Weekend Preview: Finals rematch and divisional rivalry headline Raiders’ weekend

The only off ice news for the Raiders heading into the weekend is that Raiders Head Coach Ryan McDonald will be named Prince Albert’s Sportsman of the Year on Saturday at the Prince Albert Kinsmen Sportsman Dinner. McDonald’s award will be accepted by his father while the Raiders are playing in Swift Current.

The Raiders powerplay is still operating as one of the top powerplays in the league, sitting sixth at 25% coming into the weekend. The penalty kill however is slowly climbing out of the basement, sitting third last in the league at 71.4%.

There’s now a tie at the top of the Raiders scoring between two 17-year-olds. Ben Harvey has 5G-5A-10P, but Brock Cripps has caught up with 1G-9A-10P so far. Alisher Sarkenov sits third with 6G-3A-9P, and Maddix McCagherty sits fourth with 2G-6A-8P.

Scoring streaks:

Brandon Gorzynski: four games, 2G-3A

Brock Cripps: three games, 1G-5A, three straight two-point games

Alisher Sarkenov: three games, 3G-2A

Despite being held pointless in the last game in Brandon, Riley Boychuk has 1G-2A in his last three games. Malaki Martin is also coming into the game after scoring his first in the WHL.

In goal, Michal Orsulak was in goal for the Raiders two shootout losses to Moose Jaw. Orsulak comes in with a record of 2-4-2, along with a 0.877 save percentage and a 3.41 goals against average. Steele Bass took the overtime loss in Brandon. His record sits at 0-2-1 to start the year, along with a 0.859 and 3.48.

Friday vs. Everett

Despite being one of the most anticipated matchups of the season, Friday’s game against the Everett Silvertips will be a battle between two struggling teams. The Silvertips have lost seven of their last eight games, and are currently riding a two-game losing skid. The defending WHL champs are two points ahead of last place in the Western Conference at 3-5-3 on the year.

On Wednesday, the reigning WHL champs lost 3-2 in a shootout when they started their Saskatchewan road swing in Saskatoon. Before that, the Silvertips traded wins with the Tri-City Americans, losing 2-1 and winning 3-1. Before that, the Silvertips had lost five straight games.

This week, the Silvertips added 2009 born Czechian forward Dominik Drábek after he was released from the Penticton Vees. They’ve also released 2008 born forward Crosby Harrison.

Compared to last year’s championship team, the Silvertips have lost two big defencemen in captain Tarin Smith and the young phenom Landon DuPont. Up front is a very different group without the likes of 10 forwards from last year: Carter Bear, Shea Busch, Nolan Chastko, Rylan Gould, Jesse Heslop, Julius Miettinen, Zach Shantz, Cole Temple, Matias Vanhanen, and Clarke Shaefer who was traded to Swift Current five games into this season.

Including two goaltenders Raiden LeGall and Anders Miller, and that’s 14 players gone from last year’s championship team. In comparison, the Raiders lost eight players from their Eastern Conference Championship team (Defencemen Linden Burrett, Justice Christensen, Matyas Man, Daxon Rudolph, and forwards Braeden Cootes, Brayden Dube, Max Heise, and Aiden Oiring).

This is the one and only time this season the Raiders and Silvertips will play. Last year, the Raiders won both the regular season matchup and the first game of the WHL Final, but the Silvertips won the next four games including three straight in the Art Hauser Centre. The last time the Raiders beat the Silvertips in Prince Albert was back on Oct. 23, 2018 when the Raiders won with a 3-0 shutout.

Everett’s powerplay has not helped them much this year, ranked 19th in the league at 13.9%. Their penalty kill however sits right in the middle of the league at 80%, right at 11th place.

The have a two way tie for their top scorer between Brek Liske (2G-3A-5P) and Caine Wilke (0G-5A-5). Then there is a four way tie for third between Brendan Rudolph Jaxsin Vaughan both at 3G-1A-4P and Dario Blengino and Rhys Jamieson at 2G-2A-4P.

The Silvertips don’t have any active scoring streaks. Instead, they only have three players who have had a multi point game this year: Lukas Kaplan had a two assist night in the Silvertips last win, Caine Wilke put up two assists in his second game with the Silvertips after being acquired earlier this year from Calgary, and Brendan Rudolph had a goal and an assist in his first game of the year while still a member of the Swift Current Broncos.

As for goaltenders, the Silvertips have given the majority of the starts to Bennett Byers, who so far has a 2-4-1 record, a 0.902 save percentage, and a 2.78 goals against average. Behind him is Prince Albert local Jayden Kraus with a 1-1-2 record, a 0.921, and a 2.71.

Saturday @ Swift Current

As for Saturday, the Raiders are heading out on the road to take on the Swift Current Broncos for the second time this season. The Broncos are off to a hotter start than many expected with a record of 8-4-0, good for third in the Eastern Conference, and have won their last four straight over Moose Jaw, Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince George. They’ll play in Lethbridge Friday night before returning home for Saturday’s matchup with the Raiders.

That win over Prince George was the end of the Broncos B.C. road trip this year, where they went 4-2 with wins over Vancouver, Victoria, Penticton, and the earlier mentioned Prince George, and losses to Kamloops and a surprisingly lopsided 10-2 loss to Kelowna.

This will be the second matchup of eight this year between the Raiders and Broncos. The first, in Swift Current on opening weekend, the Broncos won 5-2 over the Raiders. After Saturday, the Raiders and Broncos don’t play each other again until Nov. 27.

Despite their success, the Broncos boast the worst special teams in the league. On the powerplay, the Broncos are running at 7.7%. The next closest, Seattle, is at 11.4%. On the penalty kill, the Broncos are the only team below 70% at 66.7%.

Trae Wilke sits atop the Broncos scorers with 4G-6A-10P, followed by Kayd Ruedig with 5G-4A-9P. Oliver Torkki sits third with 4G-4A-8P, and Zach Pantelakis rounds out the top four with 5G-2A-7P.

Scoring streaks:

Kayd Ruedig: two games, 2G-1A

Oliver Torkki: two games, 1G-2A (or 2G-2A in last four games)

Trae Wilke had his streak broken two games ago, but has 2G-3A in his last four games.

Finally in goal, the majority of the starts have gone to Cal Conway, who comes in with a record of 8-2-0, a 0.920 save percentage, and a 2.77 goals against average. Archer Cooke has made two appearances and is 0-2-0, along with a 0.792 and a 7.59.

The Raiders will first host the Everett Silvertips on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. You can listen in on 900 CKBI and Brandt Raider Radio starting at 6:30 p.m.

Then on Saturday, the Raiders head to Swift Current to take on the Broncos. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on 101.5 FM Beach Radio with puck drop set for 6:00 p.m., and the pregame show starting at 5:30 p.m.

by Nick Nielsen

Weekend Preview: Finals rematch and divisional rivalry headline Raiders’ weekend

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