Raiders take top-ranked Pats to overtime in Family Day showdown
The Prince Albert Raiders took on the top team in the WHL on Monday afternoon and came away with a point.
Dawson Leedahl scored two goals including the game-winner as the Pats beat the Raiders 3-2 in overtime in front of 2461 fans at the Art Hauser Centre. It was the third time the teams needed more than 60 minutes to settle a game.
“Well we wanted two (points) but I think it’s a good sign of how far we’ve come because they kind of had their way with us a little bit earlier in the year and now I thought we should have won the game,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said.
“So we’ve got a point off of them and they knew that we came to play and we were tough to play against.”
The Pats controlled the play early in the game, forcing P.A. goalie Ian Scott to make some impressive saves to keep his team from falling behind. Scott, playing in his second-straight game, finished the match with 41 saves.
“He’s made some stops. There’s one for sure, maybe two, tonight he wanted back but he made some key stops in some other areas so he’s getting better and he gave us a chance tonight,” Habscheid said.
At the eight-minute mark of the first Raiders defenceman Austin Crossley dropped the gloves with Pats centre Braydon Buziak and three minutes later P.A.’s Curtis Miske and Regina’s Dawson Davidson had a scrap of their own. Not long after the fight P.A. drew a penalty and Sean Montgomery fired a Max Martin rebound past Pats netminder Jordan Hollett to give the home team the lead. The Raiders went into intermission up 1-0.
“I think to start the game we just stood around and watched a little bit and we kind of watched them maybe put on a little bit of a clinic and in awe of them a little bit and then all of a sudden we started to get our legs under us and the believability was there,” Habscheid said.
“I didn’t think early on we believed that we could play with these guys and then as the first period rolled along we convinced them that they could … and then they started to believe that they could and then once they did that they started to play and then when we started to play we were good.”
Leedahl tied the score for the Pats early in the second period but the Raiders had an answer. After a long sequence in which P.A. kept Regina pinned in their own end, the visitors finally managed to clear the puck. However, on the next play, Pats captain Adam Brooks was called for a cross check deep in Raider territory to send the play back to the Regina zone. On the ensuing power play Raiders captain Tim Vanstone tipped in a Vojtech Budik point shot to restore the P.A. lead.
“We just didn’t want (Regina) to be freewheeling and play an easy game,” Habscheid said.
“Sometimes if they have space, they’ve got some skill to do some stuff. So we wanted to take that space away from them.”
In the last minute of play in the period, right after a failed 3-0 rush, the Pats stormed the P.A. crease. With the Regina players buzzing in front of the net, the puck came to defenceman Josh Mahura who tied the score once more for the Pats. After a scoreless third period the teams moved on to overtime, where Leedahl clinched the game for Regina.
The Raiders get back on the ice on Friday when they travel to Saskatoon to face the Blades. Game time is 7:15 p.m.
Game Summary
Regina 3, Prince Albert 2 (OT)
First Period
- Prince Albert, Montgomery 13 (Martin, Pachal) 13:13 (pp)
Second Period
- Regina, Leedahl 28 (Steel, Mahura) 4:35
- Prince Albert, Vanstone 11 (Leth, Budik) 11:07 (pp)
- Regina, Mahura 14 (Steel, Henry) 19:47
Third Period
No scoring
Overtime
- Regina, Leedahl 29 (Zborovskiy, Brooks) 2:31
Goalies: Prince Albert – Ian Scott, 41 saves (OTL, 8-27-3-0); Regina – Jordan Hollett, 27 saves (W, 13-1-1-0).
Three Stars: 1. Ian Scott; 2. Josh Mahura; 3. Dawson Leedahl.
