After Friday’s victory over the Kamloops Blazers, just one question remains: who is going to buy Brock Cripps dinner?
The matter was a brief subject of discussion after the Prince Albert Raiders dispatched the visiting Blazers 5-2 for their fifth straight win on Friday.
With the Raiders up by three late in the second, Cripps pulled the puck off the goal line not once, but twice. The play was so good it not only drew a round of applause from the Art Hauser Centre crowd, the Raiders even replayed it on the jumbotron as the Save of the Night.
“It’s definitely something I haven’t done yet in my hockey career,” a smiling Cripps said when asked about receiving such a rare distinction for a non-goaltender. “It was just nice to save the puck on the goal line and not let that one in. It was good.”
Raiders goaltender Dimitri Fortin made the initial stop with roughly three minutes left in the second, but the rebound banked off forward Riley Boychuck and slid towards the open Prince Albert net. Cripps arrived on the scene to scoop the puck off the goal line, but it inadvertently hit the skate of Cripps’ defence partner, Benett Kelly, forcing him to clear it off the goal line again.
So is Fortin going to buy the Raider rookie some lunch for helping him out?
“I gotta get Starbucks for the week or something, I don’t know,” the Raiders goaltender said afterward the game. “We’ll see, we’ll see. It was a good save.”
“Yeah, I might ask him,” Cripps said with another smile. “(I) might ask him to get something. We’ll see.”
Fortin may have needed some help from his teammates keeping the puck out on that play, but that’s not to say he wasn’t busy the other 59 minutes. The Raider goaltender made 20 saves on the night, and was instrumental in keeping the Raiders from falling behind early.
Fortin stopped Kamloops forward Tommy Lafreniere point blank a mere 15 seconds into the game following a Raider turnover. Although the Blazers pressed early, Fortin’s save set the tone for the night.
The Raiders responded with three goals on six shots, and chased Kamloops starter Ivans Kufterins from the net less than five minutes into the first period.
“A 3-0 lead after five minutes, I mean, you don’t see that often, so (I was) pretty happy,” said Fortin, who is on pace to play significantly more minutes this season after backing up Max Hildebrand last year.
“So far the start of the year, it’s been great. (We’re) just finding our way to play together as a team. Games are going to come, but so far no complaints. Nothing. I love how we play and we’ll keep on playing like that.”
Fortin’s performance comes after the club’s other goaltender, Michal Orsulak, earned the first shutout of his WHL career on Wednesday. Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said he’s pleased with how both netminders have performed so far.
“(I’m) extremely happy with our tandem,” he said. “Both guys did a tremendous job. Every time they’ve been called upon they give us a chance to win.”
At the other end of the ice, Logan Edmonstone came in to relieve the beleaguered Kufterins and stopped 27 of 28 shots, including a first period penalty shot from Raider forward Jonah Sivertson.
The Raiders only scored twice after the initial five-minute flurry. The first came from Riley Boychuk, who got his first of the year on nice setup from Oli Chenier. The second was an empty netter from Jackson Kostiuk, who scored after returning to the lineup for the first time since Prince Albert’s season-opening home-and-home with Saskatoon.
“Give our guys a lot of credit. We continued to simplify. We continued to get pucks north. We played fast,” McDonald said.
“All of our goals came from grinding underneath the tops of the circles and opening lanes up and then finding that high ice to look for those opportunities…. (We) just stuck to the game plan.
“The second period, we made sure we got pucks all the way in so the D can get their changes. Again, we were looking for O-zone changes to make sure we managed shift length and handed shifts off into a positive direction to the next line and the guys did a great job of just having relentless pressure.”
“I think our team’s just gelling together right now really,” Cripps added. “It’s a good group in the dressing room. Everyone really gets along in there, so I think we’re playing at our best right now and it’s been going well so far.”
News and Notes:
- Max Heise continues his torrid run with the Raiders. The Calgary product’s first period goal was his fourth in five games, and stood up as the game winner.
- Captain Justice Christensen is at a goal a game pace since returning from NHL training camp. His first period tally gave him three in his first three games.
- Evan Smith opened the scoring for Prince Albert at 2:17 of the first period, with assists to Cripps and Benett. The former Red Deer Rebel has two goals in seven games this season. Last year he had three goals in 66 games.
- Neither team scored on the power play Friday night. The Raiders went 0/3, while the Blazers were 0/2.
- The Raiders are off until Friday, Oct. 17 when they welcome the Regina Pats to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
