By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders are ‘Habby’ after 5-2 win over Blades

Nov 1, 2014 | 10:16 PM

Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid came out of the dressing room with a smile, a few chuckles and his first win with his new team—a 5-2 win over the Saskatoon Blades Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre.

He brought out the official game puck that the team presented him with—playing with it in his hands as he took questions from paNOW.com and other local media.

But most importantly, Habscheid has brought a fresh perspective to the Raiders, trying to put the fun back in hockey.

Habscheid was certainly having a little bit of it himself throughout the night, as he shared a laugh with Raiders forward Gage Quinney right before puck drop. After the game when asked what the plan was for Sunday, instead of just saying it was a day off, he had some fun with the answer.

He plans on watching some NFL football, make a trip to the Peavey Mart which is his “favourite store,” and maybe find a tailor because his suits have “shrunk” over the last couple of years.

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“You’ve got to love what you do. This is our job to play hockey—how can you have a better job than that?” said Habscheid. “We want them to work hard, but at the same time, you can still work hard and have fun.

“I think they did that tonight. You could tell the pace was great and they made some really good offensive plays but at the same time, they had some good structure defensively.”

That positive energy went right to the Raiders legs. Despite playing their fourth game in five nights, over three provinces, they outworked the Blades and outshot them 48-28.

Their defence especially had monster nights, with overage defenceman Sawyer Lange picking up a four point night with a goal and three assists. Captain Josh Morrissey and Tomas Andrlik each had a goal and an assist as well.

“Marc was really stressing on getting our D active in the play and being active in the offensive zone,” said Morrissey. “Sawyer had an amazing night tonight, that’s a career high for him. To get production from Tommy with his goal, myself and Hunter (Warner) had an assist—I think that’s going to be a theme here in the next number of games and for the rest of the year.”

Summary

The Blades struck first as Ryan Graham scored 14 minutes into the first period. That’s the 13^th time the Raiders have surrendered the first goal of the game in the 17 they’ve played this season.

The Raiders did equalize before the first period ended as captain Josh Morrissey scored on the power play, as a shot deflected off of Alex Forsberg’s stick and into the net.

Forsberg would restore the Blades lead as he finished off a beautiful passing play between himself and Cory Millette on a 2-on-0 early in the second.

Raiders would get the next two as Sawyer Lange potted one home on the power play and Tomas Andrlik’s shot found a seam in heavy traffic late in the second.

Craig Leverton and Mackenze Stewart scored quickly to start the third period to make it a 5-2 game.

After beating the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday for his first WHL career win, Raiders goaltender Rylan Parenteau played again on Saturday and picked up his second ‘W’. Parenteau made 26 saves for the Raiders. Alex Moodie did his part to keep the Blades in, making 43 saves.

More on the Habscheid hiring

Before he accepted the Raiders job on Saturday, Marc Habscheid had been two years removed from coaching in the WHL, last coaching the Victoria Royals in the 2011-2012.

Although he had been presented with other opportunities, between now and then, none of them were the right fit. But when he got the call from Raiders general manager Bruno Campese, he said “it just felt right.”

“Being able to coach in my home province (at the WHL level), I’ve never done that before,” said Habscheid. “I loved coaching in Melfort the year I was there (1996-1997) so it just makes a lot of sense.

“I love the community, it’s all hockey, hockey, hockey. I’m really looking forward to it, it was an easy decision.”

Like it has been for the Raiders and the local hockey community, the last few days have been a little bit of a rollercoaster.

“Everything happened quick, threw my stuff in my truck and here I came,” said Habscheid. “I’m really happy to be here.

“It’s been a whirlwind, for sure,” added Habscheid. “Everything happened real fast, but that’s usually the best way even when you’re playing. You have less time to think about things, you just go and it naturally comes to you.

The deal between Habscheid and Campese got done very quickly, by design as well.

“When we made the change, we didn’t want it to drag out. The sooner, the better to be quite honest with you,” said Campese. “We didn’t want speculation to run rapid, outside the organization or with the players. We wanted stability and there’s only a few names that came to mind of guys that aren’t currently working.

“We quickly did our work, we did our due diligence and we didn’t take it lightly. There were phone calls that went out to people in the Western Hockey League that knew Marc well. It was quick, but there was a lot of work that went into it.”

Started another five-game homestand

The Raiders will host the Calgary Hitmen on Wednesday and the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday, before taking on the Regina Pats on Nov. 12 and the Moose Jaw Warriors on Nov. 14.

All games are at the Art Hauser Centre and start at 7 p.m.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea