Ty Meunier flies by the bench after opening the scoring with his first WHL goal on Saturday night in Moose Jaw. (Nick Pettigrew/Moose Jaw Warriors)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders win 6-4

Two Raiders score first WHL goal in first win of the season

Sep 22, 2024 | 12:05 AM

After securing their first point of the season in their season opener with an overtime loss to the Regina Pats, the Prince Albert Raiders looked for their first win on the road against the Moose Jaw Warriors Saturday night. Despite the Warriors tying the game three times, the Raiders never trailed on their way to a 6-4 victory.

A couple Raiders earned their first WHL point on the first goal of the game when Riley Boychuk went into the corner on the forecheck to pick up a loose puck. He fed a streaking Ty Meunier at the faceoff dot, and Meunier ripped the shot home for his first as a Raider 6:34 in.

The Raiders had the lone powerplay in the first period in what would become a powerplay filled game, but they couldn’t score this time around. Instead, the Warriors struck when William Degagne stole a pass through the middle at centre ice and sent it ahead to Aiden Ziprick, who quickly tapped it over to Owen Berge on a 2-on-1. Berge decided not to pass a fired the puck home for to tie the game at 15:29.

The Raiders struck back quick at 16:57 when Brayden Dube broke into the zone down the right wing and sped into the corner and behind the net. As he went behind, Dube sent a pass behind his back to Harrison Lodewyk crashing the net, and he ripped a wrist shot off the cross bar and in to take back the lead.

After 1: Raiders 2 – 1 Warriors, shots 10-7 Raiders

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Just 1:25 into the second, the Raiders doubled their lead on a play that started when Cole Peardon cycled the puck back up the wall to Daxon Rudolph at the point. Rudolph fired the puck high, and Ethan Bibeau parked in front tipped the puck into the back of the net to score his first as a Raider.

After the Raiders killed their first penalty of the game, we got a heavyweight fight when Niall Crocker dropped the gloves with Owen Berge who took one too many swipes at the Raiders’ goaltender for Crocker’s liking. After a scrum at the side of the Raiders net where everyone took a partner, Crocker and Berge separated from the pile and started throwing bombs at each other until both men were gassed, helmets lying on the ice, and each man still standing offered a tap on the shoulder before skating to the box. The Raiders got a powerplay out of the scrum, but still couldn’t find the back of the net.

From there, penalties would start to catch up to the Raiders. The first penalty to Benett Kelly for hooking saw the Warriors score at 9:15 when Pavel McKenzie made a move in tight crossing the crease to put the puck in.

Another hooking call to Doogan Pederson was killed by the Raiders, but immediately after the Raiders were nabbed for too many men and the Warriors scored thanks to Brayden Schuurman at 13:23.

After 2: Raiders 3 – 3 Warriors, shots 14-14, 24-21 Raiders overall

The powerplay started to pay dividends for the Raiders in the third on a hooking call to Warriors’ Rilen Kovacevic. From the middle of the blueline, Justice Christensen put the puck on net through traffic, and the stop was made by Unger. Crocker parked in front of the net kicked the puck to his left for Oli Chenier, and he hit the open cage to give the Raiders their third lead of the game at 9:19.

• That lead wouldn’t last when the Warriors got another powerplay, and at 12:03 Ziprick got the puck at the top of the slot and found a seam through traffic to tie the game once again.

The game winner finally came at the 17:03 mark right at the end of a Raiders powerplay. Cole Peardon picked the puck up to the left of the goaltender and cycled towards the top of the circle as the Warriors returned to 5-on-5. Peardon hurried a pass to Aiden Oiring in the slot, and he quickly found Chenier on the left side of the ice where he crushed a one-timer into the back of the net for the game winner.

In the final two minutes, the Warriors pulled their goaltender, and Doogan Pederson found a loose puck that he cleared down the ice from just above his own goal line into the net for his first of the season.

FINAL: Raiders 6 – 4 Warriors, shots 17-9 Raiders, 41-30 Raiders overall

The Raiders start off the season picking up three out of a possible four points with the win over the Warriors and the overtime loss to Regina the night before.

Through their first two games, the Raiders powerplay went 1/7 on the powerplay despite a number of quality chances on the man advantage throughout.

Max Hildebrand got the start in both games for the Raiders during opening weekend, facing a total of 53 shots in those two games, making 46 stops in that time.

The Raiders get the rest of the week off until Friday when they welcome the Brandon Wheat Kings to the Art Hauser on Friday, and then head out to Swift Current to take on the Broncos on Saturday.