For the second time this season, the Calgary Hitmen walked into the Art Hauser Centre and left with an overtime victory.
Roughly three months after the Hitmen stunned the Prince Albert Raiders with a late goal to tie it and another to win it, the Calgary squad sent fans home unhappy again when Julien Maze fired a wrist-shot over Steele Bass’ glove to secure a 5-4 victory.
“(It was) a hard fought game both ways,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said. “Two teams getting pucks in, hunting on their forecheck. I thought our puck management at time was average at best. I thought we turned over some pucks in the first period … which led into their transition and led into ultimately their o-zone time and making us have to defend.”
Maze’s goal came seconds after Raiders defenceman Daxon Rudolph tripped at centre-ice while back-checking, forcing forward Braeden Cootes to hurdle him to avoid a pile up. While that happened, Maze and Hitmen defenceman Wyatt Pisarczyk broke in on a two-on one, with Raiders forward Brandon Gorzynski back defending.
Maze elected to keep the puck and beat Bass short-side for the overtime winner.
“Three on three, you’re trying to take advantage of your opportunities and when one doesn’t go, one (team) is going to turn back in the other direction for a chance,” McDonald said. “We blow a tire in the middle of the ice and it leads to a two-on-one opportunity and their player makes a nice shot.”
Wednesday’s win wasn’t a complete copy of that first meeting three months ago. On that night, the Hitmen tied the game with 10 seconds left before going on to win. On Wednesday, it was the Raiders who trailed heading into the final minutes.
Prince Albert was down 4-3 when Cootes brought a somber Art Hauser Centre crowd back to life by firing a wrist shot from the blue line that rang off the crossbar and in.
The Raiders had a glorious chance to win it when Hitmen centre Harrison Lodewyk was sent off for tripping with 1:40 to play in the third. While Prince Albert had a few decent looks, Hitmen netminder Aidan Hesse calmly turned them away, sending the two teams to overtime and a Calgary win.
“It’s just a bounce or two away,” Cootes said. “Unfortunately that’s kind of how it goes. You miss on one side and they go down and they score three-on-three. It was close, but we could have been better.”
Aiden Oiring opened the scoring 3:22 into the first period when he knocked in a loose puck after Brandon Gorzynski rattled a shot off the post. However, the Hitmen tied the game nearly two minutes later when Kale Dach beat Bass five-hole with a wrist shot from the bottom of the circle.
The back-and-forth play was a common theme on the night. Neither team led by more than one goal the entire contest.
“I think we both play very similar styles, but when we keep it simple and just relentless on pucks, we are a very dominant team,” said Lodewyk, a former Raider who made his first appearance back at the Art Hauser Centre since being dealt to Calgary at the start of the season. “We just stick to it. That’s how we win our games.
“It was a game of inches. It honestly could have gone either way. I mean, just some bounces—some tough trips in the OT—but hey, you know what? A win’s a win, so we’ll take it.”
Cootes said the Raiders were too lackadaisical at times, and paid for it. The worst damage came in the latter half of the second period, when the Hitmen struck twice in 2:31 seconds, turning a 3-2 Raider lead into a 4-3 edge for the Hitmen.
“We can’t have those brain-farts for about five minutes,” Cootes said.
The toughest loss of the night, however, wasn’t the hockey game. The Raiders played most of the contest with five defenceman after captain Justice Christensen left due to injury.
After the game, McDonald said Christensen was still being evaluated. The Raiders are already without centre Brayden Dube and starting goaltender Michael Orsulak, both of which missed Wednesday’s contest with lower body injuries.
“Juice going down there was tough,” Cootes said. “He’s our captain—our leader—but we could have been better. We’ll move on from it and learn.”
The Hitmen have now beat the Raiders three times this season, including twice at the Art Hauser Centre. The final meeting is schedule for March 6 in Calgary.
“I don’t know if there’s a secret,” Hitmen head coach Dustin Friesen said. “We just know they’re a really good team and they play really hard. I think we really respect how they play. It’s going to be a hard building to come in and I think guys know that, so we come in with the right mindset that we also have to play a hard game and stick to our identity, and we were fortunate that we got the result we wanted.”
Friesen credited his team for their resiliency. The Hitmen fell behind three times of Wednesday, but rallied to tie the game on each occasion.
“Just to keep it at a one-goal game and not a two goal (difference), that’s a big piece, so (I’m) proud of the guys and how they stuck with it,” Friesen said.
“Even in the third and the second half of the first period, we gave up some zone time but I thought our goaltender was really good and I thought we gave up chances, nothing crazy, no breakaways or stuff like that.”
Once a Raider, always a Raider
The Prince Albert Raiders played a short video tribute to centre Harrison Lodewyk during a late first period stoppage on Wednesday.
The Raiders dealt Lodewyk to the Hitmen on Oct. 2 in exchange for a pair of draft picks. The Red Deer, Alta. product didn’t dress for Calgary’s 3-2 win at the Art Hauser Centre in October, making Wednesday’s contest his first game back in Prince Albert in a Hitmen jersey.
“I have so many memories here,” Lodewyk said when asked about the video tribute. “Lots of good friends. I’m super close with the staff—me, Puff, Benny—and it means a lot. I’ve learned so much being here.”
The 2,332 fans in attendance gave Lodewyk a round of applause following the video as the former Raider lifted his stick to acknowledge the crowd.
Hitmen coach Dustin Friesen said Lodewyk has been a solid addition to the club, both on and off the ice.
“He’s a good hockey player, but he’s a quality, quality person,” Friesen said. “Having a younger group, he’s been really good for our guys both on and off the ice—how to prepare, how to lead, practice habits, things like that. We’re really fortunate to have him and he’s done a good job for us.”
News and Notes:
• The single point Prince Albert gained in Wednesday’s overtime loss was enough to make them the first WHL team to clinch a playoff spot. As of Wednesday night, the Raiders sit first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 37-7-5-0.
• Steele Bass stopped 17 of 22 shots he faced while making his third straight start. Aiden Hesse stopped 33 of 37 shots in the Hitmen goal.
• Both teams had three power play opportunities on Wednesday. Kale Dach’s first period goal was the lone power play marker.
• Former Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid joined the WHL’s 600-win club on Tuesday when his Red Deer Rebels downed the Prince George Cougars 3-2. Habscheid is one of six coaches to achieve the feat.
