The Prince Albert Raiders (1-2-2-0) are still in search of their first win on home ice this season and will face another tough opponent on Wednesday night when the Spokane Chiefs (5-1-0-0) pay a visit to the Art Hauser Centre.
According to Raider head coach Jeff Truitt, Prince Albert will need to take care of things in their own end against a talented Spokane team.
“Defensively we can’t give up the big plays coming back into our own zone,” Truitt said. “We’re making sure that we’re tight on our coverage, not allowing guys to beat us one-on-one in our own zone. The other thing is not letting teams have that stretch guy and have partial breakaways and things like that. We’ve got to button that down.”
Spokane enters the meeting riding a four game winning streak with wins over Wenatchee, Tri-City, Kelowna and Seattle. In that span, the Chiefs have scored 22 goals while allowing just nine.
The Chiefs are led by their captain, Berkly Catton who recorded 116 points in 68 games for Spokane a year ago and has six points in four games this season. Catton was the fourth WHL player to be taken in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft earlier this year when he was selected eighth overall by the Seattle Kraken.
Catton suited up for Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF U18 World Championships where Truitt served as the head coach. Other WHL stars that played on that team included Lukas Dragicevic (Prince Albert), Tanner Howe (Regina), Carter Yakemchuk (Calgary) and Andrew Cristall (Kelowna).
“He’s a guy who loves to play hockey every day. He loves the game.” Truitt explained about Catton. “He does things at a high pace. He demands a lot of himself going through that experience with him that he was one of those guys that was an impact guy on the ice that way. He was behind (Macklin) Celebrini and whatnot, but he was still a very valuable member to our team. Great stick handler, great awareness on the ice. He can score and do both things. He can set up other guys. He’s a good complete player.”
Spokane also features the WHL’s top scorer early in the season as 20-year-old Shea Van Olm has recorded 13 points through six games played. Van Olm plays primarily on the wing with Catton with 16-year-old rookie Mathis Preston on the other side.
“We’ve got to shut down their top line,” Truitt said. “(Berkly) Catton is a real good player, (Shea) Van Olm is off to a real good start and (Mathis) Preston has played real well. We got depth on their lines and we got to make sure we’re playing at a level that we need to.”
In three games at the Art Hauser Centre this season, the Raiders have posted a record of 0-1-2 and are one of only three teams to not record a win on home ice. The only other teams to not have wins on home ice this season are the Tri-City Americans and Kelowna Rockets.
“It’s not like we’re getting shut out at home on points,” Truitt said. ”We’re getting points, but we want the two. There’s no doubt about that. When we’re up, we’ve got to make sure that we build off it. We can’t just hold on and play passive. We got to continue to be aggressive in our thinking and doing jobs the right way. There’s little miscues, but we’re finding out some of these miscues are leading to great opportunities. Hilty (Max Hildebrand) has been outstanding for us on home ice. We’ve got to support him better.”
Puck drop on Wednesday night is at 7 p.m.
News and Notes
The Raiders swung a trade on Monday acquiring 19-year-old import defenseman Vojtech Vochvest from the Prince George Cougars in exchange for an eighth round draft selection in 2027.
Krzysztof Macias will rejoin the Raiders after spending time with the Florida Panthers and Charlotte Checkers training camps. He will serve a two game suspension after taking a head contact major penalty against Saskatoon in the playoffs last season. He will be eligible to make his Raider debut on Tuesday, October 15 in Kamloops.
The Raiders have also released a pair of defenseman in Norwin Panocha and Cedricson Okitundu.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
