Feb.1 at Portland

HOCKEY TOWN NORTH NOTES: Wednesday the Prince Albert Raiders were edged 3-1 by the Thunderbirds in Seattle to leave their record a 1-2 in games against United States Division teams on this 8 game road trip…They started the road swing with a 5-3 set back in Moose Jaw Jan.19, then were knocked off 8-3 in Cranbrook by the Kootenay Ice Jan.25 and 4-2 in Spokane by the Chiefs Saturday before posting a 2-1 win in Everett Tuesday, their first ever victory over the Silvertips…The Raiders record stands at 17-31-3-2 (7-15-2-1 at home, 10-16-1-1 on the road, 1-3 in overtime, 1-2 in shoot outs) for 39 points, tied for 10th in the WHL Eastern Conference with Saskatoon, 7 points behind 9th place Edmonton…Wednesday in Seattle The Thunderbirds scored mid way through the first period, then again with just over a minute to go and led 2-0 after the opening frame…The Raiders pulled to within 2-1 13 minutes into the second with Seattle responding 53 seconds later…The third period was scoreless although Seattle out shot PA 19-8 in the third…Overall shots were 41-28 for Seattle…When the Raiders lead after 2 periods they are 15-0-2-1, but when trailing after forty minutes are 0-25-0-1…The Raiders have 23 players on their roster including 2 twenty-year olds, 7 nineteen year-olds, 3 eighteen year-olds, 9 seventeen year-olds and 2 sixteen year-olds…The Raiders roster includes 10 first year WHL players.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Wednesday the Raiders did not score on 3 power play chances in Seattle…On the season the Raiders have scored 39 power play goals in 224 tries (17.4% – 17th  best in the WHL)…On the road the Raiders have the 4th best PP in the league (24/113=21.2%), but on home ice they are ranked #21 (15/111=13.5%)…Seattle did not score on 3 power play opportunities Wednesday as the Raiders are a perfect 9/9 on the penalty kill in the past two games…On the season the Raiders have surrendered 58 power play goals against in 268 chances (78.4% – 19th in the WHL)…The Raiders have scored 3 short handed goals and surrendered eight short handed goals against.
UPCOMING GAMES: The Raiders conclude their bi-annual tour of the US Division tomorrow night in Tri-City before coming all the way back to Brandon Feb.8…The Raiders next home game is Feb.9 against Edmonton…After this road trip, the Raiders play 11 of their final 16 regular season games at home.
VS. THE WINTER HAWKS: This is the only meeting of the season between the Prince Albert Raiders and Portland Winter Hawks…The Raiders broke out of a 3 game losing streak against Portland in their lone meeting last year, prevailing 4-3 in a shoot out in PA Nov.21…The Raiders come in to tonight’s game having not scored a goal in Portland since Oct.14/01 when they lost here 6-1…In their last two visits to Portland the Raiders were shut out by 2-0 scores on both Oct.25/03 and Nov.25/05.
INJURY REPORT: Bryce Lamb – Mononucleosis (day to day), Jordan Trach – Concussion (week to week), Blaine Tendler – Concussion (week to week), Ryan White – Leg (week to week).
RAIDER REPORT: Devon Leblanc scored the lone goal in Seattle Wednesday with assists to Tomas Voracek and Justin Bernhardt …Steve Stanford took the loss in goal despite stopping 38 of 41 shots he faced including all 19 in the third period…Tonight is the return of 20 year-old goaltender Dustin Butler to Portland…Butler, who played 90 games for the Winter Hawks from 2003-07 before being traded to Kamloops, is one save shy of 1000 this season…Ryan McDonald saw his five games points streak (2G, 5A) come to an end in Seattle…McDonald has taken over the team lead in scoring by one point over Matt Robertson…Max Brandl has points (4G,3A) in 4 of the past 6 games, is tied for 12th in the league in first goals (5), is 2nd among rookies for power play goals (8) and tied for 18th in rookie scoring (26 pts.)…Bernhardt has 32 points (13G,19A) in 34 games since being acquired from Kelowna Nov.1…Ryan White suffered a large cut on his leg Tuesday in Everett that took numerous stitches to close…White will not play on the rest of this road trip…As a result, all defencemen available to the Raiders on this trip are rookies…16 year-old defenceman David Dotan (#27) dressed for his first WHL game Wednesday in Seattle…Dotan (6’3”, 205 lbs.) from Richmond, BC, currently plays with the Greater Vancouver Canadians in the BC Major Midget League where he has 2 goals and 5 assists to go along with 32 penalty minutes in 30 games this season…Dotan played in the BC League All Star game Jan.1…Jordan Trach suffered a concussion Jan.15 and is out week to week…Blaine Tendler suffered a concussion Jan.18 and also is sidelined week to week…Only Robertson, Nathan Deck and Ashton Hewson have appeared in all 53 games this season…Jared Jagow was acquired before the trade deadline, along with a 3rd round bantam pick from Regina in exchange for Ryan DePape…Also at the trading deadline the Raiders dealt 20 year-old captain Jeff May to Lethbridge for 15 year-old Brent Martin, 16 year-old Robbie Ciolfi and a second round draft pick…Bryce Lamb has been out the past 39 games, since Oct.23…He suffered a broken wrist, which is healed, but Lamb is now out with mononucleosis…Jan.14 Team President Dale McFee announced the Raiders have relieved General Manager Donn Clark of his duties…Head Coach Bruno Campese will take over as the GM through the remainder of the season…Campese was the Coach and Director of Hockey Operations of the Penticton Vees from 2004-07…15 year-old defenceman Ryan Aasman (#14) is with the Raiders on this road trip…Aasman was the Raiders top pick, 8th overall, in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft and made his WHL debut Nov.10 with the Raiders in his hometown, Medicine Hat, AB…Aasman (5’10, 160 lbs.) currently plays for the Medicine Hat Big Country Tigers in the Alberta Major Midget League.