Gardiner and Guhle talk Canada-Russia Series; big weekend ahead

Although Gardiner registered points in both games, he thought his second was a goal. Off a rebound, Gardiner’s shot got past Russian goaltender Maxim Tretiak, hit the post and dangled across the goal line before WHL forward Jansen Harkins of the Prince George Cougars banged it in.

“The guys were giving it to me pretty good on the bench,” smiled Gardiner, who led the post-goal fly-by to the bench. “I thought I scored for a while, but they announced and it was Harkins. Then I watched the replay and it was right on the goal line and he just batted it in.”

Gardiner wasn’t initially named to the team, but made it as an injury replacement for Kelowna Rockets forward Rourke Chartier. Guhle, who initially made Team WHL despite being an 18-year-old, was glad Gardiner could come along.

“That was awesome,” said Guhle. “We got to room together and spend a lot of time together, so that was cool to have someone from Prince Albert there with me.”

Guhle, who went +1 across the two games, has his eyes on a Team Canada spot and wants to represent his country on the World Junior stage. He hopes he showed enough in the two games to warrant a camp try-out.

“I think if not this year, hopefully next year for sure I’d like to make that team,” said Guhle. “Hopefully this year, I can get an invite to the tryout and show to Hockey Canada what I have, I think that would be a good opportunity.”

Big weekend

Although the Raiders are first in the WHL East Division and second in the conference, they only have one win in their last five games (1-3-1).

They’ll have two big rivalry games coming up this weekend, Friday against the Saskatoon Blades (8-7-3) at home, and Sunday on the road against the Brandon Wheat Kings (second in East Division, 11-6-0-2), who came into this year as the favourites to win the WHL championship.

Their preparation for those two big games hasn’t been ideal. They had to practice without Gardiner and Guhle, who were busy playing against the Russians. They also tossed in newcomer Ty Mappin into the fold, who was added to the team on Sunday to replace the injured Cal Babych.

“We’ve been short a couple guys there, so it was a little different,” said Raiders centreman Jordan Tkatch. “Having Guhls and Gards back will help and Ty’s fitting in nice and getting used to everything. I’ll think we’ll be fine for Friday.”

Tkatch feasted on the Blades when they played to start the season Sept. 25-26. He had five points against the Blades in the two game series to start the season and was one of the league’s top scorers after the opening week. Tkatch has 10 points in 17 games since.

“The team success is more important, but if I can contribute in any way, then that’s good,” said Tkatch, who won the Raiders’ best defensive forward award last year. “It’s a rivalry that everyone in the town knows about. There’s also a little something extra there when you play the Blades. It will be good to play them again and see what they got.”

They’re expected to win everything this year, we’re excited to see what we have against them,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid. “We know Brandon’s a good team, but we have to get in the mindset that we’re going into Brandon not to hope to win, but to expect to win.

“Even though they’re a great team and we have a lot of respect for them, we want them to have the same respect for us as well and raise that bar higher.”

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea

by Jeff D'Andrea

Gardiner and Guhle talk Canada-Russia Series; big weekend ahead

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