Raiders forward Brayden Watts left the game in the second period after an awkward fall. Lucas Chudleigh/Apollo Multimedia

By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders sweep the Broncos

Raiders complete the sweep over Swift but could lose some big pieces

Nov 30, 2019 | 10:00 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders skated away from the weekend with a pair of comfortable 4-1 wins over the Swift Current Broncos, but they could be without some key players in the near future.

Raiders overager Brayden Watts, who’s ranked ninth in the WHL in scoring at press time, left Saturday’s victory in Swift Current with an apparent leg injury. He fell awkwardly while trying to pass on a 2-on-1 rush and needed to be helped off the ice and into the dressing room. He did not return to the game.

Watts has been an important part of the Raiders this year. Along with the goal he scored on Saturday, Watts has 14 goals and 31 points in his first 25 games of the year. Only Aliaksei Protas has more goals and points on the Raiders this year (18 goals, 42 points).

Raiders assistant coach Jeff Truitt said they didn’t know much about the extent of Watts’ injury right after the game, and would need to seek more information.

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“We’ll probably have to re-evaluate him once we get back tomorrow,” Truitt said.

Along with the potential absences of Watts in the near future, the Raiders will be missing their two Belarusian beauties in Aliaksei Protas and Ilya Usau, who leave Sunday morning to fly to the 2020 IIHF Under-20 World Championship Division 1A tournament in Minsk, Belarus.

They’ll take three different flights totaling over 14 hours for a chance to make the club.

Usau is originally from Minsk, and moved to Denver, Colo., to become an American citizen. Usau, who’s represented Belarus before at the Under-18 level, said it would mean a lot to do it again in his hometown.

“It’s a huge honour honestly to represent [Belarus]. We’re going to be hosting so it will be a huge honour to represent everyone in the arena,” Usau said. “It should be packed every game, around 10,000 people. It will big, it will be something special.”

Protas and Usau, as well as fellow Belarusian Daniil Stepanov, were all featured in a promotional video for the tournament. Although it’s all in Russian, they’re going to

“We want to get people to the games for the world juniors, we want them to come and help us,” Protas said. “The crowds should be pretty good for these games.”

https://www.facebook.com/hockey.by/videos/407793496771958/

Both of them had a pair of assists in Saturday’s game. Protas currently leads all WHL scorers with 42 points.

Ozzy Wiesblatt stole the show on Saturday, scoring a pair of goals in the victory. He now has 12 on the season and 31 points.

Carter Serhyenko made 18 saves on 19 shots to pick up his third victory of his career. Serhyenko has a .937 save percentage and 1.70 goals against average in his six appearances this year.

Wake me up when Moe-vember ends

Spencer Moe will wish he could somehow extend the month of November, as he scored nine goals and 20 points in the month alone. He had nine goals in all of last season, and the previous season as well. Out of the 13 games this month, Moe failed to register a point only once.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Daniil Stepanov from Reece Vitelli and Jakob Brook (changed from Vitelli’s goal), 11:46

2-0, Raiders, Brayden Watts from Aliaksei Protas and Ilya Usau (power play), 19:42

Second Period

2-1, Broncos, Sergei Alkhimov (unassisted), 3:46

3-1, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Ilya Usau, 10:01

Third Period

4-1, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Aliaksei Protas and Spencer Moe, 10:24

Looking ahead

The Raiders will be back in action on Friday against the Memorial Cup hosting Kelowna Rockets. The Rockets and Raiders will kick off the weekend at the Art Hauser Centre, before the Raiders south to face the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday.

The Rockets have won the last three contests against the Raiders dating back to the 2016-17 season. The Raiders are 2-0 against the Warriors so far this year and have outscored them 13-5 in those pair of matches.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW