Raiders forward Reece Vitelli reaches for a loose puck. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders run out of gas

Raiders run out of gas in loss to Blades; head into the holidays with 20 wins

Dec 15, 2019 | 6:56 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders will head into the holiday break with a 20-9-3-1 record, first in their division and fourth in the conference.

But they’ll head into the break with just one win in their last four games, after a 4-1 defeat on Sunday afternoon against the Saskatoon Blades.

For the second straight year, Tristen Robins scored the Teddy Bear Toss goal against the Raiders. He had the only goal in a 1-0 Blades win during last year’s Teddy Bear Toss game on Dec. 9, 2018. Robins scored halfway through the first period, after tapping home a cross-ice feed from Scott Walford.

Chase Wouters made it 2-0 with the lone goal in the second period. Ozzy Wiesblatt gave the Raiders some life early in the third period, but Zach Huber was able to answer for the Blades just 58 seconds later. Eric Florchuk added to the Blades’ lead late in the third.

The Raiders had four games this week in a five-day span. Their lone win came on Friday against the Winnipeg ICE 3-1. The losses came on Wednesday 8-4 against the Medicine Hat Tigers, Saturday 4-2 against the Kamloops Blazers and Sunday against the Blades.

Raiders win 5-3

Defensive scoring leads Raiders over Wheat Kings

7h ago

GST Holiday

Federal government's two-month GST holiday begins

22h ago

Imminent need

Council set to discuss possible location for homeless shelter on 15th Street

Dec 14, 2024

The Raiders will also welcome back Aliaksei Protas and Ilya Usau after the break, as they’ve missed the last six games with the Raiders while they represented Belarus at the 2020 IIHF World Under-20 Championship Division 1A tournament. They ended the tournament in third place and capped it off with a 7-2 victory over Denmark. Protas had four goals and seven points in five games for Belarus in the tournament. He also was named player of the game on Sunday. Ilya Usau had a goal and three points in five games with Belarus.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Blades, Tristen Robins from Scott Walford and Colton Dach, 10:44

Second Period

2-0, Blades, Chase Wouters (unassisted), 17:57

Third Period

2-1, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Kaiden Guhle, 2:59

3-1, Blades, Zach Huber from Kyle Crnkovic and Eric Florchuk, 3:57

4-1, Blades, Eric Florchuk from Tristen Robins and Scott Walford (power play), 12:33

Rematches after the break

After the holiday break, the Raiders will face the Blades again with a home-and-home series on Dec. 27-28, with both teams meeting at the Art Hauser Centre on the 27^th.

–

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW