By Jeff D'Andrea

Sanders the third Raider to need offseason surgery

Mar 22, 2017 | 5:00 PM

Another Prince Albert Raider will be recovering from surgery this offseason.

Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt announced that goaltender Nicholas Sanders requires surgery on both of his hips. Sanders is the third Raider to go under the knife this season as Jordy Stallard and Carson Miller both had season-ending shoulder surgeries in February.

“Nick should go under by the end of next week… He does need both hips done,” Hunt said. “I know he fought through some pain this year at times, I thought it hurt him at times. He’s still a young goaltender.”

Sanders was 0-9-1 in his first 10 decisions with the Raiders, but finished the season strong with an 8-4-1-2.

The Raiders will hope that Sanders will be available for the start of the regular season, to take his spot alongside fellow tender Ian Scott.

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“The timeline on that, I guess depending on how quickly they can get the second one done will be three to six months. We’ll wait that out,” Hunt said. “We expect him back sometime hopefully before September when we get going, but definitely by October.”

In case Sanders will have to miss time, the Raiders do have some other options.

The 1998-born Curtis Meger has been called up by the Raiders on multiple occasions as a backup, but has yet to play a WHL game.

They also have 2001-born Brett Balas, who they drafted in the third round of the 2016 WHL Bantam, as well as listed 2000-born Jordan Schmuland.

The Raiders recently added to their depth by listing 1999-born Ben Laidlaw.

Laidlaw is currently in the Alberta AAA Midget Hockey League finals with the Calgary Bisons. Laidlaw finished the regular season with a 14-3-2 record, .921 save percentage, 2.43 goals against average and a shutout. He’s 6-2 in the postseason with a .923 save percentage and 2.34 goals against average and a shutout.

“We’ve got lots of depth in that position and we feel very confident with the group moving forward,” Hunt said. “That being said, we have to be better in that position moving forward.”

jdandrea@jpbg.ca
@jeff_paNOW.