New Raiders take the lead, returning Raiders protect it in preseason win over Warriors

After 1: Raiders 0 – 1 Warriors, shots 16-6 Raiders

At the 7:16 mark of the second, the Raiders started to take over. As the Warriors were trying to clear the puck, a pass hit the back skate of a defender, and Brendyn Van Oene picked up the puck for a shot breakaway. He walked in, ripped a wrist shot left side, and scored his first goal in a Raiders jersey unassisted.

Just over a minute later at 8:42, the Raiders took the lead. Carysn Dyck started the play by dumping the puck in on goal, and it popped out to Brandon Gorzynski driving the goal. Gorzynski managed to get the goaltender out of position as Gorzynski went below the goal line, then passed out front for onetimer from Liam Myhre, and the Raiders had the lead.

The run continued for the Raiders at 12:15 when Gorzynski again got involved in the play by stepping up and disrupting an exit pass at the blueline. While Gorzynski corralled the puck, Dyck skated ahead. Gorzynski gave Dyck the puck for a partial break, and his first shot was stopped but Dyck found the rebound and scored his first goal of the preseason.

After 2: Raiders 3 – 1 Warriors, shots 18-6 Raiders, 34-12 Raiders overall

The Warriors weren’t ready to go away, and they struck twice early in the third to tie the game. First, Nolan Paquette fired a shot through a defender’s legs into the back of the net at 1:10.

After that, we got back to back penalty shots. The Raiders got theirs first when they were trying to jam a loose puck into the goal, but a Warriors defender covered the puck with his hand in the crease. Athens Shingoose got the penalty shot, but he was stopped. Then at 5:34, Rasmus Kamarainen was hauled down on a breakaway, and he went in to score with a wrist shot to tie the game for the Warriors.

At the 9:39 mark though, the Raiders got their game winner. Myhre started the play by sending the puck across the blue line for a onetimer from Darius Hordal. His shot was stopped, but Jonah Sivertson battling for position in front managed to tuck the rebound in to give the Raiders the lead back.

Then about 20 seconds after the Warriors pulled their goaltender, Brandon Gorzynski put a final stamp on the game when he got the puck loose on the left wall of his own zone, then hit the empty net from inside his own blue line at the 18:53 mark.

FINAL: Raiders 5 – 3 Warriors, shots 14-13 Raiders, 48-25 Raiders

After the fact, the two teams dropped the puck for another test of the league’s potential new rules to the overtime format, where teams are not allowed to play the puck in any way after a team has crossed the offensive blue line. Jonah Sivertson scored the overtime ending goal for the Raiders.

In goal, Steele Bass only faced six shots in the period and a half he played, stopping five for an 0.833 save percentage. Chase Kettles played the second half and allowed two goals on 19 shots, good for a 0.895 save percentage.

The Raiders are back in action tomorrow night in Warman for a neutral site game with the Saskatoon Blades.

by Nick Nielsen

New Raiders take the lead, returning Raiders protect it in preseason win over Warriors

What's Trending