Aiden Oiring tries to pick the puck up around Marcus Pacheco of the Tigers on a faceoff. (Medicine Hat Tigers)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders lose 7-4

Raiders Alberta road swing starts with loss in Medicine Hat

Jan 9, 2025 | 6:36 AM

After a busy start that saw the Prince Albert Raiders play six games in nine days coming out of Christmas, a rested and slightly revamped Raiders squad went on the road Wednesday to take on the Medicine Hat Tigers. In the first game of three in Alberta, the Raiders started slow and the Tigers took a 7-4 win.

The Tigers started the scoring on a 3-on-1 tic-tac-toe play that ended with Hunter St. Martin tapping the puck in at 4:42.

Then we saw the Tigers scored twice in the span of 10 seconds. It started at the 10:19 mark on the powerplay when Jonas Woo found a seam down the right side of the slot and fired to score. Then at 10:29, Misha Volotovskii drove the net and caused a ruckus, giving Kadon McCann a chance to find the rebound and score.

The Tigers run continued at 12:46 when McCann took the puck at centre and worked down the left side, firing a surprise shot on goal for his second of the game.

In the final minute, the Raiders captain got them on the board. With play at 4-on-4, Rilen Kovacevic earned his first point for the Raiders when he fed the puck back to the point for Lukas Dragicevic, and he fed the left side of Justice Christensen into the back of the net for his 10th of the season.

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After 1: Raiders 1 – 4 Tigers, shots 18-5 Tigers

With 4-on-4 still in effect to start the second, the Tigers scored again when Bryce Pickford fired through traffic from the blueline at the 0:31 mark.

Then at 13:08, the Tigers on the powerplay managed to set up Gavin McKenna at the goal line for a one-timer in tight, making it 6-1 and ending Max Hildebrand’s night.

From there, the Raiders found some push back that started at the 18:15 mark. Daxon Rudolph took the puck on the right side of the blueline and he waited for a seam to form through the slot. Once it did, Rudolph put a pass on the tape for Riley Boychuk, and he scored his fifth of the season.

Then at the 19:15 mark, Lukas Dragicevic held the puck in on the right point, and with pressure coming he put a shot towards the net through a screen. The puck got lost in the traffic, and Dragicevic scored his eighth of the season.

After 2: Raiders 3 – 6 Tigers, shots 14-11 Tigers, 22-16 Tigers overall

Justice Christensen scored his second of the night to show some fight for the Raiders. Riley Boychuk went into the zone 1-on-5 while his teammates changed but he had a look at the net, and used the space instead to kill time for the Raiders to finish a change. Boychuk then found Christensen streaking in from the point, and he blasted a shot home to get the Raiders back within two.

The Raiders fought hard in the last ten minutes of the game, but the Tigers found the empty net at 18:22 with a goal from Ryder Ritchie.

FINAL: Raiders 4 – 7 Tigers, shots 12-8 Tigers, 44-24 Tigers overall

The loss marks the first time the Raiders have dropped two games in a row since October 19 at the end of the B.C. road trip.

Raiders are back in action on Friday when they take on the Edmonton Oil Kings.

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