The Prince Albert Raiders couldn’t control the Vancouver Giants in a 10-1 loss at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday night.
It was the most goals the Raiders have given up in a game since Game 3 against Winnipeg on April 26. 2022. The ICE won that contest 10-1.
The last time the Raiders gave up double digit goals in the regular season was December 3, 2016 in a 12-2 loss to the Regina Pats
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says Vancouver took control right from the start.
“Their game plan was to get right after us and they did, scoring 3 goals in over 2 minutes or so. Then they dictated the pace and just built off of that. They made some good saves. We had some chances, they made some great saves and they got some really good shooters in here and made us pay. Bit of an embarrassing night to end off the trip for sure.”
The Raiders would be put behind the eight ball early as Vancouver would score three goals within a span of 1:58 in the first period.
Tyson Zimmer would start things with a power play goal at the 4:32 mark, London Hoilett would strike for his first of the season at 5:06 while Connor Levis would add his third of the season at 6:30.
Immediately following the three goal outburst, Raider head coach Jeff Truitt used his timeout.
In the second period, Connor Levis would extend the Giant lead to four at the 5:11 mark.
Brayden Dube would cut into the lead with his third goal of the season at the 8:15 mark. Doogan Pederson provided the helper.
Vancouver would respond with three goals in the middle frame from Mazden Leslie, Jakob Oreskovic and Caiden Cail.
Max Hildebrand would be chased from the game after the fifth Vancouver goal, replaced by Cooper Anderson.
In the third period, Giants defenseman Kolby Gapter would be given a game misconduct and a five minute major for boarding on Oli Chenier. After being attended to by Duane “Puff” Bartley, Chenier left the ice under his own power.
Vancouver would add goals from Oreskovic, Thorpe and Levis.
Prince Albert will return home to take on the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday night. Truitt says the Raiders will need to work on things in their own end after giving five or more goals in four of the five games on the B.C. Division road trip.
“We’ll be spending quite a bit of time in our defensive zone over the next 4 days. Dialing things in, playing defensive hockey is not easy and sometimes we’re too easy and we’re going to get that rectified right away when we get back. There’ll be some direction and work that goes into it because that’s what defensive hockey is, it’s work and we’ve got to get back to that in an awful hurry.”
