Another big night for reigning WHL Rookie of the Week Ben Harvey as he posted two goals in Tuesday's 8-4 win over the Regina Pats. (Image Credit: Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders win 8-4

Consistant answers from Raiders offence earns win over Pats

Mar 18, 2026 | 12:51 AM

With three wins in a row banked up heading into the final week of the season, the Prince Albert Raiders were tied for the top spot in the Eastern Conference but had one game in hand to play. That game in hand came when the Raiders hosted the Regina Pats in a rematch from three days ago, and the Raiders swarming offence put together a big 8-4 win.

After being held without a goal for 59:10 on Saturday despite 53 shots on goal, the Raiders offence was rewarded early after a successful penalty kill after Ben Harvey went to the box for tripping. The Raiders penalty kill didn’t allow a shot, and just as the penalty was set to expire, Maddix McCagherty blocked a shot and quickly came possession to Benett Kelly. The penalty expired, the Pats had a defenceman make a bad change, and Kelly found Harvey alone at centre ice coming out of the box, and he scored the opener at 5:49 for his 13th of the season.

After that, the Raiders played a methodical first period against the Pats. Alisher Sarkenov generated a great chance off a feed from behind the goal line that glanced off the back of the goaltender and the post, but it stayed out. Aside from that, the Raiders killed a second penalty, but for the rest of the first period the Raiders played smothering defence while picking their spots offensively.

After 1: Raiders 1 – 0 Pats, shots 12-2 Raiders

The Pats came out to play in the second period, and they quickly pushed the Raiders back into their zone, putting up more shots in the first minute of the period than they did through the whole first. After a couple whistles though, the Raiders offence got a chance down the ice and quickly cycle the puck. Matyas Man end up swatting the puck off the goaltender’s pad, it came out to Braeden Cootes at the left circle, and he spun and fired a shot too quick to handle for his 23rd of the year at 2:26.

Raiders win 8-4

Consistant answers from Raiders offence earns win over Pats

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That didn’t stop the strong start to the period for the Pats, and Mathis Paull picked the pocket of a Raiders defenceman at the Raider blueline. That lead to a 2-on-1 as Paull walked in down the right side, but he decided to do it himself and fire a hard wrist shot to get the Pats on the board at 3:25.

The Raiders continued their swarm as the period went on, slowly taking more and more chances away before turning up the offence. At 8:23, Matyas Man picked up another assist after a shot on goal, and Maddix McCagherty picked up the rebound while working his way back towards the right side point. McCagherty made a give-and-go play with Riley Boychuk so McCagherty could work to the middle of the blueline, then fired on goal. That generated a rebound right to Boychuk streaking towards the net from the wall, and Boychuk had his 14th of the season at 8:23.

Then at 9:04, the Raiders scored again. Alisher Sarkenov came in down the right wall and passed to the middle for Braeden Cootes. He tried to move to the middle and lost the puck towards the slot, but Jonah Sivertson was behind Cootes supporting the puck and Sivertson quickly put the rebound up top for his 23rd of the season.

After 2: Raiders 4 – 1 Pats, shots 16-9 Raiders, 28-11 Raiders overall

Again the Pats came out strong in the third period, but this time they were rewarded first. At 1:11, a shot from the right point would bounce off the back wall towards the opposite side of the goal, and a stick would swat it to the slot where it pinballed around until Keets Fawcett managed to put it in off a Raiders defender.

The Pats drew within one at the 9:03 mark though on the powerplay. Reese Hamilton got the puck at the right point, skated into the middle, then fired a wrist shot up high around a screen, and Michal Orsulak couldn’t see it until it came out the back of the net.

With the Pats closing in the gap to one goal, the Raiders answered with another swarm. At 10:10, Brock Cripps sent a puck out to centre ice for Braeden Cootes, and he sent the puck off the left wall for Alisher Sarkenov to make a nice play to catch while sneaking beside a defender, and he then cut to the middle, right in front of two defenders, then fired a backhand between them and over the glove for his 20th.

At 11:11, it was Justice Christensen that started the play with a pass to his right out to centre for Max Heise, and Heise skated in past Brayden Dube. Heise then dropped the puck back for Dube as Heise took the defender’s attention down into the corner, and that opened the lane for Dube to fire a wrist shot for his 22nd of the year to chase Pats goaltender Marek Schlenker out of the game to bring in Drake Mooney in his WHL debut.

Then at 12:01, the Raiders scored on their very next shot. As he entered down the left wall, Max Heise tried to pass the puck down low but turned it over to a defenceman. Heise quickly stripped the puck and played it over to the right wall where he chased it down again, turned and looked to the net, and then fired looking for a tip. Instead, it snuck right through the fivehole and Heise had his 29th of the year.

The Pats weren’t ready to go away yet though and at 13:14 Ellis Mieyette scored the nicest goal of the night. After one of his teammates had played a puck off the leg of a Raiders defenceman, Mieyette chipped the puck past two Raiders, then got the jets going to coral the puck and sneak behind a third defender all before tucking in a beautiful goal on the backhand.

The Raiders answered one last time though at the 15:17 mark. Ben Harvey brought to puck in down the right wall but it was pokechecked backwards to the blueline. Benett Kelly didn’t hesitate and quickly passed the puck to the left side of the goal for Brandon Gorzynski who was in a great place to shoot, but he saw a better play coming as Ben Harvey came out of the corner, Gorzynski put it on the tape, and Harvey tucked it in for his second of the night and 14th of the season, and immediately pointed to Gorzynski for the great feed.

FINAL: Raiders 8 – 4 Pats, shots 21-12 Raiders, 49-23 Raiders overall

Including the shootout winner on Saturday, Ben Harvey now has goals in each of the last three games, 5G-3A and 1 shootout goal in total. Ben Harvey came into Tuesday’s game as the reigning WHL Rookie of the Week.

After going a full 16 games without a goal, Max Heise has now scored in each of the last four games as well as five goals in his last six. With 29 on the season, Heise has retaken the lead in goal scoring for the Raiders.

The Raiders have two games left on the season, and just need one win to secure the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Those final two games start on Friday in Prince Albert to start a weekend home-and-home series with the Saskatoon Blades.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com