Raiders forward Riley Boychuk battles for a puck with Pats defenceman Jonas Kohn during the Raiders 6-5 win on October 17. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Second half of the season

Weekend Preview: Raiders open 2026 with home and home double header against Pats

Jan 2, 2026 | 10:55 AM

In their last three games, the Prince Albert Raiders have outscored their opponents 23-4 and earned back-to-back wins. The last team to beat the Raiders was the Regina Pats, and the Raiders will be out for revenge when they host on Friday, followed up by the rematch in Regina on Saturday.

This is the fourth game of the season between the Raiders and the Pats, and the Raiders are 2-1 against them so far this season. The Raiders won the first two games of the year, 6-4 in Regina on Sept. 26, and 6-5 in Prince Albert on Oct. 17. In the most recent matchup, the Pats took the win 5-4 on Dec. 17.

For the Raiders, the start of the New Year lines up with the start of the second half of the season, 24 games played and 34 left to go.

The team has a record of 25-5-4 (wins-losses-overtime Losses) on the year to sit in a tie for second in the Eastern Conference with the Edmonton Oil Kings. They are one point behind the Medicine Hat Tigers, but the Raiders have two games in hand over both of of their opponents.

The Raiders have been one of the hottest teams in the league lately, with eight wins in their last nine games. Most recently, that’s been a pair of wins over Swift Current 8-0 and 7-1, and an 8-3 win over Kelowna before that lone blemish of a 5-4 loss to Regina mentioned earlier.

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That Pats sit eighth in the Eastern Conference and in the last playoff spot with a 11-18-5 record. They sit a full three points ahead of Red Deer in ninth, but five points behind Moose Jaw ahead of them.

Since beating the Raiders four games ago, the Pats have lost their last three, 5-4 in overtime to Moose Jaw, 4-0 to Saskatoon, and another loss to Saskatoon 3-2 in overtime.

The Raiders special teams have been on fire lately. Going 11/17 in their last three games, the Raiders powerplay is now tied for fourth in the league at 29.2 per cent. The Raiders are also a perfect 8/8 on the penalty kill in their last three games, bringing them into a tie for 10th in the league at 77.9 per cent.

As for the Pats, their powerplay sits 10th in the league at 27.5 per cent, but their penalty kill sits 18th in the league at 71.3 per cent.

Coming into the game, there’s now a tie at the top of the Raiders’ scoring between Brandon Gorzynski with 16G-22A-38P and Aiden Oiring with 15G-23A-38P. Riley Boychuk sits third with 7G-30A-37P, and defenceman Daxon Rudolph sits fourth with 17G-19A-36P.

The Raiders have 11 different players coming into the weekend with points in consecutive games.

• Daxon Rudolph has the longest at 10 games with 10G-8A in the month of December
• Brayden Dube has 3G-6A in his last seven games
• Riley Boychuk has 2G-9A in his last six games
• Brandon Gorzynski has 5G-8A in his last six games, including 3G-6A and a hat trick in the four games since joining the Raiders
• Justice Christensen has 4G-4A in his last five games
• Jonah Sivertson has 3G-3A in his last four games
• Oli Chenier has 2G-2A in his last four games
• Aiden Oiring has 2G-4A in his last three games
• Maddix McCagherty has 1G-4A in his last three games
• Max Heise has 1G-3A in his last two games
• Alisher Sarkenov has 2G-1A in his last two games since his return to the Raiders from team Kazakhstan

As for the Pats, Caden Brown leads the team in scoring with 19G-12A-31P on the year. After that there’s a tie for second between Keets Fawcett with 18G-11A-29P and Zach Lansard with 13G-16A-29P. Ephram McNutt sits fourth with 6G-19A-25P.

Because they were shutout two games ago, the only Regina Pat who has an active point streak is Keets Fawcett who played his first game in a month on New Years Day. He has 3G-1A in his last four games.

On to goaltending, this will be the last weekend the Raiders go without the likes of Michal Orsulak at the World Juniors. Dimitri Fortin is 4-1 in his partner’s absence, and on the season Fortin boasts a record of 12-2-1 along with a 0.881 save percentage, a 3.06 goals against average, and a shutout on the year.

Steele Bass is coming off of his first career shutout, and he’s a perfect 3-0 on the year with a 0.906 save percentage with a 1.67 goals against average.

As for the Pats, they’ve been running with the pair of Marek Schlenker and Matthew Hutchison. Schlenker has the majority of the starts with a 7-9-4 record, a 0.888 save percentage, and a 3.82 goals against average.

As for Hutchison, he comes in with a 7-10 record, 0.872 save percentage, 4.40 goals against average, and Regina’s only shutout on the year.

The Raiders play host to the Pats on Friday, then head to Regina for the rematch on Saturday. Both games will be broadcast on 900 CKBI with puck drop at 7:00 p.m., and the pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com