Raiders forward Ozzy Wiesblatt plays the puck between his legs as he is joined by forward Tyson Laventure. Submitted photo/Keith Hershmiller

By Jeff D’Andrea

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Mar 12, 2021 | 11:25 PM

After being one of the few hockey players in the world to have played meaningful hockey in the past year, Ozzy Wiesblatt stole the show for the Prince Albert Raiders.

Wiesblatt scored the Raiders’ first goal of their unprecedented hub centre season in Regina, and added two assists to lead the Raiders to a 6-3 victory over the hosting Regina Pats. He even got into a fight in the third period with Pats defender Kyle Walker.

Wiesblatt credited his big night to his hustling linemates Evan Herman and Reece Vitelli. On Wiesblatt’s first goal just 3:53 into the first period, Herman won the puck on the wall, slid it over to Vitelli who then found Wiesblatt in front.

“It was awesome. My linemates did a great job on the forecheck and they were working their bags off all game,” Wiesblatt said, who scored a goal in his three games with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda this season. “I’m fortunate enough to have them on my side.”

With most of the players on the ice not being able to play for over a calendar year due to the pandemic, and with only a week to prepare without any exhibition games, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid wasn’t exactly expecting an absolute masterpiece out there.

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However, he is happy with the two points and the 6-3 score.

“We’re happy for the kids. They’ve got 23 [more] games in the regular season, so they’ve got time to play. They waited a long time and it looked like it. You could tell they were trying hard but you don’t want to look at it too much. They were excited to play, and to get the win is a bonus.”

Max Paddock. Submitted photo/Keith Hershmiller

Raiders goaltender Max Paddock was called into action a little more often than the Raiders would have liked, as he saw 31 good quality opportunities from the Pats. A lot of those were on the power play, as the Raiders gave the Pats nine advantages. Paddock was able to make 28 saves, while he and the Raiders’ penalty-killing units held the Pats to scoring once on their nine power plays.

“We obviously took way too many penalties, I think we were shorthanded for half the game,” Habscheid said. “And 99 times out of 100, you’re not going to win that. But Max made some good saves and kept us in the game with all their powerplays. He made some saves and we needed that tonight, for sure.

The Raiders had a 2-0 advantage in the first period thanks to goals from Ozzy Wiesblatt and second-year Tyson Laventure. Matthew Culling extended the lead to 3-0 early in the second period.

Then the 15-year-old phenom Connor Bedard single-handedly got the Pats back into the game, literally. He scored a pair of unassisted goals just 48 seconds apart to make a 3-0 Raiders advantage a close 3-2 game heading into the third period.

But Reece Vitelli and Ozzy Wiesblatt scored in the third period to restore the Raiders’ three-goal advantage.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Reece Vitelli and Niall Crocker, 3:53

2-0, Raiders, Tyson Laventure from Graydon Gotaas, 8:11

Second Period

3-0, Raiders, Matthew Culling from Ozzy Wiesblatt and Remy Aquilon, 1:21

3-1, Pats, Connor Bedard (unassisted, power play), 5:01

3-2, Pats, Connor Bedard (unassisted), 5:49

Third Period

4-2, Raiders, Reece Vitelli from Kaiden Guhle and Spencer Moe (power play), 3:39

5-2, Raiders, Logan Danis from Ozzy Wiesblatt and Remy Aquilon, 7:33

5-3, Pats, Logan Nijhoff from Carter Chorney and Carter Massier, 8:39

6-3, Raiders, Evan Herman (empty net, power play, unassisted), 19:37

Looking ahead

The next Raider game is at 8 p.m. on Sunday against the Moose Jaw Warriors.

The Warriors played in the first-ever WHL East Division game this season, defeating the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-3 in overtime on Friday afternoon. Warriors assistant captain Tate Popple scored the OT winner.

Former Raider goaltender Boston Bilous made 19 saves on 22 shots for his first victory of the season for the Warriors.

Prince Albert’s Braden Schneider scored and added an assist for the Wheat Kings.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW