The Prince Albert Predators made a statement with a pair of wins over the Swift Current Wolverines in Prairie Gold Lacrosse League action on Saturday at Kinsmen Arena.
Predators head coach Lucas Wells says Prince Albert was firing on all cylinders in both games.
“Overall, I’m very happy. We came in 4-0, Swift Current came in 4-0. These are arguably the best two teams in the province and we kind of made a statement. The first game, we kind of dominated. We got the second best goalie pulled in the league after the second. We did the same thing in the second game. I’m very happy with our effort.”
In the first game, Prince Albert would never trail as a five goal outburst in the first period would propel the Predators to an early lead they would never relinquish.
Brayden Rieger led Prince Albert in scoring with five points on the day (4G, 1A). Hayden Ulriksen and Ryley Prediger each contributed four points for the Predators in the winning effort.
Mason Hawkes stood tall in net for Prince Albert, turning aside 35 of 39 Wolverine shots in the first game.
The second game of the day saw more of the same as Prince Albert would score early and often with six goals in the opening frame.
The Predators would win the special teams battle with four power play goals and two short handed tallies on the day.
Wells says the key to Prince Albert’s success was the quality of passes the team was making and the buy-in from all the players on the roster..
“We moved the ball so well today. It was so nice to see. We’ve been preaching it all every day at practice, like get the ball hot, we finally did and we saw the opportunities rise. The first game I think they gave us four power plays and we got four power play goals. It’s just building off those little things. You get goals, the ball gets moving, everybody gets a touch. It just makes for better lacrosse to watch for the fans and better lacrosse to play.”
“I think our penalty kill has been our best unit all year. We seem to tend to live in the penalty box and our penalty kill has been phenomenal. Every single guy is getting a touch on the penalty kill on defense and they’re all embracing it, blocking shots and getting sticks in the lanes, fighting through screens.”
Prince Albert returns to action on Saturday May 25 when they welcome the Moose Jaw Mustangs to the Kinsmen Arena. Ball drop is at 7:30 p.m.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
