearguard was selected in the first round and 12^th overall by the Wild in last year’s WHL Prospects Draft and has been playing solid minutes with the Regina Pat Canadians under-18 AAA squad. In 35 games with the Pats Canadians this season, Tait has two goals and 18 assists.

He actually had a really good outing on Saturday posting a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department to go with his helper outside of his third period gaff that resulted in a delay of game penalty that the Raiders scored on.

Just 16 seconds after Rios scored to put the Wild ahead 2-0, Raiders captain Justice Christensen one-timed home a shot from the point for his 16^th goal of the season that cut the visitor’s lead to 2-1. Raiders rising 16-year-old star defenceman Daxon Rudolph fed Christensen a nice pass that he could drive to the back of the goal.

The Wild proceeded to carry play in the second outshooting the Raiders 15-7 in the frame, but Raiders star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand held the visitors at bay.

Just past the 10-minute mark of the second, a fight broke out between Wenatchee left-winger Deagan McMillan, who turned 20-years-old last month, and Raiders right-winger Oli Chenier, who recently turned 18-years-old. Chenier likely surprised a few people with how well he could throw punches and got the better of McMillan in the bout.

That set the stage for a strong Raiders finish in the third period that started with Tait taking a delay of game penalty that resulted in Dube’s power-play goal. With 7:53 remaining in the third, Raiders star 18-year-old left-winger Tomas Mrsic blew home his 29^th goal of the season from the front of the Wenatchee net to give the Raiders a 3-2 lead.

Shortly after Mrsic’s tally, the Raiders found themselves on the power play once again. With 5:56 remaining in the third, Raiders standout 20-year-old right-winger Niall Crocker scored with the man advantage with one his textbook goals banging home the rebound of one of his own shots from the front of the Wenatchee net. That tally pushed the Raiders advantage out to 4-2.

With 5:23 remaining in the third, the Wild pulled 19-year-old netminder Brendan Gee for an extra attacker. That opened the door for Raiders star 19-year-old centre Aiden Oiring to score into an empty net to give the Raiders a 5-2 lead.

After Gee returned to Wenatchee crease after Oiring scored, Wild 18-year-old left-winger Zane Saab thought he scored with 2:35 remaining in the third to trim the Raiders edge to 5-3. The officials went to a video review and disallowed Saab’s goal ruling it was knocked in with a high stick.

The 5-2 final outcome in the Raiders favour held up the rest of the way. Crocker and Oiring each finished the contest recording one goal and two helpers for the Raiders.

The Raiders went 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Wild failed to score on four opportunities with the man advantage.

Hildebrand stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Gee turned away 26-of-30 shots to take the setback in net for the Wild, who fell to 17-26-3-1.

The Wild sit one standings point back of the Kamloops Blazers (18-26-3) and the Seattle Thunderbirds (18-27-2-1) from forcing a three-way tie for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Western Conference.

Wenatchee returns to action on Tuesday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the 11-31-4-2 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

The Raiders get back at it on Wednesday when they hit the road to face the Hitmen in Calgary (7 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).

Thunderbirds end Tigers winning streak at 12, other notes

The Medicine Hat Tigers didn’t go down easy, when it came to protecting their winning streak.

The scrappy Seattle Thunderbirds went the distance to earn a much needed win as they continue to fight for a post-season berth.

On Saturday at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., the Tigers and Thunderbirds went through regulation and overtime locked in a 3-3 tie in a WHL regular season clash. They then ventured through a marathon tiebreaking shootout that lasted 11 rounds.

Ultimately, the Thunderbirds claimed the tiebreaking shootout 4-3 to also post a 4-3 victory in the overall contest.

The result brought an end to the Tigers 12 game winning streak. The extra time setback also closed the Tigers six-game road trip through the U.S. Division, where they won the first five games of that jaunt.

With the win, the Thunderbirds improved to 18-27-2-1 to equal the Kamloops Blazers (18-26-3) at 39 standings points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Blazers have one game in hand on the Thunderbirds.

If there is a tie between two teams for the final conference playoff berth in the WHL, the two squads that are in the deadlock would play a tiebreaking game.

Saturday’s clash between the Tigers and Thunderbirds got off to a spirited start with Tigers 18-year-old defenceman Bryce Pickford and Thunderbirds 17-year-old defenceman Jaxson Pawlenchuk engaging in a fight at the 2:52 mark of the opening frame.

The two squads then played through a scoreless opening 20 minutes with the Tigers holding a 14-10 edge in shots on goal.

In the second, Coster Dunn and Matej Pekar netting singles to give the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead. With 2:54 remaining in the second, Tigers star 19-year-old left-winger Hunter St. Martin scored his 31^st goal of the season to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 2-1.

St. Martin proceeded to add his 32^nd goal of the campaign and second tally of the night at the 9:48 mark of the third to even the score at 2-2.

With 7:07 remaining in the third, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna potted his 27^th goal of the season to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

That advantage didn’t hold. With 5:37 remaining in the third, Thunderbirds overage centre Hayden Pakkala netted the equalizer during a net scramble to force a 3-3 tie.

During the tiebreaking shootout, Oasiz Wiesblatt, Liam Ruck and Marcus Pacheco scored for the Tigers. Braeden Cootes, Nathan Pilling, Colton Gerrior and Radim Mrtka scored for the Thunderbirds, with Mrtka’s tally holding up as the shootout winner.

Jordan Switzer started in goal for the Tigers and played the first two periods turning away 22-of-24 shots he faced. He was pulled for a suspected leg injury.

Harrison Meneghin played the rest of the way for the Tigers taking the extra time setback. He turned away 14-of-15 shots in the third period and overtime and 7-of-11 shooters in the shootout.

Scott Ratzlaff stopped 31 shots over 65 minutes and turned away 8-of-11 shooters in the shootout.

Medicine Hat was without star defenceman Tanner Molendyk due to an undisclosed ailment.

The Tigers are off until Friday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m., Co-op Place).

The Thunderbirds also get back at it on Friday when they host the Spokane Chiefs (7 p.m. local time, Accesso ShoWare Center).

• On Saturday, Andrew Cristall recorded one goal, five assists and a plus-five rating in the plus-minus department as his Spokane Chiefs hammered the WHL leading Silvertips in Everett 10-3. The Silvertips have gone 1-2 over their last three games being outscored 20-13 over that stretch. They dropped a 7-3 decision to the Tigers on Wednesday.
• On Saturday, Cameron Schmidt recorded one goal, three assists and a plus-two rating as his Vancouver Giants thumped the visiting Kamloops Blazers 9-2. The Giants went 3-for-4 on the power play in the contest.
• On Saturday, Marek Rocak record one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating as his Swift Current Broncos doubled up the Rockets in Kelowna 6-3. Jackson Gillespie recorded two goals, one assist and a plus-three rating for the Rockets in the loss.
• On Saturday, netminder Ethan Simcoe made 35 saves to pick up a shutout victory as his Edmonton Oil Kings blanked the Hurricanes in Lethbridge 2-0. Marshall Finnie had a goal and an assist for the Oil Kings.
• On Saturday, the Red Deer Rebels blanked the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-0; the Victoria Royals slipped past the Portland Winterhawks 2-1; the Prince George Cougars downed the Tri-City Americans 5-2; and the Brandon Wheat Kings dumped the Regina Pats 5-2.

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

-------

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

Sidorov loves hockey, nets hat trick to push Blades past T-birds

Egor Sidorov celebrates his hat trick goal on Saturday.

The more fun Egor Sidorov has the better he plays.

Taking ice on Saturday against the Seattle Thunderbirds, who entered the night leading the WHL’s overall standings, at the SaskTel Centre, the 18-year-old Belarusian import right-winger, who is residing in Canada full time, set out to be the best version of himself suiting up for the Saskatoon Blades. That meant a smile was on his face that was a mile wide and he approached the game with the joy of a classic Saskatchewan farm kid skating outside on a frozen over slough just outside of a classic “wheat province” town like Borden.

Sidorov proceeded to post his third hat trick of the season to power the Blades to a 4-2 victory. With the two sides locked in a 1-1 tie, Sidorov proceeded to score once late in the second and twice in the third to give the Blades a 4-1 edge. The host side cruised to victory from there.

Egor Sidorov (#19) enjoys his hat trick goal with his teammates.

After each time he scored, Sidorov, who stands 6-feet and weighs 180 pounds, celebrated each of his goals with childlike enthusiasm. When he was named the game’s first star, Sidorov, who is a fan favourite, decided to have some fun with the fans.

For years, the Blades players give souvenir sticks out to the fans to acknowledge three star selections during home games. When Sidorov came out to hand out his souvenir stick, he started to skate across centre ice, but made a quick u-turn to toss his stick to a child aged supporter who was sitting just down the row from the Thunderbirds bench.

Since arriving in Saskatoon before the start of the 2021-22 campaign, Sidorov has gotten better at speaking English, but he kind of sticks to simple sentences. Still, he draws the biggest fan reaction to the live audience post-game interviews Blades play-by-play voice Les Lazaruk does either in the concourse area on the west side of the building that has restaurant style seating or from the building’s main fan lounge.

Egor Sidorov controls the puck in the offensive zone.

Following Saturday’s win over the Thunderbirds, Sidorov was pulled over for an on ice interview next to the Blades bench by game host Clayton Kroeker. The first thing Sidorov did was thank the 4,605 spectators for coming out for that night’s game.

Most of the fans were still in the building to see Sidorov take his first star hours, and they gave the Blades star a nice round of applause. Sidorov was indeed the best version of himself, and the Blades seemed to have their “moxie” going for the whole contest.

Over the past eight games, the Blades, who improved to 27-8-2-1 with the win on Saturday to sit fifth overall in the WHL standings, faced their hardest stretch of quality opponents. On top of taking on the Thunderbirds, they faced the Eastern Conference leading Winnipeg Ice twice, the Red Deer Rebels, who equaled Seattle for most standings points at night’s end, once and the Portland Winterhawks, who sit fourth overall in the WHL standings, once.

Egor Sidorov (#19) goes by Seattle LW Kyle Crnkovic on a rush.

On top of that, the Blades took on the 22-12-3-1 Calgary Hitmen, encountered the 20-17-0-1 Swift Current Broncos on a hot streak and mixed it up with the 21-19-1-1 Regina Pats as they start to get hot with phenom centre Connor Bedard back in the lineup.

Saturday’s victory over the Thunderbirds marked the second time the Blades have posted a win over their challenging last eight game stretch. During that stretch, the Blades had outings where they played well and lost.

That included falling twice to the Ice in Winnipeg 2-0 on Dec. 30, 2022 and 2-1 in overtime on Dec. 31, 2022 along with taking a 3-1 setback against the Winterhawks at home on Wednesday. In those games, the Blades made one or two mistakes that were costly.

Austin Elliott made 30 saves in goal for the Blades on Saturday.

The Blades had other outings where their game went away from them over stretches of like 10 minutes. Along with those losses, the Blades downed the Rebels at home 6-2 on Jan. 7.

The Saskatoon side needed a traction win against a top tier club to get a groove going again. Saturday’s win over the Thunderbirds seemed to provide just that.

The Blades systematically took control of play in the first period and broke through on the scoreboard with 6:07 remaining in the frame. Blades star centre Trevor Wong received a pass in front of the Seattle net from linemate Jake Chiasson and wired home a midrange shot for his 15^th tally of the season to put the hosts up 1-0.

Trevor Wong had a goal and two assists for the Blades.

When the first period came to an end, the Blades were holding a 10-5 edge in shots on goal.

The Thunderbirds pushed back in the second. The visitors evened the score at 1-1 at the 11:12 mark of the frame, when 18-year-old right-winger Nico Myatovic swooped from behind the Saskatoon net into the right faceoff circle and wired home his 16^th goal of the season.

At that point, Sidorov, who is rated 86^th among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings, went to work. With the Blades working on the power play, Sidorov received a pass from Blades captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, set up to the left of the right faceoff dot in the Seattle zone and zipped home a shot short side on Thunderbirds netminder Scott Ratzlaff to put the hosts up 2-1 with 1:24 remaining in the second.

Nico Myatovic scored the Thunderbirds first goal on Saturday.

Sidorov netted his second tally of the contest at the 5:46 mark of the third off a two-on-one rush. 

On the play, Wong entered the Seattle zone with the puck on a rush down the left wing. He fed a pass across the front of the Seattle net to Sidorov who quickly snapped home a shot to give the Blades a 3-1 advantage.

At the 11:28 mark of the third, Sidorov completed the hat trick. He got the puck alone at the left side of the Seattle net, put a deke on Ratzlaff and lifted a shot over top the netminder’s blocker to give the Blades a 4-1 advantage.

In 27 games with the Blades this season, Sidorov now has 22 goals, 19 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department.

Kevin Korchinski had a goal for the Thunderbirds on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds didn’t go away. With 3:01 remaining in the third, Thunderbirds offensive-defenceman Kevin Korchinski swooped down from the point to the left side of the Saskatoon net and covered a backdoor feed from Thunderbirds right-winger Brad Lambert to cut the Saskatoon lead to 4-2.

Saskatoon proceeded to close out the game defensively to make the 4-2 score hold up as the final outcome of the contest.

Austin Elliott stopped 30 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Ratzlaff turned away 18 shots to take the setback in net for the Thunderbirds, who fell to 30-7-1-1.

Wong finished the contest with three points picking up two assists to go with his goal.

The Blades celebrate their win on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds return home and are off until Friday, when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the 26-14-0-2 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

The Warriors should provide another stiff test for the Blades. With that said, Saturday’s win over the Thunderbirds should prove as a timely reminder for the Blades that they beat the WHL best teams, and Sidorov showed once again you can have fun doing it too.

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

-------

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