Feb.10 vs. Brandon

HOCKEY TOWN NORTH NOTES: Tonight is the Prince Albert Raiders third game in three nights this weekend…They started Friday night in Brandon dropping a 3-1 decision to the Wheat Kings…Last night the Raiders returned homed to edge the Edmonton Oil Kings 2-1…The Raiders have won back to back games on home ice (including a 6-2 win over Red Deer Jan.18) for the second time this season…Tonight wraps up the Raiders 4th and final 3 games in three nights weekend of the 07-08 season…With last nights victory the Raiders improved their record to 19-33-3-2 (8-15-2-1 at home, 11-18-1-1 on the road, 1-3 in overtime, 1-2 in shoot outs) for 43 points, 11th in the WHL Eastern Conference three points behind both Edmonton and Saskatoon…The Raiders have a game in hand over the Blades…Last night the Raiders opened the scoring just under 6 minutes into the game…The Oil Kings tied the game with just over 2 minutes to go and it was 1-1 after the first period…After a scoreless second frame, the Raiders scored the game winning goal, on the power play with just under 5 and a half minutes to play in regulation…The Raiders out shot the Oil Kings 35-31…The Raiders have 24 players on their roster including 2 twenty-year olds, 7 nineteen year-olds, 3 eighteen year-olds, 9 seventeen year-olds and 3 sixteen year-olds…The Raiders roster includes 11 rookies.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Last night the Raiders scored the game winning goal on the power play going 1/6 against Edmonton…On the season the Raiders have scored 41 power play goals in 242 tries (16.9% – 18th  best in the WHL)…On the road the Raiders have the 7th best PP in the league (25/123=20.3%), but on home ice they are ranked #21 (16/117=13.7%)… The Oil Kings did not score on 6 power play attempts last night as the Raiders have given up just 2 power play goals against in 27 tries over the past 6 games…On the season, the Raiders have surrendered 60 power play goals against in 286 chances (79.0% – 18th in the WHL)…The Raiders have scored 3 short handed goals and surrendered ten short handed goals against.
UPCOMING GAMES: Wednesday the Raiders head into Moose Jaw for the final time this season…Of the remaining 14 games, 9 are on home ice…The Raiders host Swift Current next Saturday… A game originally scheduled for Tuesday, Feb.12 in Saskatoon has been moved to Wednesday, Feb.20…They then play 7 in a row at home, from Feb.22 to March 7…
VS. THE WHEAT KINGS: This is the 5th of 6 meetings this season between the Raiders and Wheat Kings with the Raiders 0-3-0-1 against Brandon …The Wheat Kings won the first game 5-4 in a shoot out Nov.14 in PA then 4-3 Dec.15 in PA…In the Raiders first visit of the season to Brandon the Wheat Kings prevailed 9-3 Jan.6…Friday Brandon won at home 3-1…Last year the Raiders were 3-4-0-1 against the Wheat Kings – 3-1-0-0 in games played in PA and 0-3-0-1 in games played in Brandon…The Raiders final visit to Brandon is Mar.12.
INJURY REPORT: Bryce Lamb – Mononucleosis (day to day), Jordan Trach – Concussion (week to week), Blaine Tendler – Concussion (week to week).
RAIDER REPORT: James Dobrowolski and Jared Jagow were the goal scorers for the Raiders in their win over Edmonton last night with assists to Mike Small, Cole Penner, Matt Robertson and Brandon Herrod…Dustin Butler picked up the win in goal stopping 30 of 31 shots he faced…It was Penner’s first WHL point in his 2nd game…It was Small’s first assist of the season to go along with 3 goals…The point put Robertson into a tie for the team lead in scoring with Ryan McDonald (both with 46 points)…McDonald is within 4 of tying his career high for points in a season – 50, established last year with the Regina Pats and Raiders…Ryan White has established a career high in points – 25, 7 more than he had last season with the Kamloops Blazers…Devon LeBlanc is within 3 points of tying his career high (28) set last year with Red Deer and the Raiders…Justin Bernhardt is 4 points shy of tying his best WHL season (45 – set with Regina in 05-06)…Butler is 26 saves short of tying his career mark of 1121 set last year with Portland and Kamloops…Max Brandl leads all WHL first year players in game winning goals (5), is 2nd among rookies for power play goals (8), is tied for 15th in the league in first goals (5) and is 19th in rookie scoring (27 pts.)…Bernhardt has 22 of his 33 points on the road…17 of Dustin Cameron’s 24 points in a Raider uniform have been picked up on the road…White suffered a deep cut on his leg Jan.29 in Everett that took numerous stitches to close…White missed the games in Seattle Jan. 30 and Portland Feb.1, but returned to the line up Saturday in Tri-City…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 57 games this season…Robertson celebrated his 20th birthday Thursday, one of five Raiders who have birthdays in February (Brandl turns 20 Feb.13, Tendler turns 18 Feb.21, Bernhardt turns 20 Feb.25 and Tomas Voracek turns 18 Feb.27)…7 Raider celebrate birthdays in April…16 year-old left winger Cole Penner has been added to the Raiders roster for the remainder of the season…Penner, the Raiders first round WHL Bantam pick, 4th overall in 2006, was at training camp, but decided to go to Brooks (AJHL), then Medicine Hat Midgets this season… Bryce Lamb has been out the past 42 games, since Oct.23…He suffered a broken wrist, which is healed, but Lamb is now out with mononucleosis.