Former Raider captain Nolan Allan rips a shot from the top of the left circle in a game versus the Everett Silvertips on Nov. 5, 2022. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Cross-Border battles

Raiders set to welcome pair of American opponents

Oct 4, 2024 | 12:00 PM

With the annual trip out west coming next weekend where they’ll take on the five teams in B.C., the Prince Albert Raiders are getting set to take on two American opponents starting Friday against the Everett Silvertips and the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday.

Starting with tonight’s action against Everett, the Silvertips come in with a 2-1 record with all three games they’ve played being high scoring affairs, averaging about 5.7 goals per game. In their lone loss to the Vancouver Giants to open the season, the Silvertips still put up three goals, while in games against Portland and Kelowna saw Everett score eight and six goals.

The Silvertips are yet to play on the road this year, and they make their first stop of a six game stretch through Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Prince Albert tonight. Carter Bear currently leads the Silvertips in scoring with 2G-4A-6P in three games, followed by Tyler MacKenzie 3G-2A-5P with and Anahiem Ducks draft pick Tarin Smith 1G-4A-5P who has only played two games.

On special teams, the Silvertips are sitting at an even 25% on the powerplay, good for a tie for eighth in the league with the Kelowna Rockets. On the penalty kill, they’re sitting ninth in the league, tied with the Victoria Royals at 81.2%.

In goal, the Silvertips have started Jesse Sanche twice and Alex Garrett once. Sanche is 1-1 on the season with a save percentage sitting at .897%, while Garrett is 1-0 with a .842%.

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The Spokane Chiefs on the other hand currently sit at a 3-1 record through four games with an overtime win and a loss to the fifth ranked in the CHL Prince George Cougars, along with a win on the road over the Wenatchee Wild and a loss at home to the Tri-City Americans. The Chiefs are averaging about 3.75 goals per game, with their biggest offensive effort coming in their 6-3 win in Wenatchee.

The Chiefs have two home games this weekend against the likes of the Kelowna Rockets and Seattle Thunderbirds before they make the trip to Prince Albert Wednesday. The Chiefs are lead by Shea Van Olm who currently has 3G-3A-6P in four games for his squad, followed by Stockholm, Sweden import Rasmus Ekstrom with 3G-2A-5P so far this year, and another four players behind him with three points.

Looking at the powerplay, the Chiefs are operating at 16.7% which puts them in a tie for 11th in the league with the Seattle Thunderbirds. Shorthanded, the Chiefs are sitting 17th in the league at 76.5%.

As for goaltenders, the Chiefs have split their time between three goalies, with Dawson Gowan playing two games while Carter Esler has played one, and Cooper Michaluk played one game against the Prince George Cougars before being traded to that Cougars team. Gowan has two wins and a .942% save percentage, while Esler is 0-1 with a .919%.

As for the Raiders, they come into tonight’s action having lost their last two games to the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Swift Current Broncos, and the second period has been the big issue for the Raiders so far. The Raiders have been outscored in the second period in every game so far this year except the loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings where they tied 1-1, overall being outscored 8-2 in the middle frame. Compare that to the first and third periods, the Raiders are outscoring their opponents 6-4 and 5-3.

The Raiders are lead by Aiden Oiring whose three points in the first period against the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday rockets him up to top of the Raiders scorers with 1G-4A-5P, followed by Niall Crocker with 1G-3A-4P, and finally Oli Chenier 2G-1A-3P.

The Raiders special teams numbers don’t tell the story of how good they have been at times. The Raiders penalty kill is operating at a league 18th 70%, but their problem hasn’t been the penalty kill itself and moreso the league fourth 60 penalty minutes they’ve acquired so far. As for the powerplay, it sits 19th in the league at 12.5%, but they have been moving the puck well and generating chances.

In goal, Max Hildebrand has started three games for the Raiders and has posted a .888 save percentage so far, while Cooper Anderson was pulled in his first start for the Raiders against the Swift Current Broncos and has posted a .773%.

The Raiders drop the puck for Hockey Fights Cancer night against the Everett Silvertips at 7:00pm tonight, while they’ll wait until Wednesday to take on the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday. Both games will be on 900 CKBI with Nick Nielsen with the pregame show starting at 6:30pm, and puck drop at 7:00pm.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com