Fans who missed the second period of Saturday’s Prince Albert Raiders win nearly missed all the action.
The Raiders and visiting Prince George Cougers combined for six goals in 20 minutes, including four in a span of one minute and 26 seconds, as the Raiders bounced back from Friday’s loss with a 4-3 win.
“I think (there was) a lot of feeling each other out in that first period—a lot of back and forth—and then yeah, the flood gates kind of opened there in the second,” said Raiders defenceman Daxon Rudolph, who got the scoring started with his 25th of the season. “Luckily we got a few more than they did and held on to the lead in the end.”
The first 20 minutes of Saturday’s contest were a tight-checking affair in which the Cougars outshot Raiders 11-7, but couldn’t beat Prince Albert starting goaltender Michal Orsulak.
That quickly changed when Rudolph hammered a one-timer past Prince George starter Joshua Ravensbergen 4:09 into the second period. Raiders captain Justice Christensen then made it 2-0 roughly seven minutes into the period on a slapshot seconds after a holding-the-stick penalty to Prince George defenceman Carson Carels had expired.
Townes Kozicky got the Cougars back within one when he banged in a rebound at 7:25, but the Raiders responded with goals from Jonah Sivertson at 8:15 and Riley Boychuk at 8:27 to blow the game wide open.
“I thought we did a really good job of getting the puck inside the dots,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said. “We released the puck inside the dots and had guys going to the net and traffic going to the net. That’s a good goalie on the other side, and you’ve got to make sure you get in his eyes and … take away his vision so you can find those second and third opportunities.”
“I thought we had a good first, (and) built some momentum (from) a couple of big penalty kills, so we knew it was going to come,” Rudolph added. “We just had to keep going … and eventually it paid off for us.”
Boychuck’s goal not only held up as the game winner, it also chased Ravensbergen from the Cougar crease.
After the game, Cougars coach Mark Lamb said the decision was not due to poor play from the Prince George netminder.
“He couldn’t see a couple of those shots,” Lamb said. “It was all about momentum, (and) trying to change something. I didn’t want to take a timeout there, and our other goaltender (Alexander Levshyn) is real good there too, so we just wanted to rattle the cages a little bit.”
The move almost paid off. Levshyn, a 2025 import pick from Kharkiv, Ukraine, stopped all 11 shots he faced, and the Cougars rallied for one goal in the second and another with 26 seconds left in the third—both from leading goal scorer Kooper Gizowski.
While Lamb was happy to see his team claw their way back into the game, he said they made too many mistakes to win.
“Our team’s got a lot of character,” he said. “That (comeback) doesn’t surprise me. We’ve been around them all year. We’ve done that before, but you can’t do that against real good teams like (Prince Albert). You’re just not going to get back into it.”
News and Notes:
• Ravensbergen didn’t get a lot of puck luck or a lot of help from his defence in the second period. The first two Raider goals came with plenty of traffic in front, while Jonah Sivertson’s goal was a perfectly placed wrist shot into the top corner. The fourth goal came when Riley Boychuk was left all alone in front. The Raider forward fired a wrist shot five-hole to make it 4-1.
• Gizowki’s two goals couldn’t have been more different. His first came on a beautiful cross-ice pass from Kayden Lemire, while the second came on a hectic goalmouth scramble with the goalie pulled.
• The Raiders were 0/4 on the power play. The Cougars were 1/5.
• Prince George outshot the Raiders 32-28.
• Announced attendance was 2,837.
Daily Herald Three Stars:
1. Riley Boychuk (Prince Albert) – scored the game winner and drew the second assist on Christensen’s howitzer.
2. Kooper Gizowski (Prince George) – brought the Cougars back within one with a pair of goals, and assisted on Townes Kozicky’s second period marker.
3. Daxon Rudolph (Prince Albert) – opened the scoring with a bullet of a one-timer, and assisted on Boychuk’s game winner.
