It was a night of championship celebrations in Moose Jaw, but the Prince Albert Raiders had other ideas skating to a 6-4 win on Saturday night.
The start of the game was delayed as the Warriors celebrated their 2024 WHL championship. Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says he was pleased with how Prince Albert started.
“I thought that we handled it very well and we were kind of taking it to him on the forecheck and we were hounding pucks pretty well. Opening nights are special and especially when you come to a team that won a Western Hockey League championship last year so they did a great job but I thought that our guys already handled coming out of the blocks well.”
Ty Meunier would get the Raiders on the board first with his first career WHL goal at the 6:24 mark of the first period. Brayden Dube and Riley Boychuk picked up the helpers on the play.
Moose Jaw would even up the score at the 15:29 mark as Owen Berge would beat Max Hildebrand cleanly with a shot on a 2-on-1. Aidan Ziprick and William Degagne assisted on the play.
Prince Albert would respond at the 16:57 mark as Harrison Lodewk would bury his first of the season.
Brayden Dube would be credited with the lone assist. The Roblin, Manitoba product would break into the Moose Jaw zone with speed. After skating behind the Warrior net, Dube would make a feed to Lodewyk in front who would make no mistake.
Shots after one period favoured Prince Albert 11-6.
The Raiders would strike again at the 1:25 mark of the second period as Ethan Bibeau tipped a Daxon Rudolph point shot past Jackson Unger for his first career WHL goal. Cole Peardon picked up the secondary assist.
“In the heat of the battle, you’re looking at a lot of different things but when a player gets his very first goal it’s pretty special. Not only on the scoreboard,you got to look at the big picture. You talk about your first goals all the time and they’ve got something to tell.”
Moose Jaw would strike back at the 9:15 mark as Pavel McKenzie would strike on the power play. Lynden Lakovic and Rilen Kovacevic provided the helpers.
The Warrior power play would continue to roll as Brayden Schuurman would tie the game at the 13:23 mark. Kovacevic and Lakovic provided the helpers.
The Raiders would pick up their own power play tally at the 9:19 mark of the third period as Oli Chenier would put home a rebound in the crease. Niall Crocker and Justice Christensen assisted on the play.
Moose Jaw would score their third power play goal of the night at the 12:03 mark as Aiden Ziprick would strike. Lakovic and McKenzie assisted on the play.
Truitt says the Raiders are hoping for improvement on the penalty kill ahead of next Friday’s matchup with Brandon,
“They’ve got a great power play and they’ve got a great talent. We’ve got to make sure that we take seams away and when pucks get to the net we can’t get out battled. We’ve got some new penalty killers in their expanded roles and things like that so we just need the repetition and keep going but we’ll get sharper.”
As a Raider power play was expiring, Oli Chenier would strike for his second of the night unleashing an absolute howitzer of a one-timer from the left circle to restore the Raider lead at the 17:03 mark. Aiden Oiring and Cole Peardon assisted on the play.
Doogan Pederson would ice the game for the Raiders with an empty netter.
Max Hildebrand picked up his first win of the season making 26 stops. Jackson Unger stopped 34 shots for the Warriors.
The Raiders return to action next Friday when they welcome the Brandon Wheat Kings to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
