Raiders GM Hunt speaks about McBride leaving

“It’s unfortunate. It is what it is. Our position has sorted itself out, not how we would have expected it,” Hunt told paNOW.com. “The two guys that are here can focus on playing and preparing for a real important weekend ahead.”

The Raiders started off the year with three goaltenders, McBride, 19-year-old Rylan Parenteau and 16-year-old Ian Scott. As of Sept. 25, the Raiders’ first game of the season, they were one of nine WHL teams that had three goaltenders.

Hunt said they decided to start with the non-idea but common three-goalie formation to ensure they would make an educated decision.

“We wanted to have a real good, hard look at everybody and we could have made our decision a little bit further down the road,” said Hunt, who added that it can be difficult in the preseason to evaluate goalies when young rosters are playing in front of them.

The Raiders will move forward with Parenteau and Scott. Parenteau had an up-and-down weekend, surrendering five goals on 21 shots in the season opener Friday in a 7-2 loss to the Saskatoon Blades, rebounding the next night with 29 saves in a 6-5 Raiders overtime win over the same Blades. Scott came in to relieve Parenteau on Friday, making 12 saves on 14 shots.

“What we saw last weekend wasn’t indicative of who [Rylan] is. We know he’s a battler, he competes every night and comes to the rink every day,” said Hunt. “With young Scottie, we know he’s young but he moves extremely well, controls the net and good natural size—you can’t teach that reach. He’s square on pucks and tracks rebounds extremely well, he’s just going to get better.

“We feel good about our duo here.”

The Raiders will play the Vancouver Giants on Friday, before welcoming the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday. Both games will be played at the Art Hauser Centre, with start times at 7 p.m.

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea

by Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders GM Hunt speaks about McBride leaving

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