The Prince Albert Raiders capped off a four point weekend taking down the Regina Pats 3-0 at the Brandt Centre on Saturday night.
It was a tight contest early, with neither team finding the back of the net in the first period.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says Prince Albert expected a tight game with Regina, which is exactly what they got.
“They’re going to force you to play a hard game and it’s not always free flowing and it’s not always smooth because they work hard, they’re positionally disciplined. They don’t give you a lot of room at times. That’s what we prepared for. The guys chipped away, we stuck with it and opened it up there and finally got some quality shots and goals.”
It would take nearly forty minutes for the first goal of the hockey game to be scored, but Harrison Lodewyk would find it at the 18:51 mark of the second period as the 19-year-old centreman would deposit a loose puck past Ewan Huet for his 10th goal of the season. Rilen Kovacevic and Niall Crocker assisted on the play.
Prince Albert would double the lead at the 3:19 mark of the third period as Tomas Mrsic, fired a shot from even with the goal line that found space behind Huet for his 32nd goal of the season.
That would be all the goal support Max Hildebrand would need as the 20-year-old would shut the door the rest of the way, stopping all 24 Regina shots he faced to earn his third shutout of the season.
With the shutout, Hildebrand moved into a tie for second place with three goose eggs on the season with Calgary’s Daniel Hauser. Spokane’s Dawson Cowan leads the league with four shutouts this season.
Truitt says the Raiders did a good job of limiting quality looks for Regina.
“I think the guys clogged up the middle pretty well. We didn’t give them a lot of clean looks. There were some and every goaltender is going to face those quality shots a night, whether that’s five or eight a night, they’re going to see some. I didn’t think tonight that we gave up a ton. There were a few, but I give our guys credit for helping him out in front of the net there and spraying some pucks away.”
Brayden Dube would add an empty net goal with 10 seconds to go in the game.
Prince Albert returns to action on Wednesday night when they play host to Winnipeg Jets prospect Brayden Yager and the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
