Hurricanes’ Laventure finally finds luck in P.A.

Tyson Laventure celebrates scoring for the Hurricanes.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Luck finally went Tyson Laventure’s way in Prince Albert.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes veteran right-winger, who turned 20-years-old in late January, seemed to have a dark cloud hanging over him when it came to putting up points when he played with the Prince Albert Raiders. Taken by the Raiders in the second round and 31^st overall in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft, Laventure began playing with the Raiders on a full-time basis at the start of the 2019-2020 season.

Laventure brought a tonne of effort and energy creating various chances in the offensive zone, but the points followed at a trickle pace.  In 93 career regular season games with the Raiders, Laventure had 15 goals and 13 assists.

Tyson Laventure has career highs in goals (20) and points (42).

He was traded by the Raiders to the Hurricanes on December 31, 2021.

On Friday night, Laventure and his Hurricanes were in Prince Albert taking on the Raiders in a WHL regular season clash at the Art Hauser Centre. In that contest, luck finally went Laventure’s way.

With the teams locked in a scoreless tie, Laventure record his 20^th goal of the season on a positive bounce play to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 9:17 mark of the second period. Laventure had the puck at the right side of the Prince Albert net and made a backhanded pass across the front of the goal trying to find linemate Brayden Edwards backdoor.

Laventure’s pass deflected off the skate of Raiders 17-year-old centre Aiden Oiring into the Prince Albert net to give the visitors the lead. That tally held up as the winning goal as the Hurricanes came away with a 3-0 victory to disappoint most of the 2,445 spectators in attendance.

Tyson Laventure has enjoyed playing for the Hurricanes.

“Obviously, I’m playing my former team, so I really want to get the win,” said Laventure, who Hurricanes won three of their four head-to-head encounters with the Raiders this season. “Obviously, it was great to be able to help out my new team there and contribute with a goal in my old building.”

In 53 games with the Hurricanes this season, Laventure, who is from Lloydminster located on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, has 20 goals and 22 assists for 42 points to go with a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department. His goal, point and plus-minus totals are career highs.

He has also played 93 career regular season games with the Hurricanes putting up 26 goals and 39 assists for 65 points.

Brayden Edwards scored the Hurricanes second goal on Friday.

“I’m a little bit luckier like that one tonight,” said Laventure, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 190 pounds. “I think that I’ve just been playing a little bit of a harder game this year and scoring a lot more right in front of the net and staying a little bit out of the perimeter.

“I’m an older guy now, so I thought it was time to step up and start really helping the team out.”

Laventure had a huge following in attendance on Friday. His family, his Raider billet family, his girlfriend and her family were all part of his entourage. He was pumped to get a highlight with his good-luck goal.

While he enjoyed his time in Prince Albert, Laventure said the change of scenery did help kick start his game. He said he has enjoyed playing for Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt, assistant general manager and assistant coach Matt Anholt and head coach Brent Kisio.

Tyson Zimmer had the Hurricanes third goal on Friday.

Under their guidance, Laventure said he has found his way towards being a more productive player.

“It has been awesome for me,” said Laventure. “Pete (Anholt), Matty (Anholt) and Brent (Kisio) are all great guys.

“They’ve really helped me improve my game. I’m really enjoying it in Lethbridge.”

Laventure and the Hurricanes got out to a good start in Friday’s game recording the first four shots on goal. They kept the Raiders off the shot clock until the 10:44 mark of the opening frame.

The host Raiders hit high gear in the final 9:16 of the first and exited the stanza holding an 11-6 edge in shots on goal. Prince Albert came out on fire in the second forcing Hurricanes 20-year-old netminder Bryan Thomson to make a trio of big saves on Raiders forwards Harrison Lodewyk, Oiring and Carter Anderson.

Bryan Thomson made 31 saves for a shutout win on Friday.

Thomson’s glove was working in prime form with the stops on Lodewyk and Anderson.

The contest’s complexion proceeded to turn on Laventure’s tally at the 9:17 mark of the second. The Raiders were outshooting the Hurricanes 17-10 at that point in the contest.

With 1:22 remaining in the second, the Hurricanes went up 2-0 on a smart play by Edwards. After the Hurricanes lost a draw in the left faceoff circle in the offence zone, Edwards quickly stole the puck from Raiders 20-year-old defenceman Landon Kosior and slid home his eighth of the season to give the visitors a two-goal edge going into the second intermission.

Harrison Lodewyk fires a shot on goal for the Raiders.

“That was huge,” said Laventure. “Obviously, it was completely an individual effort by Eddie (Edwards) there.

“It was a really nothing play that he made into a great scoring chance and scored going into the second intermission. That was obviously a huge goal for us going into the third period and in winning the game.”

Lethbridge sealed victory at the 5:04 mark of the third, when 18-year-old right-winger Tyson Zimmer slid home a shot between the legs of Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand to round out the 3-0 final score.

Terrell Goldsmith (#10) makes a rush up ice for the Raiders.

Hildebrand turned away 27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders. Thomson stopped 31 shots to pick the shutout win for the Hurricanes. The shutout was the third of the season for Thomson.

“We didn’t compete hard enough,” said Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt. “I thought that we were light on pucks.

“I thought that we didn’t hustle to checks. We didn’t get to the front of the net enough. I thought we were pretty light out there tonight.”

The Raiders fell to 25-30-3 with the setback to sit 11^th overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 10 games remaining on their schedule. They sit four points back of the 27-27-1-2 Swift Current Broncos for eighth and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Carter Anderson (#27) tracks a shot he put on goal.

Prince Albert begins its final 10-game stretch run on Saturday traveling to Moose Jaw to take on the 35-22-0-3 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

Truitt said his players didn’t have the extra hustle that was needed on Friday as teams crank up their intensity as the post-season nears. He said his squad has to play a more playoff style game against the Warriors.

“You can’t have excuses this time of year,” said Truitt. “You can’t have a lack of urgency this time of year.

“It is disappointing especially when we know that we only have 10 games left now. It has to be desperation time. There wasn’t enough of it tonight.”

Miguel Marques set up in the offensive zone for the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes improved to 32-21-3-3 with Friday’s win to sit fifth overall in the Eastern Conference. They sit three points back of the Warriors for fourth in the conference and the right to have home ice advantage for a first round best-of-seven playoff series.

Lethbridge will continue to make a push for that home ice spot traveling to Saskatoon on Saturday to face the 40-13-4-1 Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

“Obviously, there are not many games left in the season,” said Laventure, whose Hurricanes have nine games remaining on their regular season slate. “We still think we are going to be pushing for the fourth place there and hopefully get home ice in playoffs.

“These are big games for us here. We’re hoping to move forward and have a great playoff run.”

The Hurricanes celebrate their win on Friday.

NOTES – Raiders veteran athletic therapist and equipment manager Duane “Puff” Bartley worked his 1,500^th WHL game with the team on Friday, and he was honoured during a pre-game ceremony. Bartley began his career with the Raiders at the start of the 2001-02 campaign. 

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Victory falls through Raiders’ grasp again

Wheat Kings rally for 5-4 win after tiebreaking shootout

The Wheat Kings celebrate a shootout winner from Tyson Zimmer (#25).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The Prince Albert Raiders were lamenting the one that got away for a second straight game.

On Friday night playing before 2,234 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders held a 3-2 lead going into a third period. After the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings tied things up at 3-3, the Raiders got ahead 4-3 with 8:18 remaining in the third.

The Wheat Kings tied things up at 4-4 on a power play and proceeded to take the WHL regular season encounter 5-4 after a tiebreaking shootout.

Brett Hyland had a goal and two assists for the Wheat Kings.

The Wheat Kings took the shootout 2-1 with right-winger Tyson Zimmer potting the winner in the third round.

In Prince Albert’s previous outing last Saturday, the Raiders led the Hurricanes in Lethbridge 3-2 going into the third period. The Hurricanes proceeded to score three goals inside the final six minutes of the third frame to prevail 5-3.

 “We deserved better,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, whose team’s record moved to 2-7-0-1. “We should have won.

“We should have won the last two games. We got one point out of four, so that is disappointing. A couple of goals they scored we probably gave it to them.

Kaiden Guhle had three assists for the Raiders.

“We made a couple of glaring errors, and it ended up in our net. We also need a save.”

Friday’s game started with Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt laying a big crowd pleasing hit on Wheat Kings captain Ridley Greig early in the first period.

The Raiders proceeded cash in on that energetic start going ahead 2-0 on goals from Remy Aquilon and Reece Vitelli.

Before the opening frame ended, the Wheat Kings answered back pulling even at 2-2 with goals coming from Zimmer and Belarusian import Zakhar Polshakov. Those tallies came 19 seconds apart from each other.

The host side got the only goal of the second period. At the 10:56 mark of the frame, Raiders right-winger Cale Sanders picked up a loose puck at the left side of Brandon net, and he put the puck home into an cage to give Prince Albert a 3-2 lead.

Remy Aquilon had two goals for the Raiders.

The hosts ran into penalty trouble to close out the second frame too. At the 12:11 mark of the second, Aquilon received a double minor for checking from behind for a hit he threw on Greig behind the Prince Albert net. Greig was helped off the ice and didn’t return.

The double minor by Aquilon will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Wheat Kings were unable to score on those chances with the man advantage.

With 2:53 to go in the second, Raiders 17-year-old left-winger Niall Crocker received a slashing minor, and Brandon was unable to score on that power play.

Nolan Ritchie had a goal for the Wheat Kings.

After the penalty expired, Crocker emerged from the penalty box and was sprung on a breakaway after receiving a stretch pass coming from the Raiders zone. Crocker ended up firing the shot wide of the Brandon goal.

“Our forwards have to score,” said Habscheid. “Everybody wants to score.

“You just have to play the right way.”

At the 4:38 mark of the third, Wheat Kings left-winger Brett Hyland scored to even the score at 3-3. Hyland had two assists to go along with his goal for a three-point night.

With 8:18 remaining in the third, Aquilon fired home a point shot for his second tally of the night to put the hosts up 4-3.

When it appeared the Raiders were going to close out the contest, rookie Belarusian import forward Vladislav Shilo took an untimely roughing penalty with 3:56 remaining the frame to put Brandon on the power play.

Niall Crocker eyes up a shot on a breakaway he would miss.

The Wheat Kings capitalized on this chance when left-winger Nolan Ritchie knocked home a rebound opportunity to even the score at 4-4 with 3:40 remaining in the frame.

Despite the fact Brandon tied the contest for a third time, Aquilon thought the players on his squad didn’t get emotionally down.

“The guys did a good job of keeping it up, especially the older guys trying to make sure to just shake it off,” said Aquilon. “It is definitely not the one we want to give up late in the third there.”

Before overtime came around, the Raiders were able to go on the power play, but failed to score. They were 0-for-5 with the man advantage in the contest.

Tyson Laventure had an assist and six shots for the Raiders.

“Obviously, special teams can win or lose you games,” said Raiders 18-year-old right-winger Tyson Laventure, who had an assists and six shots on goal in the setback. “Obviously, we went 0-for-5 which didn’t help.

“They got a goal on their power play, which ended up tying the game and giving them the win. We have to be better on the power play in the future for sure.”

The Raiders had a 4-1 edge in shots on goal through the scoreless three-on-three five-minute overtime period.

In the tiebreaking shootout, captain Kaiden Guhle scored for the Raiders, while Hylund and Zimmer responded for the Wheat Kings to give them the win.

Tikhon Chaika stopped 18 shots on goal over 65 minutes for the Raiders and one of three shooters in the shootout. Ethan Kruger turned away 33 shots on net over 65 minutes for the Wheat Kings (5-6) and two of three shooters in the shootout.

Ethan Kruger made 33 saves over 65 minutes for the Wheat Kings.

Guhle collected three assists and posted a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department for the Raiders in the setback.

These two teams go at it again on Saturday at Westoba Place in Brandon, Man., at 7 p.m. local time.

Laventure said his team needs take advantage of chances to close out games, when his squad has a lead in the third period.

“Obviously our last couple of games we’ve been going into the third period with the lead and having it with less than 10 minutes left,” said Laventure. “We just have to finish those off.

The Wheat Kings celebrate their win on Friday night.

“We can’t be giving up games in the last 10 to five minutes in the game. We have to look to close one out tomorrow.”

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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