The Prince Albert Raiders fell just short in their first game of the 2024-25 WHL season, falling 3-2 to the Regina Pats in overtime on Friday night.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says there were a lot of positives to take from the win, despite the final result on the scoreboard.
“We learned something here about our compete and we got to be better in some areas. We know that these younger guys are showing up. Dax Rudolph gets a goal for us. Crocker scores one for us as well. I thought that at times we were sloppy with the puck and just the pace of play here a little bit. It’s going to smooth out, it’s going to take some time. We had some chances here that we can obviously score on, we didn’t finish and that seems to be a difference. They score a power play goal, they score on some of their chances and we don’t.”
A power play tally from Sam Oremba would open the scoring for the Pats at the 7:07 mark of the first period, Braxton Whitehead picked up the lone helper.
Fresh off Ottawa Senators rookie camp, Niall Crocker wasted no time getting his first goal of his 20-year-old season, banging home a loose puck. Luke Moroz and Aiden Oiring assisted on the play.
Regina would take the lead at the 2:21 mark of the second period on a weird play. A point shot from Samuel Laplante redirected off of several sticks and was initially ruled no goal because of a high stick.
After a review upstairs to video goal judge Barry Schrader, the call was overturned as the puck went in off a Raider high stick and not a Pats player. Zackary Shantz assisted on the play.
It would take until the 18:00 mark of the third period for the Raiders to find the equalizer and it came in the form of Daxon Rudolh’s first career WHL goal. Niall Crocker and Doogan Pederson assisted on the play.
Rudolph says it was a great feeling to pick up his first career WHL tally.
“It was awesome. The last two minutes of the game to get one to get us back even. It was big for our team. Great to hear the building go wild and get us back into the game and get some energy heading into overtime. Too bad we didn’t come out with the win, we got a point and pushed it to overtime.”
After the game was forced into overtime, Zackary Shantz would bury the winner for the Pats 4:13 into the extra frame. Cole Temple had the lone helper.
Kelton Pyne earned second star honours and the win for Regina stopping 37 of 39 Raider shots. Max Hildebrand made 22 stops for the Raiders.
Prince Albert will look to play spoiler tomorrow night when they travel to Moose Jaw for the Warriors home opener. Truitt says he wants to see Prince Albert utilize their speed more against the Warriors.
“I didn’t think our passing was real clean here tonight. We bobbled some things. We didn’t break things out a little bit, not as smooth as we want. It’s not gonna happen overnight. When you’re at this level, we want to make sure that we’re smooth with the puck going north more passes with our speed. That’s what we have to open up.”
Around The WHL
Roger McQueen scored four times as the Brandon Wheat Kings knocked off the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-2.
Five goals in the third period including a hat trick from Kyle Chyzowski helped the Portland Winterhawks edge the Kamloops Blazers 5-2.
A strong third period with goals from Kale Tipler and Leo Braillard helped the Lethbridge Hurricanes win their home opener over the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-1.
Austin Elliott made 24 stops as Saskatoon edged Swift Current 4-1 on the road.
16-year-old defenceman Keaton Verhoeff scored twice as the Victoria Royals downed the Tri-City Americans 5-4. Prince Albert product Jayden Kraus made 38 stops for the Royals.
