The Prince Albert Raiders meet the Brandon Wheat Kings tonight as part of their two-game Manitoba road trip. (Submitted Photo/Mark Peterson Media)

By Rob Mahon

Raiders in Manitoba

Raiders face pair of surging opponents on trip to Manitoba

Nov 27, 2021 | 12:00 PM

The province of Manitoba might present one of the toughest dual threats in the Western Hockey League at the moment, and the Prince Albert Raiders are rolling through right at a time when both teams are flying high.

Tonight, the Raiders will face the Brandon Wheat Kings in Brandon before travelling to Winnipeg to face the ICE, who are (ironically) the hottest team in the Canadian Hockey League at the moment. Both games should be tough tests for them.

When the Raiders last saw the Wheat Kings, health was their biggest obstacle as many of their players were unavailable for part or all of the weekend series between the two teams. Though the Raiders took three of a possible four points from that series, they’ll have a much healthier opponent tonight and a much more confident one as the Wheat Kings have won three games in a row and scored 19 goals in those three games.

While the Wheat Kings have several potent offensive threats, the most dangerous by far has been captain Ridly Greig. The Ottawa first-rounder posted a hat trick against the Medicine Hat Tigers last night and now has 12 goals and 23 points in just 14 games. Marcus Kallionkieli and Nolan Ritchie are also over a point per game, something that, at the moment, no Raider player can boast.

In terms of sheer offence, however, it’s clearly tomorrow night’s opponent that poses the biggest threat, perhaps bigger than any other team in junior hockey. The ICE have all three of the league’s top three scorers in Matthew Savoie, Connor McClennon, and Mikey Milne, who are also the only players in the league with more than 30 points.

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Depth isn’t exactly in short supply for Winnipeg either, as eight players have more than a point-per-game this season. While one of those eight, Zachary Benson, is away at the Capital City Prospects Challenge (as is Raider Harrison Lodewyk), the ICE retain the deepest offensive roster in the league and possibly in the entire CHL.

The Raiders haven’t seen the ICE since an 8-0 loss in Winnipeg early in the season, but in that game they did not have Kaiden Guhle on the back end, and Nolan Allan was getting into his very first game of the season. Also at the time, the Raiders did not have Tyson Laventure, Sloan Stanick, or Vladislav Shilo up front.

Coming into the weekend, the hottest Raider from an offensive standpoint is Hayden Pakkala he had three goals in his last five games before the loss to Moose Jaw, and appeared to add a fourth only to have it waived off for a high stick. A call which the video review overturned. Pakkala was originally acquired from the ICE before the season began.

Tonight’s game will begin at 7:00 p.m. Saskatchewan time, while a rare Sunday affair in Winnipeg will take place at 5:00 p.m. Tonight’s game will be on CKBI, while tomorrow’s will air on 101.5 Beach Radio.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow