In one of his best games as a Raider, Dimitri Fortin made 34 saves on 35 shots to help the Raiders earn a 2-1 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings. (Jillybean Photography/Brandon Wheat Kings)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders win 2-1

Defensive chess match sees Raiders open weekend with road win in Brandon

Nov 28, 2025 | 11:29 PM

With a full week off from their last game on home ice, the Prince Albert Raiders were on the road Friday night in a rematch with the Brandon Wheat Kings. After picking up the 4-1 win at home, the Raiders got locked in a goaltender battle with the Wheat Kings, and Raiders goaltender Dimitri Fortin came away with the 2-1 win.

After both teams traded powerplays in the first period, Raiders nabbed for too many men while the Wheat Kings Gunner Gleasman through a late interference hit. With the Raiders powerplay unsuccessful, the Wheat Kings used the momentum to strike first at the 14:20 mark when a shot from Dylan Ronald found a tip from Nick Johnson, beating Dimitri Fortin on a screen.

It took the Raiders 57 seconds to tie it up when Ty Meunier worked the puck out of the corner and found Evan Smith patrolling the middle of the blueline. Smith then sent the pass to the left, setting up Justice Christensen’s patented Juice Bomb onetimer that found the back of the net for his fifth of the season.

After 1: Raiders 1 – 1 Wheat Kings, shots 12-9 Wheat Kings

In the second period, it was the goaltenders that stole the show. On the Wheat Kings side, the Raiders held the Wheat Kings in their own zone for a full two minutes including a play where Christensen sent a shot off the back wall that came out the other side for Daxon Rudolph with an open net to shoot at, but Filip Ruzicka dove across for the highlight reel save.

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In goal for the Raiders, Dimitri was quietly excellent all night. He had one real highlight reel save where he had to kick across from his left to the right to deny a onetimer with the pad. The rest of the night though, he made tough saves look easy, and he controlled rebounds fantastically to the point that he never gave up a secondary chance that couldn’t be swept away by his defence.

At the end of the period, Justice Christensen was sent to the box for holding in the final four seconds to deny a breakaway chance, and that would give the Raiders a penalty kill to start the third.

After 2: Raiders 1 – 1 Wheat Kings, shots 12-12, 24-21 Wheat Kings overall

The Raiders managed to kill of the Christensen penalty well, and then Jonah Sivertson made the play of the game for the game winner. Connor Howe is credited with an assist, Sivertson did the rest himself when a Wheat King exiting his own zone collided with one of his own men. Sivertson then took the loose puck in from the blueline, dangled around an outstretched defender into the middle of the ice, then faked to his backhand to force a pokecheck from the goaltender, pulled it back to his forehand, and flew Bobby Orr style as he was tripped and tucked the puck into the net for his seventh of the season at 2:55.

The Raiders and Wheat Kings went back and forth for the rest of the game in a defensive battle, but the Raiders would keep the Wheat Kings at bay and come away with their fifth win in six games.

FINAL: Raiders 2 – 1 Wheat Kings, shots 14-11 Raiders, 35-35 overall

Dimitri Fortin picked up his first career win over the Wheat Kings in what was one of his best performances as a Raider. With 34 saves on 35 shots, he posted a 0.971 save percentage on the night, and never looked to be in trouble throughout the night.

Brock Cripps was assessed his first WHL penalty for hooking in the second period when Wheat Kings forward Prabh Bathal forced his way into the zone and kept his feet moving to draw the call. After Cripps’ penalty ended, Cripps drove up the ice and drew a similar call from Bathal, sending him the to box.

The Raiders are on the road home now where they will play host to the Medicine Hat Tigers.