The PGLL semi-final between the Prince Albert Predators and Regina Barracudas was a one sided affair, with the home town Preds coming out on top with an emphatic 20-3 win on Tuesday night at the Kinsmen Arena. The win punched their ticket to the PGLL final, where they will take on the Saskatoon Jr. Swat on Friday night in Saskatoon.

“I was really pleased with our start especially,” coach Tyson Fetch said after the game. “We did a good job of setting the tone early and we didn’t let our foot off the gas. Our real issue all year has been holding on to a lead, and I’m glad that we didn’t let up.”

The Predators jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest, thanks to goals from Brayden Reiger, Tyson Perreault, and Caidyn Prediger. The Barracudas got one back on a goal from Jaxson Lenz to make it 3-1 with 11:10 left in the first, but Kade Beaton scored with 9:32 to go to restore Prince Albert’s three goal lead, as they led 4-1 heading into the second.

The Predators piled on more goals in the second period, scoring seven straight, including a powerplay goal and two shorthanded markers. Matthew Cudmore and Hayden Ulriksen led the charge in the middle frame, as each player scored twice. Reiger, as well as Brycen Brule and Waylon Alstadt rounded out the second period scoring for Prince Albert. Regina’s lone goal in the frame came from Lenz with 18 seconds to go, as the Preds took a commaning 11-1 lead into the third.

The second period also saw some nasty stuff, as Perrault engaged in a heated exchange with Regina’s Tanner Hall. Battling in the corner away from the play, the two went down on the floor, and started landing blows on one another. Hall was given a cross checking minor and an unnecessary roughness major, while Perreault was dealt an unnecessary roughness major, an unnecessary roughness minor, and a facemasking major, which resulted in him being kicked out of the game.

“Emotions run high in the game, and it was a very physical game,” Fetch said. “Guys get fed up with whatever is going on to them, and Tyson took it into his own hands. I’d rather see them drop the mitts and fight, but a wrestling match is a wrestling match.”

In the third period, Prince Albert didn’t take their foot off the gas for a second, as they put together their highest scoring period of the game. Nine goals in the final 20 minutes put a 20 spot up on the scoreboard in front of a packed house. Cudmore and Prediger both completed hat tricks in the third, while Dillan Cochrane and Braden Shewchuk scored a pair of goals each. Preds captain Davin Ikert buried a goal midway through the third, while Owen Peifer added another with 5:22 left with Prince Albert on the powerplay to round out the scoring. On the Regina side, Lenz completed his own hat trick in the third period, but his three goals were the only ones to go up on the scoreboard for the Barracudas, as the Predators walked away with the 20-3 win.

Duncan Fetch was a brick wall in goal all game for the Predators, stopping 31 of 34 shots. He also picked up an assist in the game. On the other side of the floor, the Predators mustered 78 shots on goal in the contest, including outshooting Regina 31-9 after the first period.

“Defense wins games, but if the other team doesn’t have the ball because we’re on offense, they’re not winning,” Fetch said. “Our goalie made 31 saves, but he had to make those saves.”

With the Saskatoon Jr. Swat beating the Swift Current Wolverines 19-14 in the other PGLL semi-final, it’ll set up the championship between Saskatoon and Prince Albert on Friday. The Swat finished the regular season one point ahead of the Predators, which means they will get to enjoy the luxury of their home floor.

Saskatoon got the better of Prince Albert in the regular season in two meetings. Although they tied 11-11 in their first game of the year, the Swat came out on top 9-8 in their second meeting, which was Prince Albert’s only loss of the season. Despite the regular season outcome, Fetch believes his team will be ready to go when the two clubs square off on Friday night.

“I think the boys were ready to play tonight, and if they’re ready to play again on Friday, we’ll have a real chance,” Fetch explained. “Saskatoon has a solid squad and they picked up a few players since we played them last. We’re going to have our work cut out for us that’s for sure. It’ll be a really good game.”

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

Just a week after signing their first round pick Luke Moroz, the Prince Albert Raiders announced the signing of second round pick Ryan Gower to a WHL Standard Player Agreement on Tuesday.

Gower, selected 32nd overall in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, hails from McCreary, Manitoba. He spent the 2021-22 season with the U15AAA Parkland Rangers. He put up 34 points (13G-21A) in 32 games with the team.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

The Prince Albert Predators came out flying in the first period, scoring five goals en route to a 10-7 win over the Wolverines on Saturday night in Swift Current. Prince Albert ended the regular season in second place in the PGLL standings, and will take on the third seeded Regina Barracudas to begin the playoffs.

Four different scorers found the back of the net for the Predators in the first period, as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead after the opening 20 minutes. Caidyn Prediger and Tyson Perreault helped Prince Albert jump ahead 2-0 with a pair of goals less than three minutes apart midway through the first. Houston Finlayson scored for the Wolverines to make it a 2-1 game just 22 seconds later, but Prince Albert went on to score three straight in the final six minutes of the opening frame.

Prediger scored his second of the night with 5:37 to go, while Hayden Ulriksen scored with 4:27 left. Matthew Cudmore scored his first of four goals on the night with 2:00 remaining to make it a 5-1 lead heading into the second.

After more than 10 minutes of scoreless action in the second period, Cudmore potted his second goal of the contest with 9:15 left in the middle frame to extend Prince Albert’s lead to 6-1. However, Swift Current mounted a comeback, scoring three in a row to cut the deficit to 6-4. Finlayson scored his second of the night on a Wolverines powerplay, while Riley Pribyl and Ryder Turko scored goals of their own to bring Swift Current back to within two.

Cudmore scored his third goal of the game with 2:58 left in the second, while Finlayson completed his own hat trick with just 22 seconds left in the frame on another powerplay to make it a 7-5 Predators lead through 40.

Perreault made it an 8-5 lead with his second of the night 2:54 into the third. Dillan Cochrane scored for Prince Albert with 10:36 left, extending the lead to 9-5. Finlayson scored his fourth goal of the night for Swift Current with his third powerplay goal of the game to make it 9-6, while Adam Zanidean scored just over two minutes later to make it 9-7.

With 3:24 to go and the Predators on the powerplay, Cudmore sealed the deal with his fourth goal of the night on a Prince Albert man advantage, securing the 10-7 win, and solidifying a date with the Barracudas in the playoffs on Tuesday night.

Had the Wolverines beat the Predators on Saturday, it would have set up a rematch between the two clubs. Instead, Swift Current will take on the top seeded Saskatoon Jr. Swat, who finished the regular season just one point ahead of the Predators (see PGLL standings on page 6.)

Tuesday’s game between the Predators and Barracudas goes down at 8 p.m. at the Kinsmen Arena in Prince Albert.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

After capturing a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Canada Women’s Softball team is finally ready to celebrate. One of their six stops throughout parts of Canada will include a trip to Prince Albert for a game against the Czech Republic on June 30.

“With the caliber of ball that we’ve been able to host over the last few years, it’s always exciting to be included in the celebration tour and to be able to highlight the women’s side of the game,” Prince Albert Minor Softball Association vice president Ian Litzenberger said.

The last major softball event that was held in Prince Albert was the 2018 Junior Men’s Softball World Championship which was won by Australia. Litzenberger says after welcoming the men’s side of the game to Prince Albert, hosting the women will be a special moment for the organizers of the event.

“The last few years we’ve definitely been a little heavier on the men’s side of the game. So to be able to bring the Canadian women up to Prince Albert and showcase them, it’s pretty neat and a pretty unique experience for the community.”

With the caliber that the third ranked team in the world has means that the fields they play on must match that. And with the work put in over the last handful of years to put Prince Albert on the map as one of the premiere locations to play softball in the province, Litzenberger says the city is comfortable hosting these talented games.

“We’re very fortunate that we’re in Canada obviously. Canada always ranks high up in hosting events especially in the softball community. With the great work that Saskatoon has done in hosting events, that’s helped put Saskatchewan on the map. With the opportunity that we had to create these facilities and have the community step up, that definitely helped and allowed us to have world caliber softball diamonds. Our strong softball community that we have here has enabled us to do all of these exciting things so that we can continue to showcase this great sport.”

Although the event falls just a day before Canada Day, Litzenberger is hopeful that people will include the national game as a part of their long weekend plans.

“We’re going to put on a world class event, and host it as best as we can and just celebrate softball and our facility. It’s a little bit of tricky timing with the celebration tour landing on the Canada Day long weekend, but we’re hoping that’s not going to be too much of an obstacle and people take a couple of hours our of their weekend plans to come see a different side of the game in terms of the women’s side. It’s not very often that you get to showcase and watch high caliber ball, and this opportunity is a unique one, and we’re hoping that everyone comes out.”

After a lengthy amount of planning, the first annual Will Skopyk Memorial boxing card will all come together on Saturday at the Prince Albert Exhibition Centre.

Skopyk, who was killed in a car crash in 2018 at just 17 years old, was a fighter with the Thomas Settee Boxing Club in Prince Albert. However, it was Braddock Koch from the Red Wolf Boxing Club in Prince Albert that reached out and took the next step to organize the memorial event.

“I decided to take it a step further by putting in an annual boxing event in Prince Albert, and this is the first one,” Koch said. “We decided to start small and hopefully build bigger as we go.”

Koch’s dedication to the sport of boxing in Prince Albert made it an easy choice to organize the memorial event. He said even though Skopyk wasn’t directly correlated with the Red Wolf Boxing Club, still wanted to show the relationship each boxing club has with each other.

“It’s for the sake of continuity,” Koch explained. “I wanted to show that there is a connection to each boxing club that has come from Prince Albert. Each boxing club that has arisen has come from the last. There’s continuity, we’re not all separate entities just doing our own thing. There is a connection between us. With that kind of theme in my mind, I thought what can I do to make the connection and show that we are similar. I thought what better way than to make this memorial card.”

Aside from doing it to show the relationship between the Prince Albert boxing clubs, Koch also set the card on a personal level. He knew Will and his parents, Rod and Linda, who jumped on board when Koch presented the idea of the memorial. He hopes that the event will have a true reflection of who Will was, who he says was just the average kid upon first glance.

“If you looked at Will Skopyk, you would see just an average kid,” Koch said. “He would blend in with a hundred other kids. But, put a pair of boxing gloves on him, and that kid was a lion. Fierce and focused, that’s the thing you got about him was how focused he was. He loved to box, he just loved it. It was like a switch went on when he stepped into the ring.

“I tell my boxers that they have the athletic ability, the athletic skills, the fitness training, but if you have the heart and desire of Will Skopyk, you’re bound to be successful at what we do. What we do is not easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. That’s what we hope to bring is that fierceness, that focus. This card is dedicated to Will, because even though he was a member of the Thomas Settee Boxing Club, we feel like he is one of the Wolves.”

People attending the card can look forward to six primary bouts and a few sparring sessions between various boxers. Fighters will be coming in from Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the card starting at 7 p.m.

Dawson Patterson went three for three at the dish, collecting two RBI’s as part of the Prince Albert Royals’ 8-6 win over the Saskatoon Blue Jays on Wednesday night at Andy Zwack Field.

Starting pitcher Nick Dutchak threw a strong six innings of work, striking out eight batters while giving up three earned runs in the win, as the Royals put the brakes on a three game losing skid.

“Overall it was a good game and the boys executed,” coach Pat Robin said. “We got some really good pitching from Nick again and we had some really good at bats. We didn’t chase any bad pitches at the plate which was good.”

Dutchak escaped a first inning jam fairly unscathed giving up just one run. A walk and a pair of singles to start the game for Saskatoon helped the Blue Jays open the scoring. But with runners on second and third, Dutchak got Addie Ziebart to pop out to short, and struck out Reid Kovach to end the inning.

Lukas Robin reached second base in the bottom half after two errors from the Saskatoon side to start the frame. Carter Gladstone came up to the plate next and reached base on another error by the first baseman, which also allowed Robin to score on the play. After Patterson was hit by a pitch and Bronson Parker singled, Dutchak drove home the former after grounding out to first base. The two errors committed by the Blue Jays in the first inning allowed the Royals to take a 2-1 lead into the second.

Dutchak settled into the game from there, going three up, three down over the next two innings. Prince Albert added another two runs in the bottom of the second to jump ahead 4-2.

Two singles and a double in the top of the fourth brought the Blue Jays back in the game, as Ziebart and Blair Bock touched home plate in the frame, making it a 4-3 deficit. However, the Royals responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the fourth inning. After two straight walks to start, Cody Morash singled home Cole Bolotniuk to make it 5-3. Three batters later, Patterson knocked home a pair of runs with a two out single to make it a 7-3 spread through four busy innings.

“We had some really big walks in the game,” Robin said. “It was just a good day for us on the offensive side of the ball.”

The Royals went ahead 8-3 in the bottom of the fifth, while Saskatoon mounted a late comeback attempt with a three run seventh inning, but fell short as Prince Albert took the contest by an 8-6 final.

Aside from the offensive display at the plate in the game, Robin was especially pleased with the way his group played on the defensive side of the ball. He said limiting their errors from start to finish put them in a chance to win the game.

“We made plays when it mattered the most,” he said. “They were timely plays on defence that we were able to make. We had a double play in the top of the sixth that stood out to end the inning. We made some good catches too. That eliminated a lot of potential runs. Nick pitched an excellent game; he had three innings that were basically flawless. When he is on the mound, we have our best defensive lineup on the field, and we set up the best that way.”

Robin has done a lot of moving players around on the diamond over the last handful of games. Whether it’s moving an infielder to the outfield or vice-versa, he has been trying to find the winning recipe to getting consistent outs and shrinking the number of errors. He believes that the team is getting closer every game to finding that perfect rhythm on defense.

“I’ve moved kids around just for defensive reasons,” he explained. “I told our kids after the game that we’re a team and we need to be team orientated. We need to accept our new roles. We’re in games when we play defensive minded baseball. We’re approaching the halfway point of the season this weekend, and I told the boys that I don’t want to see games where we commit ten or more errors a game anymore. Sometimes that means moving positions and finding what works for us.”

Robin was also happy with the way his team approached their at bats. Not forcing plays or swinging at bad pitches was one of the reasons that they were able to draw five walks in the game. Not only reaching base on free passes, but cashing in those runners was a key point all game long for Robin.

“We did a good job of taking their pitchers deep into counts. We talked about that from the get-go. A good at bat is one that you’re battling in, and you’re taking the pitcher deep in the counts. I don’t remember one kid swinging at any high pitches in the game. We had some kids make really good contact on their swings, which is good confidence for them. It was just an overall good game.

“I’m happy that the boys got the win, and we’re going to move forward. The Blue Jays are a similar skill level to us, and we match really well with them.”

The Royals (4-8) hit the road for a pair of weekend games. Their first stop will be in Marysburg for a game against the Weyburn Brewers on Saturday. The team will travel to Muenster on Sunday afternoon for their first meeting of the year with the Parkland Expos.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca