Ty Sobry battles with a Regina Pats forward Sam Oremba during the season opener between the Raiders and Pats. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

On the road to regina

Raiders ready for rematch with Regina

Oct 30, 2024 | 9:30 AM

The Prince Albert Raiders found their way back into the win column during Friday night’s action against the Seattle Thunderbirds, and now they’re looking to avenge their first loss of the season. For the first time in eight games, the Raiders will take on a fellow Eastern Conference battle against the Regina Pats. The two teams went to overtime in their matchup that opened the season where the Pats took the win.

The Raiders have played just one game at home since their five game road swing through B.C., and the Raiders win over Seattle has brought them out of dead last and into second last in the league and Eastern Conference, only ahead of the Moose Jaw Warriors.

As for the Regina Pats, they sit at 5-6-1 on the season through their first 12 games, just ahead of the Raiders as the ninth place team in the East. The Pats have lost their last two games, 5-1 on the road against Medicine Hat in their most recent game, then 3-1 at home against Calgary. The last win for the Pats came against the Seattle Thunderbirds where the Pats won 8-0 at home.

The Pats have only given up four more goals than they’ve scored, scoring 34 and giving up 38. Overall, Regina is scoring about 2.8 goals per game. The Raiders have scored 38, but that loss to Vancouver at the end of their B.C. road swing has the goals against looking much worse with 54 against for a -16 differential. On the season the Raiders are scoring 3.1 goals per game, but are up to 3.8 in their last six games.

The Raiders powerplay has come alive since B.C., scoring twice in the game against Seattle to climb their ranking to 24.5 per cent and seventh in the league, and their penalty kill sits last in the league at 66.7 per cent. Regina will also have a powerplay to be reckoned with, sitting fourth in the league at 26.5 per cent despite having the smallest amount of powerplays in the league, but their penalty kill has been even better at 83.3 per cent for second in the league.

FSIN

Chief Bobby Cameron re-elected for fourth term as FSIN Chief

Oct 31, 2024

victim still sees no compensation

Sentencing issued in SaskPower vs. Blayne McKay

Oct 31, 2024

Economy

Economy stalled in August, Q3 growth looks to fall short of Bank of Canada estimates

Oct 31, 2024

Niall Crocker’s four point night against Seattle has brought him to the top of Raiders scoring with 5G-10A-15P, followed by Aiden Oiring with 5G-8A-13P, and Tomas Mrsic sits third with 6G-6A-12P. Brayden Dube had a five game point streak snapped against Seattle but still has eight points in his last six games, and Ethan Bibeau was recently named in the NHL’s Central Scouting first list of the season with a W rank.

Zackary Shantz and Tye Spencer both sit at the top of the scoring with eight points each, and there’s a three way tie for third in team scoring between Tyson Buczkowski, Cole Temple, and Braxton Whitehead. Prince Albert’s Sportsman of the Year Tanner Howe has not played a game this season yet for the Pats. Temple was given a W rank as well in the NHL’s Central Scouting List, and Kolten Bridgeman was given a C.

Moving on to goaltending, Max Hildebrand looked more like himself against the Seattle Thunderbirds, stopping 33 of 36 shots to bring his save percentage back up to 0.892 and a 3-5-2 record. Cooper Anderson last played in the second half of the game against the Vancouver Giants, his save percentage shows 0.797 with a 0-2 record in three games played.

Finally getting to Regina’s goaltending, Kelton Pyne has a record of 4-3-1 through eight games played, and his 0.921 save percentage sits as third in the league. Ewan Huet has played in four games this year so far, earning a 0.880 save percentage and a 1-3 record.

The Raiders take on the Regina Pats at 7 p.m., and Nick Nielsen will have all the action for you on 900 CKBI with the pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m. joined by Kyle Kosowan tonight.

—

nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com