Raiders forward Evan Herman congratulates goaltender Max Paddock after his second shutout of the season. Keith Hershmiller/WHL

By Jeff D’Andrea

Raiders vs Blades

Raiders break Blades’ brooms on way to moral victory

Apr 22, 2021 | 7:05 PM

As per their Twitter page, the Saskatoon Blades brought their figurative brooms with them to the Brandt Centre in Regina, with the hopes of sweeping their bitter rivals in the Prince Albert Raiders in the season series.

Instead, the Raiders snapped those brooms in half and threw them in a garbage can as they went on to bash the Blades 4-0 Thursday afternoon. Raiders goaltender Max Paddock made 20 saves to record his second shutout of the season.

That’s the Raiders’ first victory of the season against the Blades, after the Blades won the first three meetings of the season.

But avoiding the sweep wasn’t why the Raiders were so amped up for the game. When the Blades beat the Raiders 5-3 on April 8, the Raiders felt the Blades rubbed in the result a little too much.

“These guys taunted us last time they beat us. We came in and we had some fire under our butts and we wanted to give it to them,” said Raiders forward Ozzy Wiesblatt, who scored a goal and had an assist. “I’m so proud of these guys. We’ve got to remind these teams that we’re the defending champs and that we’re here to stay. I’m so proud of the boys today.”

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Wiesblatt scored the game’s first goal, converting a lovely feed from Evan Herman in front of the net. That ended an 11-game goalless streak for Wiesblatt, who was still producing as he had 11 helpers in that span.

Then later in the frame, Wiesblatt found underaged rookie Terrell Goldsmith for his first WHL career goal. Goldsmith is now the last Raider to score in his 15-year-old season since Wiesblatt himself did so in his hometown of Calgary back on Jan. 21, 2018.

“You see that guy put in the work every day. He’s going to be a real good player one day,” Wiesblatt said. “For that to go in, and know that will boost his confidence. Just keep working every day and eventually, the bounces will come.”

For Goldsmith, he wasn’t sure the goal was going to be his as there was Matthew Culling and Eric Pearce crashing the net. But when he found out it was his, Goldsmith could barely contain himself.

“I shot it, but I thought it went off one of our guys and in. But I was ecstatic, I kinda blacked out, almost,” chuckled Goldsmith.

Landon Kosior extended the Raiders’ lead in the second period before Justin Nachbaur sealed the deal midway through the third period.

The Raiders win gives them an 8-10-2-1 record after 21 games, good for the top wildcard spot of the WHL Eastern Conference. The Blades are now 14-4-2-1 and are in second play in the WHL East Division.

The Blades were without injured Tristen Robins, Colton Dach, and Aidan De La Gorgendiere, three top players for the club. The Raiders have also dealt with injuries and absences, as they have been without captain Kaiden Guhle since the second game of the season, and Nolan Allan, who’s off to the U-18 World Championships.

Evan Patrician was also seemed to be shaken up midway through the third period, after absorbing a reverse-hit from Ozzy Wiesblatt.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Evan Herman and Reece Vitelli, 1:23

2-0, Raiders, Terrell Goldsmith from Ozzy Wiesblatt, 16:27

Second Period

3-0, Raiders, Landon Kosior from Eric Pearce, 9:27

Third Period

4-0, Raiders, Justin Nachbaur from Remy Aquilon and Michael Horon, 13:05

Up next

The Raiders have three games remaining in the 2020-21 season, at 6 p.m. affair on Saturday against the Brandon Wheat Kings, Monday at 4 p.m. against the Winnipeg ICE and Wednesday at 8 p.m. against the Swift Current Broncos.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW