Oct.7 at Lethbridge
HOCKEY TOWN NORTH NOTES: Last night the Raiders improved their record on this road trip to 2-2 with a 4-1 victory over the Rebels In Red Deer…Tonight concludes a 5 game in 6 night road trip…They started Tuesday with a 6-2 set back in Medicine Hat followed by a 2-1 win in Kootenay Wednesday, then a 5-4 loss in Edmonton Friday…Last nights win improved the Raiders record to 3-4-1-0 (1-1-1-0 at home, 2-3-0-0 on the road, 0-1 in overtime) for 7 points, 4th in the WHL Eastern Division…Last night in Red Deer the teams skated through a score less first period even though the Rebels out shot the Raiders 15-8…PA opened the scoring on the power play 7 minutes into the second period and scored again on the power play with just under 6 minutes to go to open up a 2-0 lead after forty minutes…The Rebels struck for their long goal of the night 6 minutes into the third, answered 20 seconds later by a Raider goal to restore their 2 goal lead…PA iced with another power play goal with just over 4 minutes to play…The Raiders out shot the Rebels 29-22, only the second time this season the Raiders have out shot their opponents…After the first period last night Red Deer only had 8 shots on the Raider net…Last year the Raiders finished fourth in the WHL East with a record of 27-39-3-3…In the play offs they were eliminated by the Brandon Wheat Kings in 5 games…In the 2007 pre-season the Raiders were 3-2-0-1…The Raiders have 26 players on their roster including 3 twenty-year olds, 6 nineteen year-olds, 7 eighteen year-olds, 8 seventeen year-olds and 2 sixteen year-olds…The Raiders roster includes 9 first year WHL players.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Raider power play struck for 3 goals in 8 chances and are now 4/10 in their past two games with the man advantage…On the season they have scored 8 power play goals in 38 tries (21.1% – tied for 4th best in the WHL)…For the first time this season the Raiders did not allow a power play goal against in a game last night as the Rebels were 0/8 with the man advantage…On the season the Raiders have surrendered 10 power play goals against in 57 chances (82.5% – 16th in the WHL)…PA has been short handed more than any other team in the WHL (57)…The Raiders have scored 1 short handed goal.
UPCOMING GAMES: The Raiders return home to host the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday to start another weekend of three games in three nights…They are in Regina Saturday, hosting the Rebels in PA one week from tonight…Their second and final 5 game in 6 night stretch this season comes from Feb.8-13.
VS. THE HURRICANES: This is the first of four meetings between the Raiders and Hurricanes this season…The Raiders are back in the Windy City Nov.9 with the Canes in Prince Albert Nov.17 and Feb.27…Last year the Raiders were 2-2-0-0 against Lethbridge, with the home team winning all four meetings…Over the past five seasons The Raiders are 7-8-1-4 against the Canes (6-1-0-3 in PA and 1-7-1-1 in Lethbridge).
INJURY REPORT: Andy Smith – Knee (week to week).
RAIDER REPORT: Matt Robertson scored a pair of power play goals to lead the Raiders in their victory in Red Deer last night…Max Brandl and Devon LeBlanc each had a goal and assist while Ryan DePape and Ryan McDonald had 2 assists each…Single helpers when to Jeff May and Bryce Lamb …It was Brandl’s first WHL goal…17 year-old Steven Stanford registered his first WHL win stopping 22 of 23 Rebel shots, including all 15 in the first period…McDonald (5G, 4A) leads the team in scoring followed by Robertson (4G, 3A) and LeBlanc (3G, 3A)…LeBlanc has points (3G, 2A) in all four games on this road trip…McDonald is tied for 8th overall in league scoring…Robertson is tied for 3rd in power play goals (3)…This afternoon the Raiders announced a trade with the Saskatoon Blades…PA acquired 18 year-old left winger Dustin Cameron from the Blades in exchange for 20 year-old defenceman John Flatters…The move gets the Raiders down to their limit of 3 overages (May, Mike Gauthier and Dustin Butler)…Cameron has played 5 games with the Blades this season with 1 goal-he will wear #20 and is expected to join the Raiders tomorrow and be eligible to debut Friday when they host Moose Jaw…May returned to the Raiders to start this road trip after skating with the Minnesota Wild and Houston Aeros (AHL)…May has played 260 WHL games all in a Raider uniform, including all 72 the past two regular seasons…Gauthier served a one game suspension last night after picking up his third game misconduct of the season Friday after the game in Edmonton…Bruno Campese picked up his first WHL victory as a Head Coach Sept.26…Craig Bedard, Campese’s Assistant in Penticton (BCHL) the past three seasons has joined him behind the Raider bench…Raider Alumni David Manson is now in his 5th season as a Raiders Assistant Coach, but is not with the team on this trip as he is with his daughter at the Canadian Under 14 girls soccer championships in Newfoundland…Athletic Therapist Duane Bartley is in his 7th season with the Raiders…Gauthier, Cody Vann, Tomas Voracek, Mike Small, David Aime and Andy Smith (knee injury) were the Raider scratches in Red Deer last night…Smith has missed the past six games…Former Raider Captain Kyle Chipchura has been named to the roster for the Montreal Canadiens to start the 2007-08 NHL season…Chipchura was the Raiders Captain in 2005-06 and played 214 regular season games with the Raiders from 2002-06 totaling 165 points.
