By Jeff D'Andrea

Restless fans taunt Campese during Raiders 6-3 loss to Swift Current

Oct 28, 2011 | 12:05 AM

Although just 1,961 people came to the Art Hauser Centre Thursday, they started to get restless in the Prince Albert Raiders’ 6-3 loss to the Swift Current Broncos.

After the Broncos scored their fifth goal to go up 5-1 in the third, the boo birds started to surface, but after the Broncos scored their sixth goal shortly afterwards, the ‘Bruno birds’ came out in an effort to taunt Raiders general manager and head coach Bruno Campese.

“I’m not going to worry about it, I just go and do my job and work as hard as I can,” said Campese of the ‘Bruno’ chants. “I’m not going to worry about it, if things aren’t going your way, they’re not going your way—I’m not going to make any excuses.

“At the end of the day, I’m responsible for the team and its performance. People pay their money; they can do what they want.”

The source to the crowd’s frustration is clear; the Raiders are 4-11-1-1, the worst record in the East Division and third worst in the Eastern Conference despite entering the season with a lot of optimism.

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Although they made a playoff appearance last season, the Raiders haven’t won a postseason series in Campese’s tenure and haven’t done so as a squad since 2005. There is also a lot of pressure this season on Campese to turn that around, who’s in the fifth year of his ‘five year plan’ he introduced shortly after he was hired for the 2007-2008 season.

But after the game, Raiders 20-year-old forward Justin Maylan was quick to defend his head coach, saying the players need to be accountable for the losses– not just Campese or assistant coaches Steve Young and Craig Bedard.

“I heard some Bruno chants, they’re getting on him a little bit and I just think that’s horrible,” said Maylan, who had two goals and three points Thursday. “He’s the best coach I’ve ever had and he’s getting us prepared. Him, Steve and Craig, they’re all doing great. But to a man, we (the players) have to be better.”

With Thursday’s loss, the Raiders are riding a four-game losing streak and have been especially subpar in their last two games, including Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors. In their last two, the Raiders gave up the first four goals, three in the first period alone.

“It’s two nights in a row that we’ve been down three before we’ve even dropped the puck and it’s tough to compete and battle (afterwards),” said Campese. “After that first period, I thought we settled down and worked pretty hard but it’s not the start we wanted. It’s tough to spot teams one, two or three and get down especially when you’re looking for an opportunity to start feeling good about yourself. It didn’t happen and that’s the way it goes.”

After a relief appearance Wednesday, Raiders goaltender Cole Holowenko was chased after just 7:22 into the first period, surrendering goals on two point shots from Brad Hoban and Tanner Muth.
Hoban’s goal came only 12 seconds into the game which gave the Broncos a surge of momentum right away.

“That was a big boost for us, we’re a team who's struggled to score the first goal first,” said Hoban, the Broncos captain who ended up with two goals. “We got a lucky bounce, then it hits a guy and Blackie (Broncos centre Graham Black) slides it over to me and I score, that’s a big boost for any team, especially against these guys who (came into the game) losing three in a row, it really hurts for them too.”

Raiders assistant captain Harrison Ruopp said the team is fully aware their starts have to be better, a common theme for their poor record to start the season.

“We all realize that we gotta have more from our players and have to come out with better starts,” said Ruopp, “but we’re confident in our abilities, we just need to put it together for a full sixty minutes.”

After giving up the first four, the Raiders finally got on the board thanks to a Maylan powerplay goal near the end of the second period. Maylan and Mike Winther scored at the end of the game to make the game 6-3.

Raiders newcomer Kellan Tochkin had two assists, his first two points as a Raider and has 10 points, all assists in 12 games this season.

The Raiders host the Saskatoon Blades (8-4-0-1) on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre and are back in action Tuesday, at home against the Calgary Hitmen (4-6-0-1).

jdandrea@panow.com