Raiders forward Cale Sanders dives to keep a puck alive, and deliver a lead pass to Keaton Sorensen. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D’Andrea

Colonel Sanders and Landon Klosior

Sanders starts with toque tosser, Kosior closes with key block and SO winner vs. Hitmen

Dec 11, 2021 | 10:31 PM

Colonel Cale Sanders stole the show early for the Prince Albert Raiders, while Landon ‘the closer’ Kosior was clutch late to help the Raiders to a 4-3 shootout win over the Calgary Hitmen Saturday night, at the Art Hauser Centre.

Sanders scored the Toque and Mitt Toss goal just 4:16 into the game, taking the puck out of a neutral zone pile, heading to the right faceoff circle, and giving Hitmen goaltender Ethan Buenaventura no chance to save his perfectly placed wrist shot.

The charity gift tosses around the holiday season have been a good recent trend in late, and the goal scorer who triggers all the toques and teddies to be tossed to the ice is celebrated. But Sanders didn’t realize the toss game was Saturday until he saw the Hauser crowd chucking toques over the glass.

“Honestly, I forgot about it. But when I scored, I said ‘well, I guess I scored it,” Sanders said.

After Riley Fiddler-Schultz tied the game for the Hitmen with his 13^th goal of the season already, Sanders was back at it again. He dove to keep an offensive possession alive, and while on his belly, Sanders managed to supply Keaton Sorensen with a lead pass to beat his defender, who then slid it over to new captain Reece Vitelli for the 2-1 goal.

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The Hitmen would come out the better team in the second period, as they won the period 2-0 to take a narrow 3-2 lead into the third period. Oliver Tulk won a battle in front of the Raiders’ goal, 2:03 into the second frame. Then Keagan Slaney scored on a point shot with traffic in front. Hitmen forward Brandon Whynott collided with Tikhon Chaika on Slaney’s goal, but the referees allowed the goal as he was pushed in by Raider Tyson Laventure.

Sorensen would score the lone goal of the third period, tipping home a Remy Aquilon point shot to tie it up and force overtime. Although he did not get a point on the goal, Evan Herman was a terror on the shift. He was sprung on a breakaway and required a great save from Buenaventura, then hit the crossbar moments before Sorensen’s equalizer.

“We know we didn’t have our best game out there, but we did crawl back in the third, outbattled them. We had to get a goal and we did,” Sanders said.

The following 3-on-3 overtime somehow solved nothing, in large part to Landon Kosior. As seconds were ticking down in the extra frame, Keagan Slaney popped up from the Hitmen bench and headed unmarked to the high slot. With Chaika out of position, Slaney shot at the net but Kosior lunged in front to make a game-saving block and force a shootout.

“I just saw the puck in front and seen a guy all alone. I knew there wasn’t much time left, so I just gave it everything I could to block it,” Kosior said.

the game went to a shootout. Ozzy Wiesblatt scored in the second round, on a low shot on the glove side. Kosior was put out after Wiesblatt to seal it, despite never having a shootout attempt in his 110-game WHL career. Kosior’s shot was very similar to Wiesblatt’s and it worked to seal the game and give the Raiders a 4-3 victory.

“I saw Ozzy kind of do the same thing, so I went up there with the mindset of it is was open, I’d take that,” Kosior said. “I was excited. Anytime you’re relied on by your coach like that, it’s exciting and I wanted to make the most of it. I took it as confidence as made a good shot.”

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid has been impressed with Kosior’s progression, as he’s taken a very big leap in a short period of time.

“He’s been good. There was a time when all of a sudden, the light switch went on for him. He laughs about it, he agrees, but he’s a really prominent player now, not [just] for the team, but for the league. He’s a good two-way player, he’s smart, he makes good passes and his defensive game has come quite a bit. He’s a really important guy.”

Good response

The win over the Hitmen (11-9-2-2) is a big result for the Raiders, (10-13-1-1), especially after Friday’s disappointing 5-2 defeat to the Regina Pats. Habscheid challenged his team, especially his veterans, who came through on Saturday.

“Yesterday, I thought our older players weren’t very good, they were much better tonight. They competed tonight. I thought we were structurally better in some areas, cheated in some areas, but we’re going to be a work in progress,” Habscheid said. “We’re making changes and we’re in a transitional state. When you make changes, everything’s going to be moving around and you’re going to have moving parts. It’s a battle to get everybody on the same page, but we’re stubborn. We’re going to do it the Raider way.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Cale Sanders (unassisted), 4:16

1-1, Hitmen, Riley Fiddler-Schultz from Sean Tschigerl and Keagan Slaney, 7:01

2-1, Raiders, Reece Vitelli from Keaton Sorensen and Cale Sanders, 9:45

Second Period

2-2, Hitmen, Oliver Tulk from Anton Astashevic, 2:03

3-2, Hitmen, Keagan Slaney from Blake Allan and Mason Finley, 5:14

Third Period

3-3, Raiders, Keaton Sorensen from Remy Aquilon and Landon Kosior, 11:44

Overtime

No scoring.

Shootout

Round 1. P.A. Sloan Stanick, no goal. CAL, Cael Zimmerman, no goal

Round 2. P.A. Ozzy Wiesblatt, goal. CAL, Adam Kydd, no goal

Round 3. P.A. Landon Kosior, winning goal.

Up next

The Raiders will play the best-ranked team in the CHL in the Winnipeg ICE on Tuesday at the Art Hauser Centre. The Raiders will then take on the Saskatoon Blades for a home-and-home series on the weekend, hosting them at the Hauser on Friday before a Saturday rematch at the SaskTel Centre.

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Jeff.dandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW