By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders pounced by Tigers 5-4; add to Wall of Honour

Jan 17, 2015 | 9:24 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders had an all too familiar plot line rear its ugly head Saturday in a 5-4 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers at the Art Hauser Centre.

On Saturday, the Raiders were up 2-1 on the Medicine Hat Tigers and according to P.A. head coach Marc Habscheid, felt they were the better team. But when Chad Butcher made it 2-2, the Raiders’ lost all the wind in their sails and gave up three consecutive goals.

Something very similar happened in Friday’s 5-2 loss to the Kootenay Ice. After letting in the 2-1 goal to Luke Philp, the Raiders surrendered four straight goals as the Ice. That run ruined what was otherwise a tightly contested 1-1 game.

When asked if the two situations were similar, Habscheid said they were and added they can’t let goals or adversity affect the next play.

“I think so. It’s nothing physical, it’s just a mentality—we just stopped playing. It’s like ‘oh no’ and we just stop skating. That’s just a mental thing and we got to overcome that. That’s enough. We need to change that and that’s a mentality we don’t want.

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“We want to win championships, not to (just) participate in games. It’s a great group of kids. We believe in them, they got to believe in themselves, too.”

The Raiders opened the scoring with a familiar face of late, Austin Glover. In Glover’s last four games, he’s scored the opening goal three times.

Tigers sniper Cole Sanford scored his 35^th goal of the year to tie the game up heading into the second. Sanford is second in both goals (35) and points (65).

The Raiders regained their lead with Jayden Hart, the former Tiger, early in the second on a 5-on-3 power play. But like the Raiders did on Friday against the Kootenay Ice, they gave up a sizeable run to their opposition as the Tigers scored three goals from Chad Butcher, Dryden Hunt and Chad Labelle to take a 4-2 lead heading into the third.

The Raiders fought back with two goals 40 seconds apart deep into the third period to cut the Tigers lead to 5-4. Jesse Lees scored on the power play after receiving a lovely pass from Jayden Hart, then  Matteo Gennaro won a battle in the offensive zone and went high blocker on Tigers goaltender Marek Langhamer.

The Raiders finished the game with a furious flurry around the Tigers goal, but couldn’t find the equalizer.

Hart was a bright spot for the Raiders throughout the game, especially in their comeback efforts, and finished with a goal and two assists against his old team.

“He’s a good player, a good guy and a good leader,” said Habscheid on the 20-year-old Hart. “He brings it every night and he’s a guy that brings it every night and works hard at his craft.

“He’s a guy we need going down the stretch here, for sure.”

Hunt going streaking

Tigers forward Dryden Hunt scored in the second period for the Tigers to extend his scoring streak to 16, the longest current streak and the second-longest streak all year this year, scoring six goals and 24 points in that span.

The last time Hunt was held scoreless in a game was Dec. 5 against the Brandon Wheat Kings, back when he was playing for the Regina Pats.

“It’s not just me, I’ve played with some pretty good linemates in Regina and here,” said Hunt. “Obviously, I’m giving the puck and guys are finishing and I’m trying to finish—but there’s a lot of assists in that streak.

The Tigers acquired Dryden Hunt, along with former Pats captain Kyle Burroughs in exchange for former Raider prospect Connor Hobbs and two picks on Jan. 5.

Wall of Honour Night

Before Saturday’s game, the Raiders officially added five more members to the team’s Wall of Honour in players Mark Odnokon, Jeff Nelson and Denis Pederson, who are all from Prince Albert, as well as builders Milt Fisher and Nestor Hryciuk.

Mark Odnokon – player (SJHL- 1979-1982)

A few years before he cracked the Raiders in 1979, Odnokon was a stick boy for the team in the 1975-1976 season. He earned a reputation as a rough and tumbling winger in his career with the Raiders from 1979-1982. He also rejoined the Raiders as an assistant coach in 1990 and coached six seasons in two separate stints with P.A.

His playing days consisted University of Minnesota Duluth for three seasons and a year in the International Hockey League with Salt Lake. Odnokon started his coaching year as the first ever coach of the Melfort Mustangs in the SJHL in 1988-89 before joining Anaheim of the NHL as a scout.

Jeff Nelson – Player (WHL – 1988-1992)

The Raiders knew they found themselves a beauty when Nelson put up 87 points as a 15-year-old in the 1988-1989 season. Nelson went on to become the second highest scorer in Raiders history with 295 points over four seasons. He also set the WHL record for holding onto a 56 game point streak in the 1990-1991 season and won the CHL Scholastic Player of the Year in his first two years.

He was a member of Team Canada at the 1992 World Junior Championships in Fussen, Germany and was a second round pick of the Washington Capitals in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. He played 52 games in the NHL and then toiled in the minor leagues and briefly in Europe.

Denis Pederson—player (WHL—1991-1995)

Pederson proved himself as a player who could both score and scrap, amassing 239 points and 413 penalty minutes in three full seasons with the Raiders. The New Jersey Devils picked him 13^th overall in the 1993 NHL Entry, and Pederson went on to play 10 years in the NHL and nine more in Berlin, Germany before retiring in 2011-2012.

Pederson also won gold for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in 1994-1995, scoring four points in seven games.

Milt Fisher—builder

Fisher was the architect behind the Raiders scouting staff from 1979-1989, and built a network of scouts from across Western Canada. He’s credited of scouting and signing some important figures in Raiders history like Ken Baumgartner, Dave Manson, Colin Feser, brothers Jeff and Todd Nelson, David Nielson, Todd Bergen and many others.

After his achievements with the Raiders, Fisher moved on to a scouting position with the New Jersey Devils, who he’s been a full-time scout with since 1995.

Nestor Hryciuk—builder

Hryciuk was involved with the Raiders in their infancy days when the team was founded in 1971. Back then he ran Frank’s Cigar Store which was used as a ticket outlet for the team, while being a season’s ticket holder himself.

He then became a member of the Raiders when they joined the WHL in 1982, the team’s vice president from 1983-1985 before becoming the president from 1986-1988. Hryciuk is credited for naming the Communiplex and instrumental is naming “Terry Simpson Lane.”

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea