Raiders End Pre-Season With Win Over Pats
Prince Albert, SK – Cole Fonstad had two goals and two assists as the Prince Albert Raiders (4-1-0-0) closed out the WHL Pre-season with a 5-2 win over the Regina Pats (2-3-0-2) on Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre.
Max Martin also had a four-point game with a goal and three assists. Ozzy Wiesblatt chipped in a goal and an assist.
The Pats opened the scoring 3:26 into the contest. Makai Mitchell’s point shot hit a Raiders defenceman in front of the goal and got past Boston Bilous to make it 1-0.
Midway through the frame, the Raiders tied it up on the power play. Fonstad found Ilya Usau with a cross-ice pass and the rookie one-timed his shot past Max Paddock for his second of the exhibition schedule.
In the second, Wiesblatt put the Raiders ahead with his sixth of the pre-season. Stationed in front of the goal, the Calgary product tipped Fonstad’s shot past Paddock to give the Raiders the 2-1 advantage.
Just before the end of the period, the Pats tied the game. Robbie Holmes stripped the puck and found himself on a shorthanded breakaway. The overager from Sherwood Park, AB made a move to his backhand and slipped the puck through Bilous to level the score with 16 seconds remaining in the period.
The Raiders took control of the game in the third. At the 2:44 mark of the final period, Martin’s shot from the point got through traffic and beat Paddock to put the Raiders ahead 3-2.
Then with 2:52 to play, Fonstad iced the game with his first of the night. He got the puck in the corner off a Max Martin shot, cut to the net and slid the puck through Paddock’s five-hole to make it a 4-2 game. Fonstad also hit the empty net with 32 seconds remaining.
Bilous earned his third win of the WHL Pre-season, stopping 32 shots on the night. Paddock stopped 22 shots for the Pats in the loss.
Up next for the Raiders is the 2019-20 Home Opener Presented by 900 CKBI and Great Western Brewery on Friday night against the Saskatoon Blades. Be in your seats for 6:55 p.m. for the evening’s opening ceremonies. Single-game tickets are now available for purchase. Pick up your tickets at the Raiders Office and online here.
Raiders WHL Pre-season leaders:
- Goals – Ozzy Wiesblatt, 6
- Assists – Justin Nachbaur & Ilya Usau, 4
- Points – Ozzy Wiesblatt, 7
- Plus-Minus – Evan Herman, +7
- Penalty Minutes – Kaiden Guhle, 8
- Power-Play Goals – Ozzy Wiesblatt – 3
- Shorthanded Goals – Evan Herman & Ozzy Wiesblatt, 1
- Game-Winning Goals – Evan Herman, Max Martin, & Ozzy Wiesblatt, 1
- Goals-Against Average – Boston Bilous, 1.91
- Save Percentage – Boston Bilous & Carter Serhyenko, 0.933
