Raiders forward Brayden Watts celebrates the eventual game winner against the Oil Kings Friday, after receiving a crazy soccer pass from Aliaksei Protas. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea2

Pele Protas

Raiders use their feet to beat the Oil Kings

Jan 24, 2020 | 10:39 PM

If this whole hockey thing doesn’t work out for Aliaksei Protas, he may have a future in the beautiful game of soccer.

Protas created the game-winning goal by using his feet, giving that lift the Raiders needed in the third period to defeat the fifth-ranked team in the CHL in the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-2 on Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.

After losing his stick early in the play as it was broken by a slash from Prince Albert’s own Riley Sawchuk, Protas then blocked a shot and booted it out of the zone. That set up a 2-on-1 and it was Brayden Watts who swatted the puck into the back of the net for the eventual game-winner.

“Every summer, I play soccer with my buddies so I think this experience helped me there,” Protas said. “I kind of had no choice in that situation, I had to make a quick play. I kinda saw a guy there, I didn’t just want to throw it to nowhere. I just saw him and made a play there.”

Hockey players kick pucks all the time, but rarely do they do so to directly create an odd-man rush the other way. That little piece of ingenuity brought a smile to the face of Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid.

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“That was impressive,” Habscheid said. “A Belarussian playing soccer, those Europeans know how to kick the ball around, so he kicked the puck and it was a good play. I thought Watts was good tonight, just everybody. I was a fan tonight, I just watched the game.”

But that kick wasn’t the only thing he was happy about. After taking the week off with a sour taste from their mouths after a 4-3 shootout defeat to the Red Deer Rebels, the Raiders refocused throughout the week in practice.

They mixed things up a bit too, as they had an outdoor practice at Crescent Acres on Wednesday, then chucked a few pies in Habscheid’s face during the Carlton Crusaders’ Pink Game that raised over $100,000 for the Victoria Hospital Foundation. But when it came time to get back on the ice, the Raiders were able to bring it.

“The guys like playing against good teams and they’re a good team. We had a little bit of a reset this week, and I really like how the guys responded,” Habscheid said. “The energy was good, I thought the attention to detail was good. I just thought it was a good team win.”

Oil Kings may have come into Friday’s game tied for first in the WHL standings, and were fifth overall in the Kia CHL Top 10 Weekly Rankings, but the Prince Albert Raiders have had their number this year.

The Raiders ended their season series with the Oil Kings on Friday by taking seven of a possible eight points (3-0-0-1) by winning 3-2 on Friday. The victory also extended the Raiders points streak to seven games (4-0-1-2) and upgraded their record to 24-14-5-3. The Oil Kings are 31-8-6-3 on the season, and 1-2-1-0 against the Raiders.

Experience Regina

The Raiders’ first two scorers are both from the province’s capital. Matthew Culling opened the scoring, potting home a rebound in the first period. Landon Kosior then scored his second goal in as many games just three minutes later to make it a 2-0 Raider lead at that point.

Josh Williams broke a nine-game goalless drought, banking it off of Protas and into the Raiders’ net to get the Oil Kings back in, before Protas’ soccer assist led to Watts’ game winner in the third. Dylan Guenther made the game interesting for the Oil Kings with 1:55 left in the third.

Raiders goaltender and former Regina Pat Max Paddock stopped 30 of 32 shots for the Raiders. He’s been lights out since joining the Raiders, posting a 3-0-0-1 record with a .949 save percentage and 1.44 goals against average. He’s only surrendered six goals in those four games as well. Beck Warm made 32 saves on 35 shots for the Oil Kings.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Matthew Culling from Kaiden Guhle and Aliaksei Protas, 7:29

2-0, Raiders, Landon Kosior from Spencer Moe, 11:35

Second Period

2-1, Oil Kings, Josh Williams from Ethan Cap (power play), 14:47

Third Period

3-1, Raiders, Brayden Watts from Aliaksei Protas, 10:26

3-2, Oil Kings, Dylan Guenther from Jake Neighbours and Ethan McIndoe, 18:05

Nicked up

Raiders captain Zack Hayes took a shot up high from Oil Kings’ Riley Sawchuk in the first period. He headed to the tunnel but only missed four minutes of game time as he returned with a full cage and played his regular shift for the rest of the game.

“He’s been physical all three games against them,” Habscheid said. “Character guy, he gets hit in the face with a puck, put on the cage and away he went. I kept looking at my sheet, I thought he was an affiliate player with the cage on—he looked pretty good for a 15-year-old affiliate player.”

Then with five minutes left in the first, Oil Kings captain Scott Atkinson fell awkwardly into the boards after a check from Justin Nachbaur. Atkinson missed the last five minutes of the first period, returned to start the second but then was taken out of the game shorly after. Callup Brendan Kuny also didn’t finish the game for the Oil Kings, as he collided with Nolan Allan midway through the second period and didn’t finish the game.

The Oil Kings were already regulars like defencemen Jacson Alexander and Wyatt McLeod.

Tigers

The Raiders have the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre. The Tigers will be hungry, after dropping a 6-5 decision Friday to the Saskatoon Blades.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW