Raiders forward Eric Pearce slides one past a diving Wheat Kings goaltender Connor Ungar during the Raiders' 5-3 win Tuesday. Keith Hershmiller/WHL

By Jeff D’Andrea

Injuries piling up for the Raiders, but so are the points

Mar 16, 2021 | 7:12 PM

As the Prince Albert Raiders’ injury report continues to unfortunately fill up, they continue to rack up points anyway.

The Raiders have started the hub season in Regina with five points out of a possible six after their 5-3 victory against the Brandon Wheat Kings Tuesday.

Before the game, the Raiders announced their captain Kaiden Guhle will be “out indefinitely” with a hand injury.

During Tuesday’s game, Logan Danis left the game shortly after the first period. And overager Justin Nachbaur is day-to-day after suffering a lower-body injury in the season opener against the Regina Pats on Friday. That doesn’t even include the fact the Raiders couldn’t bring over Belarusians Aliaksei Protas, Ilya Usau (American dual citizen), and newly drafted Uladzislau Shyla.

But in the face of all that, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said his team one of the best games he’s ever seen in all his years as a head coach.

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“Well, we lost three Europeans and we lost our captain. And we’re playing on paper who’s supposed to be the best team in the division. And I’ve coached a few years and that was probably one of the best team games I’ve seen,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “They were connected, they worked, they played as a team and they did everything right. I was real proud of them.”

One of the players that will be looked upon to take up a lot of those missing minutes in Guhle’s absence is Remy Aquilon. Aquilon came to the Raiders at the start of last season from the Victoria Royals in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft.

In just three games, Aquilon is already close to matching his 64-game point total from last season. Aquilon had a goal and five assists in that span—he already has four assists in three games this year.

“He has all the responsibility. He was playing in the 5-6 position last year, now he’s number one. That’s a big jump—and not through injuries or anything else, he’s earned that position,” Habscheid said. “Even before Guhles went down, he played well. He’s played well since he’s come, you can just see he has a confidence and a presence about him this year. He’s bigger and stronger, he’s played great for us.”

Although Aquilon said he feels a lot more confident and more freedom to be aggressive and join the rush, he doesn’t feel like he has to make up Guhle’s absence all by himself. He credited the rest of the defensive core, especially the younger players like second-year Nolan Allan and rookies like Graydon Gotaas, who scored his first WHL career goal Tuesday, as well as the hard-hitting Adam McNutt and solid Tayem Gislason.

“Lots of guys can step up too, all the guys have, especially today proved it. It’s not just me,” Aquilon said. “All the young guys did unreal, working so hard and doing what [our] structure does. It’s going to be hard with Guhles hard, but he’s such a good leader. He’s going to teach us off the ice and be a great guy.”

Michael Horon was named as the game’s first star with a goal and two assists. He was able to set up Evan Herman with a tap-in goal during the first period, and found a trailing Graydon Gotaas in the second period for his helpers. Horon’s goal came in the first period on the power play.

Horon found himself on a line with Ozzy Wiesblatt and Spencer Moe as Habscheid continues to shake up his forward lines, and said he was glad to get the opportunity to skate with two of the team’s most skilled forwards.

“I got the opportunity to play with Ozzy and Moe, obviously two very good players. I just wanted to fit in there,” Horon said. “I thought they did a great job of finding me and giving me the puck. When I got the puck, I was confident with it. Luckily for us, we were able to put it in the back of the net and get the ‘W.’”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Wheat Kings, Vincent Iorio from Ben McCartney and Nate Danielson (power play), 4:37

1-1, Raiders, Evan Herman from Michael Horon and Logan Linklater, 11:27

2-1, Raiders, Michael Horon from Evan Herman and Remy Aquilon (power play), 13:19

2-2, Wheat Kings, Ben McCartney from Braden Schneider and Nolan Ritchie (power play), 18:03

Second Period

3-2, Raiders, Reece Vitelli from Spencer Moe (power play), 1:57

4-2, Raiders, Graydon Gotaas from Michael Horon and Ozzy Wiesblatt, 16:55

Third Period

5-2, Raiders, Eric Pearce from Reece Vitelli and Logan Danis, 17:22

5-3, Wheat Kings, Neithan Salame from Brett Hyland and Nolan Ritchie, 19:58

Looking ahead

The Raiders will take on the Saskatoon Blades on Friday, 8 p.m. at the Brandt Centre in Regina.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW