The Prince Albert Raiders started off on the right foot and never looked back skating to an 8-2 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Monday afternoon.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says he was pleased with Prince Albert’s start.
“I like their guys’ attitudes. We talked about our preparation and going into this building because it’s a dangerous place to play with a team that wants to win. We’ve got some older guys and whatnot that we need to show that we’re going to dictate things because we don’t want to chase the game here. I was really happy with our guys in the first period, the way that they really responded real well and took control, we had a lot of puck possession and then carried that over to the second period.”
Fans were just settling into their seats when Justice Christensen would open the scoring with his 19th goal of the season just 0:23 into the hockey game. Rilen Kovacevic and Ethan Bibeau provided the helpers.
Riley Boychuk would strike for his 11th goal of the season at the 4:21 mark with Ty Meunier picking up the lone helper.
Moose Jaw would get on the board at the 7:26 mark as Landen McFadden would strike for his fifth goal of the campaign. Ethan Semeniuk and Landen Ward had the assists.
Niall Crocker would strike for his 22nd goal of the season at the 13:13 mark as the 20-year-old forward would beat Josh Banini on a 2-on-1. Oli Chenier and Justice Christensen picked up the helpers.
On a partial 2-on-1 late in the second period, Crocker would strike again for his 23rd goal of the season at the 18:48 mark of the middle frame. Rilen Kovacevic and Daxon Rudolph were credited with the helpers.
Lyden Lakovic would bring the Warriors within two with his 19th goal of the season coming on the power play at the 5:06 mark of the third period with a sharp shot from the right circle. Aiden Ziprick and Ethan Semeniuk provided the helpers.
The Raider three goal lead would be restored at the 12:04 mark as Daxon Rudolph would strike for his fifth goal of the season. Meunier and Boychuk provided the helpers.
Ethan Bibeau picked up his eighth goal of the season on the power play at the 15:32 mark to push the Raider lead to four. Rudolph and Christensen would be credited with the helpers.
Just 27 seconds later, Justice Christensen would strike for his 20th goal of the season at the 15:59 mark. Rudolph picked up his third helper of the game on the play.
Ty Meunier would pick up his 12th goal of the season at the 17:57 mark. Boychuk and Rudolph picked up the helpers.
All three 16-year-olds on the Raiders picked up multiple points in the contest. Rudolph finished with one goal and four helpers while Boychuk and Meunier had a goal and two assists each.
Truitt says the trio has been getting better as the season has gone along.
“They came in probably a little in awe about the league and the talent that goes on in here. They’ve been opportunistic, they’ve been dominant and now they’ve taken another step. For me, they’re winning their match-ups and playing with speed and finding the holes for passes and shots. It’s really been a great progression for those guys and they’re contributing an awful lot, which is great.”
Max Hildebrand made 23 saves on 25 Warriors shots faced in the victory. Josh Banini made 32 saves in goal for the Warriors.
“We defended extremely well, but I thought that when we went to go back for pucks, we went and got pucks. When we had to clog things up and make good first touches under pressure, I thought we did that. We got going on the offense and that’s what generated the 15 shots in the first period and continued on from there, but then we were doing the right things.”
The Raiders return to action on Tuesday night in Brandon. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
