On a night where the team was distributing a bobblehead after him, Prince Albert Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand posted his third career WHL shutout and first of the season in a 5-0 win over the Regina Pats on Cobra Chicken night at the Art Hauser Centre
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says it was a complete effort from Prince Albert in the win.
“It was tremendous. We knew they were going to come out hard in the first period. The four minute penalty kill was huge, and then we get on the power play, we get one. I thought that was the difference of the game and I really like the way that we stuck to our details in the third.”
The two teams would play a scoreless first period with Regina holding an 11-10 shot advantage.
Brayden Dube would open the scoring with his eighth goal of the season at the 4:15 mark of the second period. The Roblin, Manitoba product would redirect a Lukas Dragicevic point shot past Kelton Pyne to give the Raiders the lead. Aiden Oiring picked up the secondary helper.
Just over a minute after the Dube goal, the Raider penalty kill would be tested early. After a lengthy review, a double minor penalty for high sticking was assessed to Ethan Bibeau much to the disapproval of the 2,539 fans in attendance at the Art Hauser Centre.
Prince Albert would successfully kill the penalty earning a nice applause from the crowd.
“I thought that they pressured when they needed to.” Truitt explained about the penalty kill. “They were in lanes when they needed to be. We took some scene plays away. You always need your goaltender to come up with a couple of saves. We’ve blocked some shots through. I like the complete wholeness of the units that we had out there in different situations, it just wasn’t a good forecheck. We stood up at the line a little bit, we got pressure when we needed to. I like the way that they kind of built on everything here tonight.”
Shortly after the four minute kill, the Raider power play would get a chance to go to work after Regina’s Cohen Klassen would be called for tripping.
Lukas Dragicevic would unleash a point shot that would be tipped home by Aiden Oiring for his ninth goal of the season at the 11:50 mark. Niall Crocker also provided an assist on the play.
Ty Meunier would join the scoring party with his fourth goal of the season at the 17:04 mark. The 16-year-old St. Albert, Alberta product beat Kelton Pyne with a wrist shot from the left circle. Tyrone Sobry picked up an assist. Ryan Gower picked up first career WHL point with the secondary helper.
A strong Prince Albert forecheck would lead to the fourth Raider goal of the night at the 18:04 mark of the third period.
Aiden Oiring would pressure Pats forward Zach Moore who turned the puck over to Tomas Mrsic who would feed Dube in the slot in front of the net. Dube’s show would go off of Pats defender Tyson Buczkowski and in for his second of the night and ninth of the season.
Riley Boychuk has had several good opportunities for his first WHL goal this season, but the former second overall pick in 2023 would finally break through in the score column at the 19:31 mark. A slick feed from Luke Moroz would set Boychuk up alone in front. Pyne would make the initial pad save, but Boychuk would clean up his rebound for his first in the WHL.
“It’s really special. I didn’t really want to take this long, but I’m thankful that I got it tonight.” Boychuk said with an ear-to-ear grin during his post-game media availability. “It was a full effort from everybody there, so it wasn’t (just) me there. It was all my teammates and my linemates, Luke (Moroz) and Ty (Meunier). It was so awesome. Great pass by Luke and lucky that I can finally put one in the back of the net.”
Max Hildebrand earned first star honours on the night turning aside all 35 Regina shots that he faced. In Wednesday’s overtime loss to Medicine Hat, Hildebrand faced 55 shots from the Tigers.
He says facing a large volume of shots helps keep him engaged.
“Sometimes it’s a good thing, it gets me in the groove, keeps me in the game. Last two games and a lot of blocked shots for me and on the PK. Our PK has been way better lately which is a good thing.”
The win marks the sixth consecutive game that the Raiders have secured a point. Prince Albert is 7-2-1-0 in their last 10 games.
Truitt says the Raiders still have plenty of work to do, but he is pleased with the progress the team has made since starting the season 2-6-2-0.
“We’re building together. The beginning of the season didn’t really surprise me an awful lot because we had new faces via trade. We had new faces on 16-year-olds. We had new guys stepping into new roles and it’s going to take some time. I’ve said that all the way along and you’ve got to be patient with things. These guys are really blended together to do consistent things amongst four lines and that’s what we need. We need to continue to work on it, but the progress has been great.”
The Raiders will hit the road for a matchup with the Swift Current Broncos next Friday at the InnovationPlex. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
Around The WHL
A five goal second period helped the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 7-3 win over Swift Current
Five different goal scorers lifted Everett to a 5-2 win over Kamloops
Tyler Parr was the overtime hero as Saskatoon defeated Medicine Hat 4-3
The Tri-City Americans ended their Eastern Division trip on a high note with a 7-5 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors
Portland doubled up the Wenatchee Wild 8-4 at the Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum.
Red Deer scored a season high seven goals in a 7-3 win over the Victoria Royals.
Seattle defended home ice with a 5-4 shootout win over Lethbridge.
Berkly Catton and Shea Van Olm had three points each as Spokane knocked off Vancouver 5-1.
