Raiders win shootout thriller to finish with flawless pre-season record
The Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades couldn’t get enough of each other on Saturday night in Warman, needing a shootout to find a winner. The Raiders came out on top in the end, winning by a 4-3 final, and finishing with a perfect record in the pre-season in the process.
The Raiders re-acquainted themselves to the Warman crowd in a hurry, opening the scoring just 14 seconds into the game. After Blades goalie Evan Gardner misplayed a puck behind the net, Sloan Stanick took advantage of the turnover and tucked home a backhand shot into an open net. His first of the pre-season gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead, and made it a second straight game that the team scored in the opening two minutes of the game.
Aiden Oiring doubled PA’s lead with 9:49 left in the opening frame. Taking a pass from Ryder Ritchie out of the corner, Oiring fired a shot from the slot past Gardner. After picking up an assist in last night’s win over the Pats, Oiring collected his first goal of the pre-season, giving the Raiders a 2-0 lead past the midway mark of the first period.
Saskatoon responded with a pair of goals of their own to tie things up, with Lukas Hansen getting them on the board. After a puck was almost batted in by a Blades forward, play continued behind the net. The puck came out front to Hansen on the left side of the goal, and he was able to bury his first goal of the pre-season to make it a 2-1 game with exactly eight minutes to go in the first.
The Blades weren’t done there, as they tied things up on a powerplay with 5:35 left in the first. After Eric Johnston blocked a shot, the Raiders cleared the puck out of the zone, but Johnston’s stick broke on the play. The Blades regrouped while Johnston headed to the bench, and Trevor Wong sent a pass across to Jayden Wiens. With nobody there to block a shot, Wiens fired a one timer top corner past Max Hildebrand to tie things up at 2-2.
With 20 minutes in the books and Saskatoon holding a narrow 12-11 edge in shots, the two teams went to the dressing room all tied up heading into the second period.
The Blades grabbed their first lead of the contest 12:04 into the second period, as Wiens scored his second of the game. After a scramble play beside the net, Wiens picked up the loose puck and fired a shot low glove side on Hildebrand that found its way to the back of the net. The goal gave Saskatoon a 3-2 lead.
The Raiders tied things right back up with 1:26 left in the middle frame, as Oli Chenier jumped in on the scoring action. After a pretty passing play in the offensive zone, Chenier took a pass from Luke Moroz and slid a shot past Gardner for his first goal of the pre-season. Chenier’s tally came right after a powerplay expired, as he knotted things up at 3-3.
Some rough stuff occurred after the final buzzer went, bringing an end to the second period. Both teams’ lines got into a big scrum on the ice, with some players losing their helmets in the process. At the end of it all, Hayden Pakkala was called for roughing, while Fraser Leonard and Trevor Wong were both handed roughing minors for the Blades, which meant the Raiders would start the third period on the powerplay, which they ended up failing to score on.
A back and forth third period resulted in a plethora of scoring chances both ways, but Gardner and Hildebrand stood tall in goal, stopping every shot faced in the frame. For the first time this pre-season, the Raiders would need overtime to decide a winner.
The Blades were given a powerplay in the extra frame, but Hildebrand was a brick wall in goal. He stopped all six shots in overtime, including a couple of great glove saves. Once again, both netminders stopped everything they saw in overtime, and a shootout would be needed to resolve the 3-3 deadlock.
The Blades kicked off the shootout with captain Trevor Wong, and he delivered with a five hole goal to start things off. Aiden Oiring followed suit with a goal of his own as the Raiders’ first shooter, tying the penalty shot series at 1-1.
Jordan Keller was next up for the Blades, and he also went five hole to beat Hildebrand, giving the Blades the edge. Ryder Ritchie responded with a goal of his own as Prince Albert’s second shooter, tying the penalty shots at 2-2.
Spencer Shugrue was next up for the Blades as their third shooter. The defenceman also tried to go five hole, but Hildebrand shut the door, giving the Raiders a chance to win it. Sloan Stanick stepped up as PA’s third shooter, and he sealed the deal. Stanick beat Gardner with a low shot to send the Raiders off with a 4-3 win, as the team went a perfect 3/3 in the shootout.
Prince Albert finishes the pre-season with a perfect 4-0-0-0 record. The green and gold now shift their focus to Friday night, when they welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors to the Art Hauser Centre for their home opener to kick off the 2023-24 regular season. Puck drops at 7pm, you won’t want to miss it. You can purchase tickets for the game here!
