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Niall Crocker celebrates scoring his first goal of the season in the home opener against the Regina Pats. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders.)
Raiders on seven game point streak

Raiders get chance for revenge with midweek matchup against Regina

Jan 29, 2025 | 11:13 AM

With the return of Raiders Head Coach Jeff Truitt, the Prince Albert Raiders have their full roster both on the ice and on the bench as they get set to take on the Regina Pats Wednesday night. The Raiders are already on a seven-game point streak coming into the game with six wins and a single shootout loss, and that lone blemish is against the Pats on Saturday.

The Raiders are coming off of their only three games in three night stretch of the season, winning 6-3 at home against Saskatoon, then that 3-2 loss in the shootout on Saturday, and finally a 4-3 overtime win on Sunday in Saskatoon. The other four games in this point streak have seen the Raiders win 3-1 over Red Deer, 7-1 over Swift Current, 5-4 over Portland, and 3-0 against Red Deer that started off the whole streak.

This season the Raiders have met the Pats five times already. The Pats won the home opener in Prince Albert in overtime 3-2, the Raiders won the next two games in Regina 5-1 and 4-3 in overtime, then another Raider win at home 5-0, and finally that most recent 3-2 shootout loss on Saturday in Regina.

For the Pats, the haven’t played since Saturday. Before that though, they had lost their last four in a row to Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, and Calgary on the road as well as a home loss to Edmonton. In their last 10 games, the Pats are 4-6, but they’ve had three games go to overtime or a shootout and won all three.

The Raiders took the top spot in the East Division on the weekend with a record of 25-15-3-1 (W-L-OTL-SOL), bringing them to 54 points on the year, four games in hand and 10 points back of the Eastern Conference leading Medicine Hat Tigers. As for the Pats, their record sits at 13-26-4-2 for 32 points, only ahead of Moose Jaw in last place.

Looking at goal scoring numbers, the Raiders have the third most goals for in the Eastern Conference with 172 goals for, good for an average of 3.9 goals per game. The Raiders have given up 161 goals against on the season, bringing their goal differential to the highest it’s been on the season at +11 goals.

For the Pats, they have 124 goals this season and have given up 189, meaning they’ve scored 65 less goals than their opponents this year. They’ve averaged just under 2.8 goals per game.

The Raiders powerplay is back at the top of the league standings, tied for first at 28.8 per cent with Spokane although the Raiders have had less powerplay advantages. The penalty kill on the other hand is still sitting second last in the league at 71.1 per cent.

The Pats powerplay found a goal against the Raiders on Saturday despite sitting third last in the league at 16.6 per cent. On the penalty kill, the Pats sit just ahead of the Raiders at third last in the league, or 71.6 per cent.

With six points in the three game weekend, Tomas Mrsic leads the Raiders in scoring with 28G-37A-65P on the year, and he does have a challenger tying him for the league lead in powerplay goals at 14. Aiden Oiring sits second after three points this weekend, bringing his season total to 19G-42A-61P. Lukas Dragicevic sits third with 10G-40A-50P so far this season.

Daxon Rudolph’s 12 game point streak is the longest by a rookie all season long with 2G-13A in that time. Mrsic’s six points in three game weekend is part of a larger streak at six games and 5G-8A. Brayden Dube is on a three game point streak after the weekend with 2G-2A.

Looking at the Pats, Julien Maze leads the way with 9G-25A-34P on the year, and another former Everrett Silvertip Caden Brown sits second with 15G-13A-28P. Defenceman John Babcock sits third with 1G-18A-19P.

The Pats have three players on streaks. Cameron Kuzma has 1G-2A in his last three games. Maze is also on a three game steak with 0G-4A in that time. Keets Fawcett scored a goal against the Raiders to have 1G-1A in his last two games.

Max Hildebrand will likely be the starter for the Raiders who still sits second in league save percentage with a 0.913 on the season, third in wins with a record of 21-9-3-0 on the year, and tied for second in league shutouts with two. Dimitri Fortin will backup once again with a 0.883 save percentage on the year and a record of 5-6-0-1 on the year.

Kelton Pyne is the likely starter for the Pats, he made some fantastic saves in overtime during Saturday’s game. He has a record of 10-16-3-2 on the year and a save percentage of 0.885 and a single shutout this year. Ewan Huet is their backup, he has a record of 3-8-1-0 and a save percentage at 0.878.

The Raiders drop the puck for the rematch with the Regina Pats for the sixth of eight times this season Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 900 CKBI with the pregame show beginning at 6:30 p.m.

nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com