Raiders forward Evan Herman celebrates his second goal in Tuesday's game against the Hurricanes. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Raiders Hockey

Raiders’ Herman scores twice, Chaika with shutout in win over Hurricanes

Mar 8, 2022 | 9:53 PM

Ever since the Prince Albert Raiders sat down together and officially made the proclamation they were going to play relentless, playoff-style hockey for the remainder of the season, they haven’t suffered a loss.

They won their third straight game, 4-0 over the Lethbridge Hurricanes Tuesday at the Art Hauser Centre. Evan Herman scored twice, as he reclaimed the Raiders’ lead for goals with 21. Landon Kosior got his 15^th, while Sloan Stanick scored his 17^th of the season. Tikhon Chaika stopped all 23 shots he faced, giving him his second WHL career shutout.

With the win, the Raiders are now within two points of the Hurricanes, who are in seventh place in the WHL Eastern Conference.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was so pleased with how engaged his players were, he said he didn’t even need to be behind the bench.

“The leadership group has done a great job. Tonight, I could have sat in my office, really. They ran the bench. They ran everything. They checked one another, they were accountable, they were in-tune with the game,” Habscheid said. “It was a good game. I thought the guys did a good job, and like I said, they were into it mentally.”

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The Raiders were certainly fired up for the game, just 3:25 into the contest. Sloan Stanick converted on a back-door feed from Reece Vitelli just 73 seconds into the game, before Evan Herman beat Hurricanes goaltender Bryan Thomson through his legs for the early lead. Thomson was then promptly pulled from the Hurricanes goal after surrendering two goals on two shots, replaced by Jared Picklyk.

In the second period, the Raiders scored as many goals as the Hurricanes managed shots—two. Evan Herman ripped in his second goal of the game, a rocketing one-timer at the end of the power play, 4:13 into the frame. Landon Kosior then slotted in his 15^th goal of the season, as he looks to become just the fourth Raiders defenceman with 20 goals in a season.

With Evan Herman’s second-period power-play goal, that made it the fifth straight game where the Raiders have scored with the man-advantage, and sixth of their last seven games. The Raiders are 6-21 in that span, 28.5 per cent.

“I think we just brought it upon ourselves, we talked as a group that we needed to be better,” Herman said. “We’ve been tipping a few on the power and shutting it down on the PK, which is just as important. Everyone’s been stepping up to the challenge here and we’re doing good now.”

Game Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Sloan Stanick from Reece Vitelli and Ozzy Wiesblatt, 1:13

2-0, Raiders, Evan Herman from Keaton Sorensen and Tayem Gislason, 3:25

Second Period

3-0, Raiders, Evan Herman from Carson Latimer and Remy Aquilon (power play), 4:13

4-0, Raiders, Landon Kosior from Keaton Sorensen and Reece Vitelli, 11:24

Third Period

No scoring.

Raids and Blades coming right up

The Raiders will take on the Saskatoon Blades for a pair of games this weekend. They’ll host the Blades at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday, before heading down to the SaskTel Centre on Saturday.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW