The Prince Albert Raiders fell behind the eight ball early and couldn’t recover in a 9-4 loss to the Swift Current Broncos on Friday night.
“The first three shifts were three turnovers and didn’t start well that way with puck position. End up turning over some pucks and they capitalize on some things. Slow start, we talked about it on the bench, even on the time outs. That team out-willed them tonight and that just can’t happen, especially in our building, we’re coming off a couple of wins here. You gotta be able to bear down and obviously get the momentum early and we didn’t”
Swift Current would open the scoring just 1:46 into the first period. Off a Raider turnover in the neutral zone, Brady Birnie would find the back of the net for the 10th time this season. Clarke Caswell had the lone assist.
Caswell would double the Bronco lead to 2-0 at the 4:59 mark with his third goal of the season. Birnie and Luke Mistelbacher provided the helpers.
Sawyer Dingman would extend the Bronco lead to 3-0 with his second goal of the season coming at the 7:36 mark. Eric Johnston and Kurt Rookes assisted on the play.
Birnie would add his second of the period at the 13:47 mark. Josh McGregor and Carlin Dezainde provided the helpers.
Aiden Oiring would get the Raiders on the board with a power play marker just 0:51 into the second period with his sixth of the campaign.
Swift Current would add four goals in the second period.
The first came off the tape of Eric Johnston at the 4:10 mark. The former Raider captain would score his third of the season against his former club. Connor Dale and Rylan Gould assisted on the play.
Birnie, Grayson Burzynski and Carlin Dezainde would all add goals in the middle frame for the Broncos.
Ty Meunier would strike for his second of the season at the 17:35 mark. Oiring and Justice Christensen assisted on the play.
In the third, Brayden Dube and Niall Crocker would score for Prince Albert while Clarke Caswell would add another for the Broncos.
In terms of positives to take from the evening, Truitt says he was extremely pleased with what the younger players on the ice contributed for Prince Albert.
“The kids played well, and they had a lot of positive shifts here tonight, so I thought that I would spread them through the other lines just to see if the other lines would respond here, but I thought the kids played extremely well here tonight.”
The Raiders will travel to Regina on Tuesday night for a matchup with Tanner Howe and the Pats. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
