It took roughly seven minutes of game time on Saturday before the Art Hauser Centre ice was covered with teddy bears.
A crowd of 2,678 watched as Prince Albert Raiders forward Brayden Dube stole the puck from a Lethbridge Hurricanes defenceman and made a perfect back-door pass to Aiden Oiring who tapped it into a gaping net.
Fans wasted little time sending wave after wave of stuffed toys whirling over the glass while the Raiders poured off the bench to mob Oiring and his linemates in the corner.
“Definitely fun,” Oiring said with a grin after the Raiders defeated the visiting Hurricanes 5-1. “Being a part of a lot of Teddy Bear Toss goals, but never being the one who scored it, it’s definitely a great feeling. Looking around and everyone coming to hug you off the bench is definitely a great feeling.”
Oiring’s goal did more than send the Art Hauser Centre crowd into a frenzy. It tied up a hockey game the Raiders had thoroughly dominated without leading.
The Raiders outshot the Hurricanes 8-3 before Oiring’s goal, but trailed 1-0 after a loose puck bounced right to Owen Berge in the slot. The Edmonton product showed great patience before depositing it behind Prince Albert starter Steele Bass less than three minutes into the first period.
“Just have a short memory on the bench and on the ice,” Oiring said when asked how the Raiders handled being down early despite dominating the game. “Unlucky bounce kind of for Basser and the guys on the ice, but you’ve got to go out there next shift and keep playing our game.”
The Raiders did just that, firing 33 shots on target in the first two periods, and chasing Lethbridge starter Koen Cleaver with five unanswered goals.
“We know we’re a good team,” said Raiders defenceman Benett Kelly, who had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s win. “We knew we were playing well before that bounce happened. We know we’ll play well after that bounce. We just have to stick to that mindset of ‘we know we’re a good team, so just play like it.’”
The rally started with Dube’s pass to Oiring. The line of Oiring, Dube, and Max Heise gave the Hurricanes fits all night. They combined for the Teddy Bear Toss goal in the first, and were at it again for the highlight of the night in the second.
Heise fed Oiring a seeing-eye pass after the latter snuck in behind the Lethbridge defence. Oiring then deftly maneuvered around Cleaver before sliding the puck into the empty net. Oiring was tripped up on the play, and slid face-first across the goal line not long after the puck did.
“They continue to keep getting better and better,” Raiders coach Ryan McDonald said.
“The speed they possess, that line, and the puck possession and their ability to attack down the middle and then create offence but also exit fast and play through the neutral zone fast makes them a really complete line.”
They didn’t do it all by themselves though. Daxon Rudolph scored the game winner with roughly four minutes to play in the first. His shot from the point snuck through Cleaver’s equipment and trickled into the net with 3:44 to play, making it 2-1.
Ty Meunier made it 3-1 early in the second when he hammered a one-timer off the post and in following a great feed from Riley Boychuck. Kelly made it 4-1 just after the midway point on another one-timer. This time it was Maddix McCagherty who put the puck on a platter.
Oiring capped it off with his highlight reel goal four minutes later.
“I think we controlled the blue lines really well,” Oiring said. “Not a lot of turnovers coming back our way. We like to keep going north, getting it deep and then getting on our forecheck there and making it hard for their D-men to break it out. I think we did a good job of doing that and just making it hard for them to bring the puck out.”
“We really liked our pace tonight—our breakout pace, our neutral zone pace, our neutral zone puck decisions, getting into the o-zone,” McDonald added. “Our pace continued to pick up in the o-zone and (we) let the puck do the work. We had some fantastic o-zone movement, had some great slings, and again, got rewarded.”
Leif Oaten replaced Cleaver in the Hurricanes crease at the start of the third period and was nowhere near as busy. The rookie third round pick out of Calgary only needed to make seven saves as penalties bogged down the Raider attack.
Lethbridge had only four power plays all game, but three of them came in the third period.
In the Prince Albert goal, Steele Bass got his second start of the WHL season, and his first since being called up from the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars.
Bass was solid in the third period, stopping all eight Lethbridge shots he faced for his second career WHL win.
“Basser made the big saves for us when he needed to,” McDonald said. “(He was) just fantastic. Again, great goalie. Great kid. Works his butt off. He made some real tough saves on some penalty kill situations. When he was called upon he was there and did a great job for us.”
The Raiders are back on the ice Sunday afternoon for their third game in three days. They take on the Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre. Puck drop is 4 p.m.
News and Notes:
• Boychuk had two assists on Saturday, giving him 23 on the year. The Raiders’ number two overall pick from 2023 now has 28 points in 29 games. Last season he had 29 points in 63 games.
• Raiders defenceman Hubert Clarke had the hit of the night when he bowled over Lethbridge winger Kade Duell at the Prince Albert blue line.
• Saturday night was blowout night in the WHL. The Raiders-Hurricanes contest was one of the closer affairs. In the East, the Medicine Hat Tigers trounced Swift Current 10-2, while the Calgary Hitmen hammered Red Deer 9-0. Out west, the Penticton Vees scored early and often in an 8-1 win over Portland.
• It’s not often two teams combine for 12 goals and still can’t say they’re the highest scoring game of the night. That’s what happened on Saturday, however. The Tigers and Broncos combined for 12 goals, but were still one shy of the 13 the Kelowna Rockets and Regina Pats treated fans to at the Brandt Centre. Kelowna skated away with an 8-5 win.
• First overall pick Maddox Schultz was in the lineup for Regina. Schultz scored two goals, one of which came on a first period power play.
