Raiders forward Evan Herman is surrounded by teammates after scoring his fourth goal of the year. Herman now has goals in back-to-back games. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

You get a goal! And you get a goal!

Raiders get production from everybody in win over the Wheat Kings

Nov 8, 2019 | 10:19 PM

All four lines were rolling for the Prince Albert Raiders, as they got back into the win column on Friday and defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-3 Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.

Each line contributed at least one goal, and every Raiders forward registered at least one point except one—16-year-old rookie Tyson Laventure (sorry Tyson).

But the line that stepped up the most was the Reece Vitelli line, who’s been centering Jakob Brook and Eric Pearce. They accounted for the two most important Raider goals of the night—Brook scored the game winner and Peace got the insurance marker.

“Our team’s got great depth. All four lines can contribute at any time of the year,” Pearce said. “Tonight, our line stepped up. We haven’t been as productive as we’d like in the last few games, but we had a really good night tonight.”

Vitelli came over from the Everett Silvertips 10 games ago, and has slowly been building chemistry with his new linemates. Brook thinks his line has gelled a lot better.

Raiders AGM

Raiders impact on Prince Albert local economy continues to go up: AGM report

15h ago

Court proceedings

'The impact of this trauma will echo for generations': court case surrounding La Ronge woman's death reaches conclusion

Dec 11, 2024

Going Global

P.A.'s Zablocki named to Team Canada for U18 Women's World Championships

Dec 11, 2024

“With Pearcy and Reece, we’ve been building that chemistry through the games and we feel that it’s starting to come together,” said Brook, the game’s first star. “We feel we just have to keep building that every game.”

The Raiders power play has been absolutely on fire as of late. They’ve struck with the man-advantage at least once in their past five games are 7-15 in that span. That’s good for 46.7 per cent in their last five games, after they struggled to score on the U.S. road trip.

On Friday’s game, the Raiders were 2-3 with the man-advantage. They scored on their first power play, buzzing the puck around for over 1:30 in the Wheat Kings zone before Brayden Watts knocked the water bottle from the net. Ozzy Wiesblatt put the game away late on the Raiders’ second attempt.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid credited one of his assistant’s Dan Gendur for the work he’s done by consistently working on different plays and adjustments. But said the biggest reason for the Raiders’ massive surge in power play production has a lot to do with who they put as their quarterback—Raiders forward Ilya Usau.

“We’ve put Usau on the back, and that’s helped. He’s got some moxie. He used to be a defenceman, believe it or not when he was a little bit younger,” Habscheid said. “He’s played that position, he’s smart. He’s older too and he’s provided that.

“Dan’s got a good job with the power play unit and he’s worked with them a lot.”

Top guys still the top guys

Spencer Moe’s four-game goal scoring streak ended, but he did pick up an assist to keep his point streak alive. Moe has scored at least a point in his last six games, scoring six goals and 11 points in that time.

Captain Zack Hayes had a goal and an assist. That’s already Hayes’ third goal of the season, matching his career high in that department.

Aliaksei Protas added an assist and has 29 points on the year to lead the WHL.

Boston Bilous picked up his WHL-leading 11^th victory of the season, making 19 saves on 22 shots.

Number 2

The Raiders are back in familiar territory as they rose up to second in the CHL Top 10 rankings that came out on Wednesday, behind only the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL. This is the highest the Raiders have been in the rankings this year, after finishing in second last year. The Raiders are 13-3-3 to start the season, including a 7-0-2 record at the Art Hauser Centre.

Allan

Raiders defenceman Nolan Allan is still at the 2019 Worlds Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Swift Current and Medicine Hat. Allan and Team Canada Red fell 3-2 in overtime in the quarterfinals on Thursday to Canada White.

Allan and Canada Red are finishing up their tournament on Saturday, playing Sweden in a placement game.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Zack Hayes from Ilya Usau and Justin Nachbaur, 8:29

2-0, Raiders, Evan Herman from Cole Nagy and Zack Hayes, 10:20

2-1, Wheat Kings, Nolan Ritchie (unassisted), 13:35

2-2, Wheat Kings, Luka Burzan from Chad Nychuk, 14:13

3-2, Raiders, Brayden Watts from Spencer Moe and Aliaksei Protas (power play), 19:10

4-2, Raiders, Jakob Brook from Eric Pearce and Reece Vitelli, 19:41

Second Period

4-3, Wheat Kings, Luka Burzan from Ben McCartney (power play), 7:01

Third Period

5-3, Raiders, Eric Pearce from Jakob Brook, 6:52

6-3, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Ilya Usau (power play), 16:42

Red Deer up next

The Raiders will get their first look at the Red Deer Rebels this year, Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre to finish up their span of four games in five nights. The last time the Raiders and Rebels faced each other was in the first round of last year’s postseason, ending in a four-game sweep for the Raiders on March 28 in Red Deer.

–

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW