Raiders strike early enroute to 5-1 win over Rebels
Raiders 5 Rebels 1
PRINCE ALBERT — To put it mildly, the Red Deer Rebels were extra late out of the gate.
The visitors sleepwalked through the opening period versus the Prince Albert Raiders, outshot 15-2 and outscored 2-0 enroute to a 5-1 loss witnessed by 2,298 fans at the Art Hauser Centre.
It was obvious from the opening faceoff that the Raiders were the hungrier team.
“Give them credit, they came after us right off the hop,” said Rebels head coach Derrick Walser. “It comes down to all the little things and they wanted it. They outworked us, they out competed us.”
The Raiders struck a mere 40 seconds into the contest when Sloan Stanick’s one-timer from the low slot beat netminder Rhett Stoesser to his glove side.
Defenceman Doogan Pederson made it 2-0 at the 11:10 mark. His first shot from the top of the left circle was blocked but he immediately collected the rebound and fired it past a partially screened Stoesser.
“We weren’t mentally ready,” said Walser. “You can’t sit there and wait around all the time. They just outworked us.”
The Rebels were a different team in the second period, but despite holding a 16-10 advantage in shots they surrendered a third goal when Brayden Dube took advantage of a dead giveaway in the Red Deer end.
“I didn’t mind our second period. We just gave them easy goals tonight,” said Walser.
Aiden Oiring upped the count to 4-0 with a power play tally 21 seconds into the third period.
Frantisek Formanek finally got the Rebels on the board with five minutes remaining, backhanding a rebound past goalie Max Hildebrand from the edge of the crease.
The Raiders, on the power play, closed out the scoring just over a minute later on a Niall Crocker redirect of a point shot by Red Deer native Justice Christensen.
“On at least three goals we had full possession to make a play, to get the puck out,” said Walser. “We don’t do it and it’s in the back of our net.
“There were a lot of mistakes made tonight.”
The Rebels’ first period performance put them squarely behind the 8-ball and their hopes evaporated after the Raiders’ third goal, a virtual gift.
“You have to show up to play, that’s part of being a professional, of being a hockey player,” said Walser, whose club was coming off a 5-0 win over the Saskatoon Blades Tuesday. “You shouldn’t need to be always motivated, you have to take some pride in getting yourself ready.
“We’ve been here enough, we know it’s a grind game, a hard fought game. They got what they deserved tonight and the Raiders got what they deserved.”
Defenceman Jake Missura, 15, made his WHL debut for the Rebels Wednesday with Hunter Mayo unavailable for the contest and drew praise from Walser.
“That’s a really tough game to come into and play and I thought he did a pretty good job,” the Rebels bench boss said of the club’s second round pick in last year’s WHL Prospects Draft.
“It’s not an easy rink to come into and he got quite a few minutes and did some real good things. Hats off to him. His compete was real good.”
Notable: Stoesser made 30 saves, including a dandy on Red Deer product Harrison Lodewyk during a short-handed, two-on-one break in the second period. Hildebrand stopped 26 shots . . . The Raiders were two-for-three on the power play, the Rebels zero-for-three . . . The three stars: (1) Crocker, with a goal and two assists, (2) Stanick, with the exact same output and (3) Oiring . . . The Rebels host the Swift Current Broncos Friday, then take on the visiting Calgary Hitmen 24 hours later.
(Photos by Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)
