Raiders drop overtime decision to Ice

Photo Courtesy of Keith Hershmiller/WHL Prince Albert Raiders goaltender Carter Serhyenko reaches back to grab a puck that forward Ozzy Wiesblatt had knocked away from Owen Pederson of the Winnipeg Ice on Saturday afternoon in Regina.

As has been the case during the last week, a hard-fought effort for the Prince Albert Raiders didn’t result in a win on Saturday afternoon.

Winnipeg Ice forward Conor Geekie raced his way into the offensive zone, snuck the puck through Spencer Moe’s legs and slid a shot by netminder Carter Serhyenko at the 2:13 mark of overtime as the Ice picked up a 4-3 victory and handed the Raiders their third straight loss.

“Once again, I thought our guys probably deserved a better fate,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “We competed and played the right way for the most part, but we had a couple of errors that ended up in their net.

“We’ve played well in the last four games and we probably should have won all four of those games, but that’s that way it is sometimes. We’ll move along and get better and better, but there’s a lot that we like about our game right now.”

The close but no cigar outcome is something that the Raiders players are growing tired of as they now have a record of 4-9-2-1 in the East Division hub.

“I think we’re playing good but we just need to try and find ways to win,” blueliner Remy Aquion said. “Part of the culture here is winning and we’re not happy about losing. We have to fix something.”

“We have to learn to play a full game,” forward Evan Herman added. “We’re working hard but we need to find a way to get pucks to the back of the net and close out games. We want to get back in the win column and we’re going to do whatever it takes going forward.”

Aquilon had a pair of assists to lead a balanced attack for the Raiders, which received goals from Dallyn Peekeekoot, Michael Horon and Herman.

Geekie and fellow rookie Zachary Benson had a goal and an assist each for the Ice, who improved their record to 11-4 and have won their last five games.

“I think that was the hardest and physical game we’ve had this year,” Ice head coach James Patrick said to play-by-play announcer Mitch Peacock after the contest. “It was a hard-fought grind it out type of game and we found a way to win, but it wasn’t pretty at times.

“Give Prince Albert credit. I think they out-chanced us and they won a lot more battles. We were fortunate to come out with the win.”

Owen Pederson dished out a pair of helpers, while James Form and Peyton Krebs also scored in the triumph.

Rookie Daniel Hauser made 28 saves for the Ice and Carter Seryhenko stopped 17 shots for the Raiders.

Prince Albert will look to snap their three-game skid on Sunday afternoon as they’ll face the Swift Current Broncos at 4 p.m.

Post-Game Notes

In addition to extending his point streak to a league-best 14 games, Ice forward Peyton Krebs moved into a tie with Regina Pats forward Connor Bedard for the WHL scoring lead with 28 points with his second period goal.

Bedard will be unable to improve upon his 28 points as the rookie will be joining Canada’s Under-18 team at the World Championships in Texas in the coming days.

Connor McClennon (eight games), Owen Pederson (five games) and Skyler Bruce (five games) also extended their scoring streaks in Saturday’s win.

Logan Danis, Kaiden Guhle, Terrell Goldsmith and Max Hildebrand did not dress for Raiders, while the Ice were without the services of Chase Bertholet, Rhys Raeside, Carson Lambos, Nolan Orzeck, Evan Waldie and Gage Alexander.

Scott Makes AHL Debut

Nearly two years since he helped the Raiders win the Ed Chynoweth Cup and earn CHL goaltender of the year honours, Ian Scott made his American Hockey League debut for the Toronto Marlies on Saturday afternoon.

Scott, who missed the entire 2018-19 campaign with a hip injury and suffered a setback at the start of this season, made 24 saves in the Marlies’ 4-3 loss to the Laval Rocket.

Around the WHL

The Red Deer Rebels announced on Saturday afternoon that Brent Sutter had stepped down as the team’s head coach, but will stay on as president and general manager.

“I just felt like from a mental standpoint, this is best for them to hear a new voice now,” Sutter said to Rebels beat writer Byron Hackett of the Red Deer Advocate. “It was a long night thinking it through last night (Friday) and through until this morning.

“Hopefully, this can help all the guys. We like our players, they’re just in a funk right now and we need them leaving here in a good frame of mind and coming back here in a good frame of mind. It’s the right thing at the right time.”

Heading into a Saturday night contest with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the Rebels had a 2-10-2-0 record and were mired in a seven-game losing streak.

Sutter has coached the Rebels for 16 seasons and was in his second stint in the role, which started in 2012. He has won 526 games in the WHL and was behind the bench for the Rebels’ run to a Memorial Cup title in 2001.

Assistant general manager Shaun Shutter will join assistant coaches Brad Flynn and Ryan Colville on the bench for the rest of the year before the search for a permanent replacement begins in the off-season.

Friday’s Scores

• Regina 2 Brandon 1 (Connor Bedard Overtime Winner – Two Goals)
• Everett 4 Seattle 3 (Gage Goncalves – One Goal and One Assist)
• Lethbridge 6 Red Deer 3 (Dino Kambeitz – One Goal and Three Assists)
• Spokane 3 Portland 1 (Cordel Larson – One Goal and Two Assists – Mason Beaupit – 35 Saves)
• Moose Jaw 6 Swift Current 2 (Ryder Korczak – Two Goals and One Assist)
• Kamloops 6 Victoria 3 (Orrin Centazzo – Two Goals and One Assist)

Saturday’s Scores

• Portland 7 Spokane 6 (Seth Jarvis – Two Goals and One Assist)
• Lethbridge 5 Red Deer 2 (Logan Barlage – One Goal and Two Assists)
• Tri-City 6 Everett 2 (Jake Sloan – One Goal and Two Assists)
• Saskatoon 4 Moose Jaw 2 (Tristen Robins – Two Goals and One Assist)
• Prince George 6 Vancouver 3 (Johnny Hooker – One Goal and Three Assists)

Pre-Game Notes

The Broncos enter Sunday’s meeting with the Raiders on a four-game losing streak and with a 3-11-1-0 record.

After dropping a 5-2 affair to Swift Current on March 22, Prince Albert earned a measure of revenge in a rematch on April 3 with a 4-2 triumph.

Broncos rookie forward Mathew Ward has enjoyed an impressive start to his WHL career as he’s second among all first-year players in scoring with 16 points in 15 games.

Alex Moar, Daylan Wiegel, Raphael Pelletier and Carter Stebbings have all missed time for Swift Current in recent games as a result of injuries.

Sunday’s Schedule

• Kamloops vs. Victoria – 3 p.m.
• Swift Current vs. Prince Albert – 4 p.m.
• Seattle vs. Tri-City – 5 p.m.
• Saskatoon vs. Brandon – 8 p.m.

Blades withstand late push by Raiders

Photo by Keith Hershmiller/WHL Prince Albert Raiders forward Reece Vitelli is turned aside by Saskatoon Blades netminder Nolan Maier in the late stages of Thursday’s game at the Brandt Centre.

The Prince Albert Raiders were inches away from forcing overtime on Thursday night at the Brandt Centre.

Blueliner Remy Aquilon wrapped his way around the Saskatoon Blades net and found Dallyn Peekeekoot in front, but his shot and a rebound attempt by Reece Vitelli were turned aside by Blades goaltender Nolan Maier.

The Blades would seal their 5-3 victory on the following shift as Caiden Daley raced down the ice to score on an empty cage to hand their Raiders their second straight loss.

“I thought we worked hard but some little mistakes that we made in our game cost us in the end as they (the Blades) were able to put it in the back of the net,” Vitelli added. “If we clean those mistakes up, we have a different result.”

“It was a good hockey game,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “There was lots going on with big hits, fights and good offensive plays… and we had two glorious chances there to tie it late.”

Thursday’s setback, which dropped the Raiders record to 4-8-1-1, spoiled an impressive showing for rookie forward Dallyn Peekeekot.

In just his fifth WHL game, the 16-year-old had a goal and two assists to go along with an opening period fight with overage blueliner Wyatt McLeod.

“He just does all the little things right and it’s nice to play with him,” Vitelli said. “I’m definitely inspired by how he plays and we could follow him with what he brings.”

“Sometimes you get guys that go out there and work with skating instructors and stick handling coaches but you just don’t notice them,” Habscheid added. “With Dallyn, you notice him. He’s a smart kid and he knows how to play.”

Peekeekoot’s strong performances have earned him a spot on the top line with Ozzy Wiesblatt and Vitelli.

The trio did the most damage on offence for the Raiders on Thursday as Vitelli banged home a rebound in the second period and Wiesblatt had a pair of helpers.

“It’s a pretty good mix on that line and ‘Peeks’ does a good job of going to the net to create space,” Habscheid said.

“That’s not something that everyone likes to does as you get slashed and cross checked, but he doesn’t care. He goes to the net and that’s creating space for the other two guys.”

Nolan Allan got his first goal of the season by converting a feed from Wiesblatt and Max Paddock turned aside 33 shots for the Raiders.

The Blades, who snapped a three-game losing streak and improved their record to 10-2-2-0, were led on offence by Tristen Robins as the San Jose Sharks prospect had a goal and three assists.

Daley, Kyle Crnkovic and Brandon Lisowsky had a goal and an assist each in the triumph, which also saw Colton Dach light the lamp and Maier make 20 saves.

The Raiders are now preparing for a pair of games this weekend as they’ll take on the Winnipeg Ice on Saturday and the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday.

Both games will get underway at 4 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.