Raiders Rudolph, Boychuck, assistant coach McDonald win gold at U17 World Hockey Challenge

While the Prince Albert Raiders have been busy in western Canada winning four of their last five, they’ve had to do so without the like of Assistant Coach Ryan McDonald, defenceman Daxon Rudolph, and forward Riley Boychuk. The three of them were a part of Team Canada White competing against five other teams at the U17 World Hockey Challenge in Sarnia, Ontario over the span of November 1-9, and they’ve come away with gold after the tournament.

In pre-tournament action, Team Canada White played the United States, and Canada White won that game 4-3 in a shootout. After going down 2-0 before the third period, Rudolph got the scoring started for Canada White with an assist from Boychuk, and Canada White would score three straight before the Americans scored with less than a minute left to send it into overtime. Two of Canada White’s shooters would score in the shootout, giving them the win.

That moved Canada White into a round robin pool with Czechia and Sweden. In the first game with Czechia, Canada White took a 2-2 tie into the second period before scoring four straight to win 6-2, but they’d drop their second game to Sweden in a 5-4 loss in overtime in a back and forth effort. That would be their only loss of the tournament.

Without a bye to the semi finals, Canada White had to play Finland in the quarterfinals where they won 4-2. That gave them a rematch with Sweden in the semi final, and this time Canada White got out to a 4-1 lead before the end of the second period and held on to win 6-4.