Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
The Prince Albert Raiders had to extend their first visit to the Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw this year as a shootout was required for the visitors to claim a 3-2 decision in Western Hockey League action on Thursday.
“Sometimes you have to play more than 60 minutes to get the win,” acknowledged Raiders’ head coach Ryan McDonald after watching his club win its fifth straight contest. “You just have to find a way to win.”
After exploding for 12 goals in their last outing on Tuesday against the Victoria Cougars it looked like the Raiders were set for another large outburst when Braeden Cootes and Brandon Gorzynski staked them to a 2-0 advantage midway through the opening frame, but the Warriors shut the door from that point on thanks to solid goaltending by Chase Wutzke in the Moose Jaw net.
“We came out fast and had good flow going,” explained McDonald, “but they have a real quality goalie in net. He made some big-time saves for them.”
In addition to running into a hot netminder, Prince Albert also had to play most of the game with just five defencemen as Matyas Man was given a five-minute major and 10-minute misconduct for a first-period fight with Gage Nagel and shortly after his return Linden Burrett was helped off the ice when he fell awkwardly into the boards and did not return. McDonald says Burrett will be evaluated on Friday to determine the extent of his injury.
Having outshot the Warriors 17-4 in the opening frame enroute to building the two-goal lead, Prince Albert saw that margin disappear when Ethan Semeniuk and Colt Carter brought the game on even terms in the latter stages of the middle session.
The remainder of the contest became a goaltending duel as Wutzke and Prince Albert’s Michal Orsulak took turns making key saves. Orsulak, who along with forward Jonah Sivertson, was earlier in the week added to the East Division roster for the upcoming WHL Prospects Game, was exceptional down the stretch especially in the five-minute overtime session when he turned away several glorious Moose Jaw scoring opportunities.
Orsulak continued to stand tall in the shootout, Prince Albert’s first of the season, when he denied all three Warriors’ attempts. Aiden Oiring, the Raiders first shooter, was the lone player to score sealing the win for Prince Albert. Orsulak finished the game with 23 saves while Wutzke had 36 stops in the Moose jaw goal.
Prince Albert continues their busy weekend on Friday when they head to Swift Current to take on the Broncos. Following that contest they will head home for another key match-up against their Eastern Conference rival Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop for that game is 7 p.m.
RAIDER NOTES – Thursday’s win allowed the Raiders to move past Medicine Hat into first place in the Eastern Conference. The Raiders, who also have a game in hand on the Tigers, won the last meeting between the two rivals when they snapped Medicine Hat’s 19-game winning streak last Saturday…In addition to losing Burrett for most of Thursday’s game, the Raiders were also without overage forward Brayden Dube, who is with the team but nursing an undisclosed injury…Gorzynski, who was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen earlier in the campaign, dressed for his 150th WHL game on Thursday and in addition to notching his 20th goal of the season in the first period he also collected an assist on Cootes’ marker giving him 99 points for his career…After having seen the Warriors just once in the first two-thirds of the schedule, the Raiders will get a heavy dose of Moose Jaw down the stretch as they will see them four more times in addition to Thursday’s tilt. The two will get reacquainted next Tuesday, again in Moose Jaw…Orsulak and Sivertson’s additions to the Top Prospects game gives Prince Albert three players in the showcase as potential first-round NHL draft selection Daxon Rudolph was one of the first players named to the Eastern Conference roster last month.
