Raiders go back to trusted Belarussian well in CHL Import Draft

Chayka was 2-1 for Belarus in the tournament with a .911 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average. He had the best stats out of the three goaltenders Belarus played in the tournament. And like Shyla, Chayka played on the U18 team in the second division of Belarus’ professional league, posting a .870 save percentage and 3.60 goals against average in 29 games played.

“Tikhon was a player we had watched really closely throughout the Under-18 tournament, and we thought he played very well,” Hunt said. “We like his competitiveness, we like his quickness, we like his game sense or hockey sense as a goaltender. I think there’s a lot to work with and I think right now at this point, he’s a good guy to come and support what we have in place.”

The Raiders have Carter Serhyenko, who Curtis Hunt hopes can start to reach the elite status of WHL goaltenders in his 19-year-old season, and Max Hildebrand, who joined the Raiders midway through the Subway Hub Centre season as a 16-year-old.

The Raiders have had a lot of recent experience and success with Belarussian players. Aliaksei Protas was the Raiders’ selection in the 2018 CHL Import Draft, having gone on to be drafted by the Washington Capitals. The Raiders also picked up Sergei Sapego, who also won the 2019 WHL Championship with Protas. In the 2019-20 season, Raiders had Ilya Usau, an American-Belarussian dual-citizen score 50 points, and acquired Daniil Stepanov from the Moose Jaw Warriors early in that season, as well.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW

by Jeff D’Andrea

Raiders go back to trusted Belarussian well in CHL Import Draft

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