It took until game 67 last season for the Prince Albert Raiders to clinch a playoff spot, but the 2024-25 Raiders have a chance to punch their ticket this week.
As of press time on Tuesday night, the Raiders sit in second in the Eastern Conference standings with a 33-19-3-1 record, good enough for 70 points.
The key to clinching for the Raiders is any combination of four points gained by Prince Albert or lost by the Red Deer Rebels. With 12 games remaining on their schedule, the maximum number of points the Rebels can achieve is 73 if they win the rest of their games.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says the team isn’t thinking too much about the possibility of clinching a postseason berth with the battle for the East Division title still in full swing.
“I don’t think (about) it an awful lot. These guys know what’s at stake here and there’s no use harping on it. Even if you do get it, there’s still many games to play here and you want to be playing at the best level that you can. That’s what we’re concentrating on is just elevating our game and keep continuing to work on our details and play to our strengths.”
The Raiders currently sit three points up on both the Saskatoon Blades and Brandon Wheat Kings for top spot in the East Division. The Blades and Wheat Kings each have a game in hand and have two more head-to-head meetings against each other this season, both at Westoba Place on Mar. 12 and 19.
Prince Albert does not have any head-to-head meetings left with the Wheat Kings this season. Brandon took the season series against the Raiders, which is the second tiebreaker if the two teams end up tied in points behind total number of victories.
The Raiders have four head-to-head meetings with Saskatoon in the month of March.
Raider captain Justice Christensen says Prince Albert is looking to stay on top of the division and have the opportunity to host the first two games of a playoff series.
“That’s our main focus right now. Just getting that home ice advantage would be huge for the first round and then continuing forward. That’s kind of what we’re striving for right now and to get that would be massive for us.”
The Raiders took home a pair of victories last weekend defeating the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-1 on home ice and traveling to Regina to shutout the Pats by a 3-0 final.
The wins helped propel the Raiders back into the top spot in the East division after losing the division lead to the Wheat Kings.
Truitt says it was huge for Prince Albert to bounce back in a big way after a disappointing loss in Brandon.
“It was huge. You don’t want to be down too long because other teams can pass you in games in hand and everything else factors into it. We can only control what we control. And we’ve got to make sure that we continue to win. If you don’t happen to get one, you’ve got to rebound right back again because it’s that playoff mentality you don’t want to lose two in a row. But I like where our group’s at right now.”
Prince Albert has three games on the docket this week starting on Wednesday night when they welcome Brayden Yager and the Lethbridge Hurricanes (35-19-2-1). The Edmonton Oil Kings (31-21-2-2) will pay a visit to the Hauser on Friday night before the Raiders hit the road to Swift Current on Saturday for a matchup with the Broncos (29-24-1-1).
The Raiders are looking forward to getting another crack at the Hurricanes, who defeated the Raiders handily by a 6-1 score at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena the last time the two teams met back on Feb. 7.
“We owe them one here in our building from the last time we were there.” Christensen says. “It’s super exciting to play these guys at home and have our fans out here. It’ll be a lot of fun.”
Puck drop between the Raiders and Hurricanes is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday night.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
