Raiders defenceman Kaiden Guhle steps up to hit ICE defender Nolan Orzeck. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Win #20

Raiders have defensive gem and big saves from Serhyenko in win over ICE

Dec 13, 2019 | 10:34 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders busted out the Ugly Christmas Sweaters, much to the delight of rookie goaltender Carter Serhyenko.

“It’s cool, I’ve never really worn special jerseys like that so it was a cool experience,” Serhyenko.

In those beautiful holiday-themed jerseys, Serhyenko made 24 stops on 25 shots in a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg ICE on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre.

Serhyenko is on a hot streak at the momentum, as he’s responsible for all of the last three victories the Raiders have had in their previous five games. He’s only given up one goal each in those contests as well and has put up sterling numbers so far.

In nine appearances, Serhyenko has a .937 save percentage and a 1.37 goals against average. Of those appearances, only once has he surrendered more than two goals.

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Raiders goaltending coach Kelly Guard has worked a lot with the rookie throughout the year to get his skills up. Afterall, Serhyenko was set to play Midget AAA hockey with the Tisdale Trojans, but was able to win himself a job after a solid camp and preseason with the Raiders.

“A lot of it is mental,” Serhyenko said on what he’s learned from Guard, “but physically I would say the biggest thing is narrowing my feet and just being more relaxed in the net.”

Marc Habscheid, the big bench boss for the Raiders, has also seen a lot of growth in Serhyenko’s season so far.

“He’s a good goalie. Kelly’s done a good job with him and he’s a young and talented guy. When we first got him, he was rough around the edges but Guardo’s done a good job with him,” Habscheid said. “He’s an athlete and what I say about all our guys is they’re good people. He’s a real good guy, he’s a good teammate. He’s quiet, doesn’t say too much, really coachable. When you put those things together and the talent to go with it, he’s going to be a good goalie. He’s already a good goalie for us, look at his numbers.”

Offensively, Ozzy Wiesblatt was able to give Serhyenko some run support. He scored the game’s first goal just 95 seconds into the game and got an assist on Spencer Moe’s key insurance goal in the third period. Justin Nachbaur got the game winner, tipping home a Nolan Allan shot.

Even in the absence of Raiders top scorer Aliaksei Protas and second-line centre Ilya Usau, Wiesblatt’s been producing. He has a six-game point streak going with four goals and 10 points. Five of those points have come in his last two games.

His line along with Spencer Moe and Brayden Watts have been carrying the load offensively as of late.

“I think I’m just surrounded by good players everywhere,” Wiesblatt said. “Moe’s super fast and Watty’s super smart and has a good shot. I think we’re just using each other out there and they’re doing amazing.”

Brayden Watts took a high stick to the face from Nolan Orzeck with 4:53 left in the third period, which immediately drew blood. Habscheid said after the game that Watts, who just recovered last week from a lower body injury, was fine.

The Raiders picked up their 20th win on the season, and sit at 20-7-3-1. The ICE are now at 18-12-1-0.

With the ICE

Mintos forward Chase Bertholet got in his second WHL career game for the ICE on Friday. Bertholet made his debut with the club on Wednesday in a 3-1 win over the Memorial Cup hosting Kelowna Rockets.

With the Mintos, Bertholet has seven goals and 17 points in 24 games.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Brayden Watts and Zack Hayes, 1:35

2-0, Raiders, Justin Nachbaur from Nolan Allan and Evan Herman, 16:55

2-1, ICE, Owen Pederson from Connor McClennon and Benjamin Zloty (power play), 17:54

Second Period

No scoring.

Third Period

3-1, Raiders, Spencer Moe from Landon Kosior and Ozzy Wiesblatt (power play), 17:08

Looking ahead

The Raiders still have two more games to play this weekend, Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre and Sunday against the Saskatoon Blades at the SaskTel Centre.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW