Ozzy Wiesblatt. (Submitted photo/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Jeff D’Andrea

The Wizard of Ozz

Wiesblatt shines in return to Raiders lineup in win over Warriors

Mar 4, 2022 | 10:02 PM

Ozzy Wiesblatt’s return to the Prince Albert Raiders lineup after a one-game suspension was one of his better games of the season, if not his best.

Wiesblatt scored his 10^th goal of the season and had two assists in the Raiders’ 5-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors Friday night at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw. Captain Reece Vitelli was the biggest beneficiary from Wiesblatt’s playmaking, as he scored on the power play and got an empty-net goal.

“[Wiesblatt] is a dynamic player, not only speed-wise, but hands-wise. Sometimes he ties himself up a little bit by overhandling the pucks a little bit in traffic,” Raiders assistant coach Jeff Truitt said. “You have to read plays better before you start getting into traffic, but I thought tonight, he did a much better job. He made more of an impact.”

The win is the Raiders’ 20^th of the season (20-28-2-1), and gives them 43 points on the season. They are tied with the Regina Pats for 10^th place in the WHL Eastern Conference and are four points back of seventh place in the crowded playoff race.

It certainly didn’t start at all how the Raiders would have wanted it to. The Warriors had a 2-0 lead before the midway point of the first period had passed. Just 96 seconds into the game, Riley Niven’s shot took a deflection off of a Raider defender to get ahead early before Calder Anderson scored his first goal of the season on a nice tic-tac-toe play.

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But the Raiders would go on to score four consecutive goals, as Carson Latimer would pounce on a rebound to make it a 2-1 game heading into the second period. That set up the Raiders to take over the game in the second period, with Reece Vitelli scoring on the power play after a beautiful, blind pass from a falling Ozzy Wiesblatt at the five-minute mark of the second period. Wiesblatt would then score one himself, changing direction in the slot and scoring. Hayden Pakkala would rip one blocker side late in the frame to give the Raiders a 4-2 advantage heading into the third period.

The Warriors would make the game interesting in the third when Eric Alarie scored 4:03 into the frame, but the Raiders were able to shut the door for the rest of the period. Reece Vitelli would score on the empty net, with some help from Ozzy Wiesblatt.

With his two goals, Vitelli takes the Raider lead in goals and is the first to make it to the 20-goal milestone. Truitt said that is somewhat surprising that Vitelli leads in that department.

“We knew that he had a lot of speed and we knew he could skate, we knew he could probably contribute to secondary [scoring], but if you’d ask me personally, I didn’t think he was going to lead our team, I thought he was going to be a secondary guy,” Truitt said. “He’s a 20-year-old guy, and we talked to him after he was done in Tuscon’s camp in the American League, he said emphatically that he wanted to come back and lead this team. Good for him. That’s been an evolution of Reece over the last little while.”

Game Summary

First Period

1-0, Warriors, Riley Niven from Atley Calvert and Jagger Firkus, 1:36

2-0, Warriors, Calder Anderson from Lucas Brenton and Denton Mateychuk, 9:29

2-1, Raiders, Carson Latimer from Keaton Sorensen and Nolan Allan, 13:30

Second Period

2-2, Raiders, Reece Vitelli from Ozzy Wiesblatt and Nolan Allan (power play), 4:37

3-2, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt (unassisted), 7:56

4-2, Raiders, Hayden Pakkala from Landon Kosior, 19:11

Third Period

4-3, Warriors, Eric Alarie from Atley Calvert, 4:03

5-3, Raiders, Reece Vitelli from Ozzy Wiesblatt (empty net), 19:02

Up next

The Raiders will host the Winnipeg ICE at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday night. The game will be the first home contest for the Raiders, after playing five consecutive games on the road.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW