The Prince Albert Predators stayed undefeated in Prairie Gold Lacrosse League (PGLL) play with an 11-8 win over the Saskatoon SWAT at Kinsmen Arena in Saskatoon on Monday night.
Predator head coach Lucas Wells says he was pleased with the performance from his team.
“I think our effort all around was very good. I felt like we kind of pushed the tempo most of the game. I thought we did a lot of the little things correctly defensively. We were very aggressive, caused some turnovers, made their offense play to our strengths. I thought overall it was very good.”
The game was close throughout the entire contest. The two teams would be tied at 3-3 after the opening twenty minutes of play. Saskatoon got tallies from Christian Morin, James Mahussier and Christian Morin. Matthew Cudmore scored twice in the opening frame.
A late goal from Talon Sandry with 4:14 left in the second period would give the Predators a one goal lead heading into the third frame.
With the game being close, Wells says it was a good experience for the Predators, especially competing on the road.
“I think it’s really important. I think it’s only going to help us down the stretch as we head into playoffs. I think it’s only going to help us when we go to the MacDonald Cup. Playing in those tight games is important battling through that adversity. The one missed call or the one call against us or taking advantage of a power play or just the little things and being able to capitalize on opportunities is important in those tight games. I think those tight games definitely help you improve in those aspects of your game.”
In the third period, Brayden Rieger took over for the Predators. The University of Mount Olive Trojan scored the first three goals of the final frame for Prince Albert, all coming in a two minute span.
“He’s a pure goal scorer.” Wells remarked about Rieger. “What people don’t realize is what he does to a defense, he commands the best defender on the floor and possibly a double team that’s always looking to slide onto him. It just opens up that floor so much more for those (other) guys. It takes a little bit of pressure off him, so he’s been a huge addition in the last two weeks.”
The Predators found themselves in penalty trouble throughout the game, serving more penalties than Saskatoon in every period of the contest.
A major reason the Predators were able to stay afloat despite their penalty trouble was the play of rookie goaltender Oliver Volek.
Volek has taken over the starting netminder role after Mason Hawkes aged out after last season. Wells says Volek has taken major strides since the start of the season.
“He’s improved tenfold. It’s been incredible. He was very raw last year when he backed up Mason. He’s taken that opportunity and he’s ran with it. He’s been very good for us, bailing our defense out of multiple situations. We looked at last night, I think Saskatoon had two or three, five on three’s. We killed them all off, Oliver made some incredible saves. Some say he’s got no business making and we’re just gonna continue to work with him to turn him into a top end goalie in this league.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca
