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.
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