New goaltender, same result.
For the third time in five games this season, the Prince Albert Raiders shut-out the Swift Current Broncos. The Raiders defence tightened up, allowing only 12 shots all game, while firing 48 of their own on the Swift Current net in an 8-0 win.
“(I’m) just really proud with how we defended,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said after the game. “We were very stingy—12 shots—very happy with Basser (Steele Bass) in net there. He made the big saves when he was counted upon, and again, the guys just played extremely hard.
“We played north, we played fast, and got pucks to the net and got rewarded for it.”
Monday’s game followed a familiar trend. As with previous meetings, the Raiders bottled the Broncos up in their own zone, while pelting the Swift Current goal from every angle.
Bronco netminder Joey Rocha finished with 40 saves on the night—the best one being a diving pad stop late in the second period that denied Prince Albert defenceman Daxon Rudolph his second goal of the evening.
But Rocha was left helpless on a number of Raider goals, including Aiden Oiring’s first period power play marker that stood up as the game winner.
“Our mentality doesn’t change,” McDonald said. “Any team can win on any night in this league and our guys do such a good job. We play fast, we play north, we play simple, we play that hard brand of hockey to play against.”
At the other end, rookie Raider goaltender Steele Bass was nowhere near as busy, but on the rare occasions the Bronco offence broke through, he was ready.
The High River, Alta product went almost through an almost 10 minute third period stretch without facing a shot, but stared down a few quality scoring chances late in the game to earn his first WHL shutout.
The toughest was a stick save on Bronco right winger Zach Pantelakis, who snuck past the Raider defence for a partial breakaway with less than six minutes to play.
“It’s a little hard to kind of stay in it,” said Bass, who is now the third Raider goaltender to shut-out the Broncos this season. “When the puck is in the other end, it’s just watching it all the time. Whenever we score goals the Hauser gets pretty loud, so the energy stays pretty high.”
The Raider power play was almost unstoppable on Monday. Oiring, Alisher Sarkenov, and Max Heise all had goals with the man advantage before Jonah Sivertson potted two more in the third period.
Rudolph, Justice Christensen, and Oli Chenier added even strength goals for a Raider team that gave the Swift Current offence little room to skate all night.
“(We’re) just keeping our F3 high, making sure that we’re strong defensively, not allowing odd-man rushes against, things like that,” said Christensen, who had three assists to go with his second period goal. “Then when they had power plays or things like that, (we’re) making sure we’re blocking shots and limiting their chances.”
The frustration boiled over late in the third period with a number of scrums and altercations, but no actual fights.
Bronco forwards Hudson Darby and Anthony Wilson both received 10-minute misconducts, as did Raiders centre Brayden Dube. The penalties came just 16 seconds after Swift Current’s Brock Burch and Brennan Brown, and Prince Albert’s Brandon Gorzynski were all sent off for roughing.
“Hockey is an emotional game,” McDonald said when asked about the late-game altercations. “Their team’s playing hard. Our team’s playing hard. Again, hockey is an emotional game whether you’re standing on the bench in a suit or you’re on the ice in gear.
“Everybody on that side’s a competitor. Everybody on our side’s a competitor. We respect those guys and we know anyone can win on any single night. We’ve got to make sure we’re always prepared for who we’re playing against, and that didn’t change against these guys.”
The Raiders are back on the ice Friday to face the Regina Pats at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
News and Notes:
• Christensen’s second period goal was definitely the prettiest of the night. The Raider captain drove to the front of the net and finished off a nice passing sequence created by Riley Boychuk and Maddix McCagherty.
• Alisher Sarkenov now has goals in back-to-back games after returning from representing Kazakhstan at the Division 1, Group A U20 World Championships in Slovenia.
• Linesman Jordan Carriere worked the final game of his WHL career on Monday. Carriere received a retirement gift during a short pre-game ceremony.
• The Broncos have scored a combined five goals in five regular season meetings with the Raiders this season. Four of them came in Prince Albert’s 7-4 win at the Innovationplex on Dec. 12. The other came in a 7-1 Raider win on Dec. 27.
