PREVIEW: Oil Kings Head Up the Highway to Meet Raiders
Prince Albert, Sask. – The Edmonton Oil Kings wrap up a quick two-game Saskatchewan road trip tonight as they head to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders.
The Oil Kings are coming off their third consecutive one-goal hockey game, this one saw them fall 3-2 to the Saskatoon Blades. Lukas Sawchyn and Ethan MacKenzie scored for Edmonton in that one and the Oil Kings will now look to break a three-game losing skid.
The opponents, the Raiders are coming off a 5-3 win over the Tri-City Americans at home on Friday, ending the Americans 12-game winning streak. Prince Albert is now 7-8-2-0 on the season and are two points back of the final playoff spot, currently occupied by the Oil Kings who are 8-9-1-1.
This is the first of five meetings this season between the Oil Kings and the Raiders. Last season, the two teams met four times with Edmonton taking a 3-1-0-0 record in those games. Gavin Hodnett led the way offensively last season in the season series with six points (1G, 5A) in three games. For Prince Albert, Niall Crocker had four points (4G) in four games.
Tonight, also marks the end of a crazy opening stretch for the Oil Kings where they played 15 of their first 20 games away from home. Starting on Wednesday, it will be a stretch of three straight home games, and 16 of their next 20 at Rogers Place.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. in Saskatchewan, which means 6 p.m. in Edmonton.
Oil Kings Scoring Leaders (GP, G-A-Pts):
- Gracyn Sawchyn (16, 9-14-23)
- Gavin Hodnett (19, 9-12-21)
- Miroslav Holinka (17, 10-8-18)
- Adam Jecho (17, 5-12-17)
- Roan Woodward (19, 6-10-16)
Oil Kings Milestone Watch:
- F Gracyn Sawchyn is 1 assists away from 100 in the WHL
- F Cole Miller is 5 games away from 200 as an Oil King.
- F Landon Hanson is 2 games away from 100 in the WHL
- D Parker Alcos is 4 games away from 100 in the WHL
- F Road Woodward is 9 games away from 200 in the WHL
- D Ethan MacKenzie is 8 games away from 100 in the WHL
- F Gavin Hodnett is 8 assists away from 100 in the WHL
Raiders Scoring Leaders (GP, G-A-Pts):
- Lukas Dragicevic (15, 1-21-22)
- Tomas Mrsic (15, 11-10-21)
- Aiden Oiring (17, 6-15-21)
- Niall Crocker (17, 8-12-20)
- Brayden Dube (17, 7-8-15)
2024-25 Schedule vs. Prince Albert Raiders:
Saturday, November 16 @ Prince Albert
Tuesday, December 17 @ Edmonton
Friday, January 10 @ Edmonton
Friday, February 28 @ Prince Albert
Saturday, March 15 @ Edmonton
