Weekend preview: Two Teddy Bear Tosses for Raiders against Calgary and Brandon

Scoring wise, the Raiders goals-per-game pace this season has stayed consistent at the 3.6 mark with 83 goals for in 23 games. The Raiders have also given up 88 goals on the season, good for a -5 differential.

As for the Hitmen, their offence has moved at a solid clip with a goals-per-game average around 3.8. They’ve scored 94 goals for and only given up 80 for a -14 differential.

On special teams, the Raiders had scored in 10 straight games on the powerplay before being stopped by Lethbridge on Saturday, and suddenly the best powerplay in the league has been held off the board in their last eight attempts in two games. Still, the Raiders powerplay sits top of the league at 28.3 per cent, while the penalty kill sits third last in the league at 72.1.

For the Hitmen, their powerplay is just below the middle of the league at 21.1 per cent, good for 14th in the league. Their penalty kill is in the same position, sitting 14th while operating at 76.7 per cent.

Aiden Oiring continues to lead the Raiders in scoring with 11G-23A-34P on the season, and his linemate Tomas Mrsic is right behind him with 17G-15A-32P. Lukas Dragicevic sits third with 1G-26A-27P on the year.

Although he wasn’t originally credited with one, a review of the goals scored gave Oiring an assist against Red Deer on Tuesday to extend his point streak to eight games with 5G-12A in that time. Tomas Mrsic also scored to keep his streak alive with 4G-3A in his last four, and Daxon Rudolph has an assist in each of his last two games. While he was held pointless two games ago to break up the streak, Dragicevic has four assists in his last four games. Luke Moroz is also starting to pick up the pace with 1G-2A in his last four games.

For the Hitmen, Ben Kindel has been leading the way with 15G-22A-37P on the year, followed by Oliver Turk with 12G-24A-36P. From there it’s a bit of a dropoff to third where Connor Hvidston sits with 6G-18A-24P.

Prince Albert Sportman of the Year Tanner Howe has been lighting things up since being acquired by Calgary, posting a hat trick in his last game and 3G-5A in the four games he’s worn the Hitmen sweater. Oliver Turk is the other hot streak for the Hitmen with at least one goal in each of his last six games for 7G-8A in six games. Ben Kindel has 2G-4A in his last three games, and Carson Wetsch comes in with 3G-1A in his last two games.

After taking two nights off for the first time this season, Max Hildebrand should be ready to go for the Raiders this weekend. His 0.906 save percentage sits sixth in the league with a record of 10-6-3 and one shutout on the year. Dimitri Fortin has had the last two starts for the Raiders with a season save percentage of 0.877 for a 2-3 record in six games. In his two starts as a Raider however, Fortin has been excellent with a 0.911 save percentage and a 1-1 record.

The Hitmen have been running with three rookie goaltenders this year with Eric Tu having the majority of playing time. He’s posted a save percentage at 0.885 with a 5-4-2-1 record. Kason Kobelka has a 2-0 record in three games, the third game being a loss he wasn’t credited for after coming into the action late, with a 0.897 save percentage. Anders Miller is a perfect 3-0 since joining the team with a 0.945 save percentage including a shutout on the year.

Now to Saturday’s matchup where the Raiders quickly head on the road to take on the Brandon Wheat Kings in their own Teddy Bear Toss for the third matchup of the season between the two teams. The last time the Raiders went to Brandon, they went down 3-0 in the second before battling back for a 5-4 overtime win. The Wheat Kings are one point ahead in the season series thanks to that overtime loss.

Ahead of Saturday’s action with the Raiders, the Wheat Kings are waiting to welcome the Red Deer Rebels the night before. The Wheat Kings are seventh in the Eastern Conference, only three points ahead of the Raiders, and the Raiders still have one extra game to play. The Wheat Kings are 12-8-3-1 through 24 games, and they are just coming off a 5-1 win over Edmonton.

Thanks to some of the best goaltending in the league, the Wheat Kings have 84 goals for but only 75 goals against, the least amount of goals against in the Eastern Conference. With a +9 goal differential, the Wheat Kings are scoring at exactly 3.5 goals per game.

The Wheat Kings powerplay has not had much success as of late, dropping down to 18.6 per cent on the season for the 18th spot in the league. On the penalty kill, the Wheat Kings are seventh in the league at an even 81 per cent.

With Roger McQueen injured and likely out for the season, the scoring leader for the Wheat Kings has been Marcus Nguyen with 13G-12A-25P on the year. He’s followed by Dominik Petr at 6G-15A-21P, and rookie Jaxon Jacobson rounds out the top three with 5G-16A-21P.

In goal, the Wheat Kings have one of the best goaltending tandems in the league between Carson Bjarnason and Ethan Eskit. Bjarnason has been in 14 games this year, posting 6-6-2 record with a 0.913 save percentage that has him tied for third in the league. Eskit is right behind him in fifth with a 0.907 in ten games, good for a 6-2-1-1 record.

The Raiders are at home on Friday night against the Calgary Hitmen starting at 7:00 p.m., and then again on the road for Saturday against the Brandon Wheat Kings at the same time. You can catch all the action on 900 CKBI starting with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

Weekend preview: Two Teddy Bear Tosses for Raiders against Calgary and Brandon

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