Former Rebel Evan Smith carries the puck for the Raiders, while former Raider Doogan Pederson gives chase earlier this season. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Alberta Swing

Battle for East Division rages on as Raiders continue road trip

Mar 14, 2025 | 10:49 AM

With a three game losing streak, the Prince Albert Raiders are now behind both Saskatoon and Brandon for that top spot in the East Division. Time is ticking down but the opportunity to climb those standings is still there with road games against the Red Deer Rebels on Friday and the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday.

The Green and Gold have lost their last three games in regulation, most recently a heartbreaker in Lethbridge on Wednesday 5-3 where the Raiders only trailed for 31 seconds. In their last seven games, the Raiders have one win, two losses in overtime, and four losses in regulation.

Friday vs. Red Deer

The Raiders first take on the Red Deer Rebels on Friday, which will be the second time in eight games the Raiders play an opponent that there isn’t a chance of playing in the first round of playoffs. The Raiders are 2-1 over the Rebels this season; the Rebels won the first matchup 3-2 in December in Prince Albert, but the Raiders have won the last two: 3-0 in Red Deer and 3-1 in Prince Albert – both in the month of January.

The Rebels, on the other hand, have been surging after a 13 game losing streak through late December and most of January. Since then, the Rebels have won 12 of their last 19 games, and they’ve won their last three games: 3-2 at home over Swift Current at home, and then road wins earlier this week 6-4 over Moose Jaw and 3-2 over Swift Current again. The Rebels need to win all five of their remaining games and need Swift Current to lose all five of theirs to make the playoffs.

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The Raiders have now dropped down to seventh in the Eastern Conference and third in the East Division this week with their record sitting at 34-23-5-1 (W-L-OTL-SOL) on the year.

As for the Rebels, they are 10 points behind Swift Current for the last spot in the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Their record sits at 26-30-5-2.

The Raiders have now scored 235 goals on the season, good for an average of 3.7 goals per game. On the other hand, the Raiders have given up 218 goals against this year, good for a difference of +17 on the year.

The Rebels are the second lowest scoring team in the league with only 165 goals for this year, only ahead of the Regina Pats. They are averaging 2.6 goals per game, and with 220 goals against the Rebels are operating at a -55 differential.

As for special teams, the Raiders are still second in the league on the powerplay with a 28.2 per cent success rate. The penalty kill has dropped down to second last in the league at 72.6 per cent, just 0.1 per cent behind Regina.

The Rebels powerplay is dead last in the league at 16.3 per cent. The Rebels have sit as the fifth worst penalty kill in the league at 73.2 per cent.

Leading the scoring race for the Raiders is Tomas Mrsic with 32G-52A-84P, good for 11th in the league. Aiden Oiring leads the league in both faceoffs taken and won by over 100. He sits second in Raiders scoring with 25G-52A-77P on the year. Lukas Dragicevic is third in scoring for the Raiders with 16G-52A-68P, now tied for second amongst defencemen in the league.

Despite eight different players with a point on Wednesday in Lethbridge, the Raiders don’t currently have anyone with points in consecutive games.

The Rebels scoring leader is former Swift Current Bronco Ty Coupland with 15G-21A-36P on the year. After that is captain Ollie Josephson with 13G-21A-34P, and Matthew Gard with 16G-17A-33P.

Ollie Josephson has been hot in the last two games with 3G-3A in that time, including his first career hat trick. Jake Missura has an assist in each of his last three games with 0G-3A. Russian import Gleb Semenov has 0G-2A in his last two games.

In goal, Max Hildebrand’s save percentage stayed at 0.916 sits second in the league (although he’s played 30 more games than Everett’s Raiden LeGall), but his record of 29-16-5-0 has him third in league wins. Backing him up is Dimitri Fortin with a record of 6-7-0-1 and a save percentage of 0.886 on the season.

Chase Wutzke’s stats don’t show how good he’s been this season with a save percentage at 0.896 and a record of 17-23-4-1 on the year. Peyton Shore is their backup with a save percentage of 0.885 and a record of 7-5-0-0 on the year.

Saturday @ Edmonton

Saturday’s matchup is against the Edmonton Oil Kings who sit tied with the Raiders in the standings at 74 points. In the other three matchups this season, the Raiders won the first 4-1 on home ice in November, and again on the road 5-2 in December, but the Oil Kings won by another 5-4 score in early January.

The Oil Kings have played five games since the last matchup with the Raiders, most recently losing at home on Wednesday against the Calgary Hitmen 3-2. Before that, the Oil Kings had two wins in a row 3-2 over Swift Current and 6-3 over Kelowna also at home, but then a 3-2 loss to Brandon at home, and finally a 5-3 loss in Saskatoon.

The Oil Kings are averaging just over 3.6 goals per game this season with 233 goals for, and solid goaltending has kept them to only 198 goals against. That works out to a +35 differential.

On special teams, the Oil Kings powerplay is sitting 11th in the league at 24.2 per cent, tied with Wenatchee. On the penalty kill, the Oil Kings are third in the league at 81.9 per cent, just 0.2 per cent behind the top spot in the league.

Leading the Oil Kings in scoring is Gracyn Sawchyn with 29G-46A-75P. Gavin Hodnett sits second on the team with 24G-38A-62P, and Adam Jecho sits third with 25G-27A-52P.

Blake Fiddler has 0G-2A in his last two games, and is the only Oil King with an active point streak.

Finally in goal, Alex Worthington has had the majority of the starts this season for the Oil Kings. He’s got a record of 21-17-0-2 on the year and a 0.902 save percentage. Ethan Simcoe has been splitting the starts since the end of December, he has three shutouts on the season and a 0.914 save percentage. His record sits at 12-5-1-0.

The Raiders drop the puck against the Edmonton Oil Kings on home ice Friday at 7 p.m., and then head on the road to take on the Swift Current Broncos at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be live on 900 CKBI and Brandt Raider Radio starting with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com