Raiders capture East Division title with 4-3 win over Saskatoon
The Art Hauser Centre was rocking all night long, and the fans were rewarded with a Prince Albert Raiders victory, as they took down the Saskatoon Blades 4-3 on Saturday night to finish in first place in the East Division, and secure home ice advantage for the first round of the WHL Playoffs Presented by Nutrien.
Saskatoon opened the scoring with 8:04 left in the first period after some extended offensive zone time. After the Raiders couldn’t clear the puck out of the slot area, David Lewndowski made a nice pass from his knees to the far post for Cooper Williams. Parked on the doorstep, the Blades rookie was able to tap home his 21st goal of the season, as the visitors jumped in front first 1-0.
Exactly seven minutes later, Harrison Lodewyk scored his second goal in as many games to tie things up. After Daxon Rudolph gathered the puck in his own end, he sent a lead feed ahead to Oli Chenier. Skating over the blue line, Chenier dropped a pass to Lodewyk, who took the puck and sniped a shot from the bottom of the left circle, beating Evan Gardner over his blocker. Lodewyk picked the right weekend to heat up, as his 12th goal of the season made it a 1-1 game after 20 minutes.
Prince Albert went up by a pair of goals midway through the second period, thanks to goals from Aiden Oiring and Ty Meunier. Oiring’s goal came after Brayden Dube lost the puck on a toe drag move in the slot, where Oiring was able to grab it and fire home his 29th goal of the season. His tally just 1:02 into the middle frame put the home side up 2-1.
With 8:42 left in the period, Meunier put the Raiders up by a pair on a fantastic individual effort. After the puck was chipped out of the Raider zone by Ethan Bibeau, Meunier was in a foot race against Jack Kachkowski down the ice. Meunier won the race to the puck, circled back in the corner, and fired a perfect shot top corner over Gardner’s glove. His 14th goal of the season was huge, as it put the hosts up by a 3-1 score.
With 3:41 to go and the Blades on a powerplay, Saskatoon was able to get back to within one. After the puck took a couple of funny bounces on its way to the net, it found space above Max Hildebrand and over the line. Hunter Laing was credited with the odd goal for his 25th of the season.
With 40 minutes in the books, the East Division came down to the third period, with the Raiders entering it up 3-2.
The Blades tied things up around the midway mark of the third period, as Hayden Harsanyi found the back of the net. Assisted from Grayden Siepmann and Zach Olsen, Harsanyi’s 12th goal of the year came right after Saskatoon’s powerplay had ended, making it a 3-3 game.
The Raiders were given a powerplay with 3:40 left in regulation, and only needed 39 seconds to score, as Lukas Dragicevic brought the roof off the Art Hauser Centre. From behind the net, Oiring sent a pass to the high slot for Dragicevic. Taking the puck, the defenceman faked a shot before firing home his 18th goal of the year past Gardner. That was truly Prince Albert’s biggest goal of the season, as it gave them a 4-3 lead in the late stages of the game.
Saskatoon pulled their goalie with time running out in the game, but the Raiders were able to hold them off to win by a 4-3 final.
With the win, Prince Albert has been crowned East Division Champions, and start their first round playoff series on Friday night at home against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
