
It was an impressive evening at the office for Noah Gregor Friday.
The Prince Albert Raiders overage forward was one point of his career high single game performance with two goals and two assists as his team picked up their 10th straight win in a 6-2 affair against the Swift Current Broncos at the Art Hauser Centre.
“You just try and take the opportunities as they come and our line was able to capitalize on our chances tonight,” said Gregor, who was paired up with Justin Nachbaur and the returning Kody McDonald during the contest.
“I thought our line was gelling pretty well for our first night together. All three of us bring different elements out there and that allowed us to move the puck well.”
It was a successful return to the lineup for McDonald, who had been out of action for eight games after suffering an injury in Calgary on Oct. 8.
The overage forward had a goal and an assist during the second period of play, as he found the back of the net on a long-range shot and then had one of his shots tipped in by Nachbaur.
“I felt pretty good out there,” McDonald said. “I was sucking wind a little bit after the first period, but I was able to recover during the intermission and it felt like I was back to my old self.”
“He was better than I expected in all honesty,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “He worked out quite a bit with (strength and conditioning coach) Terry (Lange) to get his skating legs going and I think you saw that tonight. He’s a smart player and he worked well with Gregor and Nachbaur.”
Fellow overage forward Sean Montgomery also had a multi-point night as he scored twice in the triumph.
Donovan Buskey improved his record to 3-0 in a Raiders uniform as he made 17 saves.
Ben King and Eric Houk both scored for the Broncos, who have a 3-15-0-1 mark and saw their two-game win streak come to an end Friday.
As he has on a number of occasions this season, St. Louis Blues prospect Joel Hofer was stellar in goal for the defending Western Hockey League champions as he turned aside 37 shots.
Although the Raiders now have an impressive 17-1 record and are now 10-0 at the Art Hauser Centre, there are some things that the side wants to improve upon as they gear up to host the Medicine Hat Tigers on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
“We need to do a better job of keeping our pace up,” Gregor said. “We weren’t always moving our feet tonight to get to the loose pucks and we weren’t always getting back into the play after a turnover.
“If we can fix those things, I think we’ll have a better performance in our next game.”
Post-Game Notes
Gregor’s best single-game performance came as a member of the Moose Jaw Warriors as he had two goals and three assists in a 7-5 win over the Calgary Hitmen on Dec. 3, 2016.
Brett Leason reached the 40-point plateau and extended his points streak to 18 games to start the season as he had an assist on Montgomery’s goal just eight seconds into the middle frame.
Defenceman Nolan Allan, who suited up for his fourth game as an affiliated player with the Raiders Friday, recorded his first career WHL assist during the second period on a goal by McDonald.
Blueliner Lane Kirk remains out of the Raiders lineup with an injury, while Kaiden Guhle and Ozzy Wiesblatt were taking part in games at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in New Brunswick Friday.
Forward Quinton Waitzner and defencemen Matthew Stanley, Billy Sowa and Austin Herron did not dress for the Broncos, who ended up finishing the game with just five skaters on the blueline after Garrett Sambrook was injured in the first period.
Friday’s Scores
- Brandon 6 Red Deer 3 (Stelio Mattheos – One Goal and Two Assists)
- Regina 5 Tri-City 1 (Jake Leschyshyn – Three Goals – Second Career Hat Trick)
- Edmonton 5 Kootenay 2 (Quinn Benjafield – One Goal and Two Assists)
- Lethbridge 4 Calgary 2 (Reece Klassen – 34 Saves)
- Saskatoon 3 Medicine Hat 1 (Nolan Maier – 35 Saves)
- Everett 6 Kamloops 1 (Gianni Fairbrother – Four Assists)
- Kelowna 3 Seattle 1 (Kyle Topping – One Goal and One Assist)
- Victoria 7 Spokane 5 (D-Jay Jerome – Two Goals and One Assist)
Saturday’s Schedule
- Red Deer vs. Moose Jaw – 7 p.m.
- Swift Current vs. Regina – 7 p.m.
- Saskatoon vs. Kootenay – 8 p.m.
- Kelowna vs. Portland – 8 p.m.
- Everett vs. Seattle – 8 p.m.
- Edmonton vs. Medicine Hat – 8:30 p.m.
- Prince George vs. Vancouver – 9 p.m.
- Spokane vs. Victoria – 9 p.m.