Raiders get revenge on Wheaties and clinch conference with big win

“On top of that, they kind of ran around last weekend,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “They tried to take liberties, they beat us and they taunted us a bit. We don’t take that real well. We were excited to play the game tonight.”

The Raiders dominated the game with a 48-16 shot advantage, 7-1 goals advantage.

The Cole Fonstad (one goal, four points), Noah Gregor (two goals, three points) and Ozzy Wiesblatt (one goal, three points) line buzzed around and combined for four goals and 10 points in the game.

With the depth the Raiders had, Habscheid was able to put that line out against the Wheat Kings’ third or fourth unit and get a favourable matchup.

“No matter what you can do, that’s a mismatch. We need those guys to take advantage of that,” Habscheid said. “As much as they had things going, you have to credit the other two lines because they pick up some harder minutes against their top two lines.”

The best goal came off the stick of Noah Gregor, who turned the entire Wheat Kings’ defence inside out and beat goaltender Jiri Patera on the backhand.

“Gregs’ goal was unreal. I’ve learned so much from him over the year,” Wiesblatt said. “And Fonny, they’re two such skilled players and two guys I look up to. It’s really nice playing with those guys.”

And Wiesblatt, on top of his three-point night, laid the biggest hit of the night. Wiesblatt, all five-foot-10, 187-pounds of the 16-year-old rookie, de-skated the six-foot-five, 250-pound Baron Thompson of the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The game was physical through and through, but Wiesblatt said he doesn’t shy away from games like this or from big, tough players like Thompson.

“No, I love it,” Wiesblatt said. “It’s coming up to playoff time. Even though you’re a small guy, you can still let him know you’re there. I wasn’t really expecting to knock him over, but it was good I guess.”

Rough stuff

With just 4:12 remaining in the game, Parker Kelly received a major boarding penalty after taking Marcus Sekundiak, who was in a vulnerable position, hard into the boards in front of the Raider bench. Kelly was ejected from the game with a game misconduct.

Sekundiak was one of three Wheat Kings forwards that was injured in the game.

Late in the second period, Stelios Mattheos tried to exit the zone but was met at the blue line by Raiders captain Brayden Pachal. Mattheos went to the Wheat Kings’ dressing room for a few minutes, returned to the game and went after Pachal. Both players dropped their gloves with Pachal finishing the fight on top with an uppercut. After the fight, Mattheos didn’t return.

And in the second period, rookie Lynden McCallum was favouring his left shoulder after a collision in the corner.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Noah Gregor from Ozzy Wiesblatt and Cole Fonstad, 2:37

2-0, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Cole Fonstad and Jeremy Masella, 11:33

2-1, Wheat Kings, Vinny Iorio from Caiden Daley, 12:24

Second Period

3-1, Raiders, Jakob Brook from Brayden Pachal and Zack Hayes, 4:27

4-1, Raiders, Noah Gregor from Cole Fonstad and Sergei Sapego, 12:04

5-1, Raiders, Parker Kelly from Dante Hannoun, 12:18

Third Period

6-1, Raiders, Sean Montgomery from Dante Hannoun and Ozzy Wiesblatt (power play), 11:53

7-1, Raiders, Cole Fonstad from Noah Gregor, 14:55

Two more on the home-stand

The Raiders have two games left on their five-game home-stand, taking on the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday and the Red Deer Rebels on Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.

After that, the Raiders will head down to Moose Jaw to face the Warriors on Saturday, before a pair of home games against the Swift Current Broncos on March 5 and March 8.

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW

by Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders get revenge on Wheaties and clinch conference with big win

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