Raiders forward Ilya Usau finds some room in the middle of the ice against the Oil Kings on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Trevor Redden

Redden on the Raiders

Redden on the Raiders: A rivalry renewed

Jan 17, 2020 | 3:00 PM

When the Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings met for the first time after the Raiders dispatched their inter-provincial rival in the 2019 Eastern Conference Final, there wasn’t much for fireworks.

The Oil Kings came into the game hot, having won seven in a row, and carrying a streak of 12 games with at least a point. On the other side, Prince Albert had won four in a row, sitting atop the East Division.

On Nov. 5 at Rogers Place, the visiting Raiders outshot the Oil Kings 23-8 over the first two periods, building up a 5-1 lead before cruising to a 6-3 victory. This was the fourth straight win for Prince Albert over Edmonton including the last three playoff meetings back in April.

Saturday night, they met for the second time this year, and it was clear that the Oil Kings were ready to come in and make a statement to show why they were sitting atop not only the Eastern Conference, but the entire WHL standings.

In this one, the Oil Kings outshot the Raiders 29-18 through two periods and took a 1-1 tie into the third with stellar goaltending on display from Prince Albert’s Max Paddock along with Edmonton’s Sebastian Cossa.

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In the third, Jake Neighbours put the visitors ahead with a beautiful shorthanded goal early in the frame, and the Raiders were forced to fight back from behind.

Sparked by an impressive physical performance from captain Zack Hayes, the Raiders grabbed momentum back in the period and tied the game with seconds remaining courtesy of Reece Vitelli.

Throughout the third, Hayes was a one-man wrecking crew as he caught Neighbours multiple times as well as Carter Souch with bone-crunching hits. The fans at the Art Hauser Centre roared with approval while a few Oil Kings players had words for the captain, but nothing further.

Asked about the sequence after the game, Hayes said he didn’t go out with the intention of throwing his weight around but took advantage when the situation arose.

“The first [hit], I just saw opportunity there. The second time I wondered if it was déjà vu because it just kept happening,” Hayes said.

Regarding the response from the Oil Kings side, Hayes said there was nothing more than words.

“They would come at me, but they wouldn’t really do anything.”

Although Edmonton took the extra point with a shootout win, snapping the Raiders streak over the Oil Kings at four games, Prince Albert Head Coach Marc Habscheid was full of praise for his team that night.

“I told them after I’m proud of them. 10 games in 16 days [since the Christmas break] and every place we go we’re the hunted. We’re the only team in the league that can say they’re the defending champs. Every team wants to beat us and I think you saw Edmonton tonight, we had the target on our back. This was their biggest game,” the coach said.

“We handled them in Edmonton, and they came in here and wanted to hang a licking on us. They beat us in a skills competition, big deal. I’m not too concerned about that. I love the hatred in the game…the Raiders are back.”

The two teams meet Friday night at Rogers Place before wrapping up the four-game season series Jan. 24 back in Prince Albert.

Top prospects on display

The Raiders were well-represented in Hamilton on Thursday at the 2020 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

It was great to see Kaiden Guhle come out firing, getting his team on the board with a first period goal on a short side shot. Guhle showed all night long that he’s comfortable on the big stage, contributing at both ends of the rink, with and without the puck, earning some strong praise from former Red Deer Rebel and current analyst Colby Armstrong.

On the other side of the matchup, Ozzy Wiesblatt and Team Red had a harder time getting things going as White seemed to control a lot of the play. Nonetheless, Wiesblatt showed the shiftiness and puck skills that we’ve come to expect on a nightly basis in Prince Albert. The forward also earned recognition from analyst Todd Warriner postgame as one of the players that jumped out to him during the game.

Both are going to be back in the lineup in Edmonton Friday night.

Paddock pads the stats

Impressive work so far by goaltender Max Paddock, stopping 54 of 57 shots in his first two games as a Raider.

On Friday against Prince George, he wasn’t tested a lot but provided a steady presence behind the team in stopping 20 of 21 shots. Saturday against Edmonton it was a lot busier around his net and he was forced to come up with some big-time stops to hold the league-leading Oil Kings at bay.

Paddock stopped 34 of 36 shots in the game, helping the Raiders secure a point in the shootout loss.

Going back to the start of December, Paddock has found another level with a .916 save percentage, allowing 2.79 goals against per game in 14 games. Considering he’s faced an average of 33 shots in that stretch, those numbers are even more impressive.

Central scouting releases rankings

On Monday, NHL Central Scouting announced its midterm prospect rankings heading into the 2020 NHL Draft.

As opposed to their early season ratings that classify players as an ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’, this version has the players numerically ranked among their North American or European counterparts.

Four Raiders appeared on the list, with Kaiden Guhle ranked seventh in North America (highest among WHL players), Ozzy Wiesblatt 14^th, Ilya Usau 63^rd, and Landon Kosior 126^th.

Going back through the last five years, all players at either seventh or 14^th in the midterm rankings wound up as first-round picks in the draft. We will find out in six months if that trend continues with Guhle and Wiesblatt.

Alberta swing

After Friday’s matchup in Edmonton [CKBI, 8 p.m.], the Raiders will head south to take on the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday [CKBI, 8 p.m.] to conclude a two-game trip in the Central Division.

Next week, Prince Albert is back at home to host Edmonton once again on Friday and Medicine Hat on Saturday.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden