The Prince Albert Raiders will battle for the East Division crown on Saturday night thanks to a 3-2 overtime win against the Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre on Friday.
THe Raiders trailed the Blades 2-1 after forty minutes of play but were able to stick with their gameplan and break through late in regulation and pick up the overtime winner.
Interim head coach Ryan McDonald says he was pleased with the Raiders’ never give up attitude.
“The ability to stick to it and we just kept grinding our way through, making sure we kept depositing pucks in behind and forcing them to defend underneath the tops of the circles and it took us 15 minutes, but we got rewarded.”
The Raiders would get off to an ideal start as Brayden Dube’s 30th goal of the season would open the scoring just 0:24 into the first period.
Saskatoon would draw even at the 15:17 mark as David Lewandowski would bury a rebound for his 15th goal of the season. Hunter Laing had the lone assist.
Zach Olsen’s 11th goal of the season at the 7:25 mark of the middle frame on the power play would give Saskatoon their first lead of the night. Olsen was left all alone in front of the Raider crease and redirected a pass from Cooper Williams past Hildebrand. Brayden Klimpke had the lone assist.
With just over five minutes to go in regulation, Harrison Lodewyk would tie the game with his 11th goal of the season. The 19-year-old would cut to the crease and Evan Gardner would make the initial save, but Lodewyk would deposit his own rebound. Niall Crocker and Daxon Rudolph had the assists.
Dube would pick up the overtime winner at the 1:38 mark as he would tip home a pass from Justice Christensen for his 31st goal of the season. Harrison Lodewyk had the secondary helper.
McDonald says Dube’s best attribute, his speed, was key on both goals.
“Dube possesses tremendous speed and on his first goal, you see him pick up speed and when he cuts it to that post, he’s a really hard guy to handle and he tucks it in. The overtime winner, just using his speed and drives through and then a great pass by Christensen, a great tip in the net.”
Max Hildebrand made 31 stops for the Raiders on the night while Evan Gardner made 20 saves for the Blades.
The two teams will finish up the regular season on Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre. The winning team will be the East Division champion.
“This is what you play hockey for.” McDonald says. “It’s for these meaningful games and it’s going to come right down to the last game of the year.”
Puck drops at 7 p.m.
