
Harrison Lodewyk was in the middle of it all for the Prince Albert Raiders as the 19-year-old centreman recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick in a 5-2 win over the Regina Pats on Wednesday night.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says Lodewyk has been a key cog for Prince Albert all season long.
“He does a lot of things for us. He’s a leader in our room. He’s a guy who is one of the hardest workers that you’ll ever meet. Very effective on the ice, face offs, penalty kills. He’s got responsibilities that way he can pitch in on the offense. He does a lot of everything. He’s probably a very underrated player in our league.”
Brayden Dube would open the scoring at the 13:34 mark of the opening frame with his 22nd goal of the campaign. Harrison Lodewyk and Matteo Fabrizi assisted on the play.
The fireworks would start at the 15:32 mark of the opening frame as Lodewyk would drop the gloves with Regina overage defenceman John Babcock earning a round of applause after getting the takedown on the play.
Ty Meunier would reach double digits with his 10th goal of the season 9:56 into the middle frame. On a 2-on-0 with Riley Boychuk, the former seventh overall pick would wire a wrist shot high blocker side on Ewan Huet causing an explosion of the goaltender’s water bottle. Fabrizi had the secondary assist on the play.
Harrison Lodewyk would strike for his seventh goal of the campaign under a minute later at the 10:36 mark. Dube and Niall Crocker would pick up the assists.
Regina would answer at the 12:48 mark. An Ephram McNutt shot from the point would hit a sea of bodies in front of Max Hildebrand and fall on the stick of Cohen Klassen who snapped a wrist shot short side past the Raider netminder for his fourth goal of the season. Zach Moore had the secondary helper.
Keets Fawcett would strike on the power play just over a minute later at the 14:01 mark to bring the Pats within one. Matt Paranych and Zach Pantelakis assisted on the goal.
Regina would have a prime opportunity to tie the game early in the third period after a double minor for high sticking was called against Rilen Kovacevic just 0:38 into the final frame.
The Raider penalty kill would buckle down, killing seven of eight Regina power plays.
Truitt says he liked the determination of the Raider penalty killing unit in the win.
“There’s desperation there. I thought we were more aggressive on things. We’ve got some good clears, a vast improvement from a little bit of the trend that was going. Conor (Yawney) did a great job giving good reasons for this penalty kill to sharpen up a little bit here. I give the guys a lot of credit for taking pride in a very key part of the game.”
Evan Smith would strike for his first goal as a Raider at the 6:25 mark of the third period to give Prince Albert some much needed insurance. Oli Chenier and Justice Christensen assisted on the play.
Aiden Oiring would strike for his 20th goal of the season to extend the Raider lead to three in the final minutes. Tomas Mrsic and Rilen Kovacevic picked up the helpers.
The Raiders return to action on Saturday night when the Wenatchee Wild pay a visit to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
Around The WHL
Gavin McKenna recorded a hat trick as the Medicine Hat Tigers picked up a 7-3 road win over the Everett Silvertips
Daniel Hauser stopped all 25 shots he faced as the Calgary Hitmen topped the Edmonton Oil Kings 6-0
Luke Shipley had a five point night as the Brandon Wheat Kings picked up a 7-2 home ice win over the Red Deer Rebels.
A three point night for Savin Virk helped Tri-City defeat Kamloops 6-2
A hat trick for Teydon Trembecky helped the Victoria Royals down the Kelowna Rockets 11-1