Ben Riche of the Saskatoon Blades battles with Aiden Oiring of the Prince Albert Raiders for a puck in a preseason matchup. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Back at Home

Raiders set to welcome Seattle for first home game in two weeks

Oct 25, 2024 | 11:58 AM

After the road trip through B.C. saw them go 1-4 through their five road games, the Prince Albert Raiders are looking to turn around a rough start to the season heading into Friday night’s action against the Seattle Thunderbirds. The matchup with Seattle is the eighth straight game in a row the Raiders play against a Western Conference opponent.

Aside from their last game against the Vancouver Giants, the Raiders found their offence in B.C. where they managed to score 4.5 goals per game through the first four games of the road swing, 3.8 if you include the Vancouver game. At 2-7-2, the Raiders currently sit both last in the Eastern Conference and last in the WHL.

As for the Seattle Thunderbirds, they sit at 5-7-1 on the season through their first 13 games, good for ninth in the Western Conference. They are in the midst of their own six game road swing, starting with a 4-1 loss in Brandon, an 8-0 loss to Regina, a 4-1 win over Moose Jaw, and most recently a 5-1 loss to Saskatoon in a game Blades broadcaster Les Lazaruk described as having ‘a couple of multi-player testosterone leaks’ with 61 total penalty minutes.

Both teams have been outscored to start the year with the Raiders being outscored 34-51 on the season, good for a -17 differential, but a -8 differential if you exclude the 10-1 loss in Vancouver. For Seattle, they’ve scored 36 compared to being scored on 58 times, good for a -22 differential on the season, but removing the 8-0 loss Seattle suffered to Regina earlier this road trip, that brings them to a -14 differential.

Despite some missed opportunities in Vancouver, the Raiders powerplay still sits as one of the best in the league, ranked seventh at 23.9%, meanwhile Seattle has been operating at 19.4% for 16th in the league tied with the Kelowna Rockets. On the penalty kill, the Raiders and Thunderbirds have two of the worst shorthanded units in the league with Seattle sitting third last in the league at 71.7%, and the Raiders sitting tied for last in the league with the Victoria Royals at 68.2%.

Suspects at large

Hunt for suspects continues in challenging conditions near Thunder Rapids

20h ago

Election 2024

Prince Albert voters share why they support their chosen party

Oct 24, 2024

Armed suspects

UPDATE: Two suspects caught, two still at large, alert cancelled

Oct 24, 2024

Three players for the Raiders come into the action with 11 points to lead their team, Tomas Mrsic at 6G-5A-11P, and Niall Crocker and Aiden Oiring both with 4G-7A-11P. Brayden Dube is also coming into the action on a five game point streak with 3G-5A-8P in his last five games. Ethan Bibeau has been named on the NHL’s Central Scouting list for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, given a W ranking which indicates he’s expected to be drafted sometime in the sixth or seventh round.

As for the Thunderbirds, they’re lead by 2005 born defenceman Sawyer Minio who has 4G-8A-12P on the season, tied with 2007 born centre Braeden Cootes with 3G-9A-12P. Overage left-winger Nathan Pilling rounds out their top three scorers at 8G-2A-10P. Cootes was also named on the NHL’s Central Scouting list with a B rank as an expected second or third rounder, and Matej Pekar was given a W rank.

Finally for goaltending, both Max Hildebrand and Cooper Anderson are coming off rough games in Vancouver were both in for a rough game against the Giants. Through ten games this year, Hildebrand is 2-5-2 on the season with a 0.889 save percentage, and Cooper Anderson has made it into three games, taking a 0-2 record and a save percentage at 0.797.

The Seattle Thunderbirds goaltending tandem has switched a bit throughout the season, but now they’ve settled in to using 19-year-old Scott Ratzlaff and 2007 born rookie Grayson Malinoski. Ratzlaff has had most of the starts since returning from the Buffalo Sabres camp and boasts a 4-2 record through seven games with a 0.915 save percentage, while Malinoski is 1-3-1 through six games with a 0.832 save percentage.

Friday’s action is the lone game of the weekend for the Raiders. Puck drops at 7:00, and Nick Nielsen will have all the action for you on 900 CKBI with the pregame show starting at 6:30.

—

nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com