The Prince Albert Raiders will head into the 2025-26 regular season on a winning note thanks to a 7-3 win over the Regina Pats in their final exhibition game.
The Raiders broke open a 2-2 hockey game with five straight goals for a comfortable win at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.
“(I’m) really proud of our guy’s response, how we stuck with it and kept with the game plan and kept working,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said. “As we continued to keep pushing north, you saw us continue to get rewarded.”
Prince Albert’s younger players did a lot of the damage on Saturday. Sixteen-year-old Prince Albert product Connor Howe had a three point night, including a first period goal on a laser of a wrist shot off the crossbar and in.
Seventeen-year-old Ben Harvey, the number two overall pick in the 2024 Prospects Draft, had a goal and an assist. Jonah Sivertson had a goal and Ty Meunier had an assist. Both players turned 17 last month.
“They’re really good,” said veteran Brayden Dube, whose second period goal held up as the game winner. “All of them are really skilled and they play really well together. They’ll be exciting for a while.”
“They’re exciting every time they get on the ice,” McDonald added. “Details, playing north, they don’t need very many scoring opportunities to put the puck in the back of the net.”
While Saturday’s game featured 10 goals, it was the goaltenders who stole the show early. Dimitri Fortin started for Prince Albert and stopped an early short-handed breakaway to keep the game scoreless.
At the other end, Kelton Pyne was forced to make a sprawling glove save after Meunier found himself all alone at the side of the net.
The Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Howe and Oli Chenier, but the Pats replied with two early second period goals from Matt Paranych and Keets Fawcett to make it 2-2.
The Raiders took over after, with Dube and Harrison Lodewyk scoring in the second and Jonah Sivertson, Harvey, and Aiden Oiring tallying in the third.
Connor Bear added an unassisted goal with seven minute left to play to make it 7-3.
“There were times we were playing really well and then we kind of fell from it, but we found … our game again and in the third period we kind of took over,” said Dube.
“I think we’re good at coming back from a bad couple minutes of a game. We rebound really well.”
Fortin stopped 26 shots to earn the victory, while Pyne made 27 saves in the Regina goal.
Maddox Schultz, the number one overall pick in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft, finished with no points and four shots on goal for the Pats. Schultz also picked up a tripping penalty in the first period and a double-minor for slew-footing in the third.
The Raiders next game is their home opener on Friday against the Saskatoon Blades. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
