(Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

parent billet weekend

Weekend preview: Raiders start weekend double header against hottest team in league

Nov 15, 2024 | 1:00 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders are in their hottest stretch of the season having won four of their last five games, and are coming in strong for a significant home stretch. The Raiders play the next four games at home and seven of their next eight games at home.

The team will start off against the red hot Tri-City Americans, and then Saturday the Raiders will have a chance to get into a playoff spot as they take on the Edmonton Oil Kings.

For the Raiders, they’re coming off an electric come-from-behind victory in Brandon on Saturday, a fast comeback from being down 3-0 to a 5-4 overtime win.

In the last five games, the Raiders have had four very different wins; a back and forth battle with Seattle where the Raiders won 4-3, a dominant performance over Regina 5-1, then the 9-4 loss to Swift Current, a adversity-filled battle that saw the Raiders win 4-3 in overtime against Regina, and then the win in Brandon.

The Raiders will see three familiar faces return to the lineup as Daxon Rudolph and Riley Boychuk return from the U17 World Hockey Challenge as gold medalists (along with assistant coach Ryan McDonald), and Harrison Lodewyk is set to make his return after a lower body injury.

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Starting with Friday’s opponent, the Tri-City Americans will arrive at the Art Hauser Centre on a twelve game winning streak. In that time, the Americans have only played on the road twice, and they had to win four of those games in overtime including their most recent against Calgary where they won 6-5 at home.

The Americans coming to town also marks the return of Terrell Goldsmith, Grady Martin, and Nathan Preston back to Prince Albert after a blockbuster trade in the summer where the Raiders acquired Lukas Dragicevic, along with a goaltender Eric Kahl and a seventh round pick in the 2025 draft.

Since the trade, Dragicevic has 1G-18A-19P on the season and leads the WHL in powerplay assists with 12, while Martin and Goldsmith have a combined 10 points on the season and Preston has a 2-1 record in goal.

On the season, the Americans are 13-3-1 through 17 games and sit third in the Western Conference. Their last loss came at the hands of the Seattle Thunderbirds on October 8 where they were beat 5-2 at the end of a three-game skid.

Looking at scoring, the Raiders continue to average 3.5 goals per game this season with 56 goals in 16 games, but with two bad losses have 71 goals against for the Raiders and a -15 goal differential. Players have scored at least three goals in their last five games. The Americans on the other hand have 81 goals for and 66 goals against in 17 games, good for a +15 goal differential and an average of 4.7 goals per game.

On special teams, the Raiders have the second best powerplay in the league at 29.0 per cent and goals in each of the last five games, but the worst penalty kill at 68.3 per cent, but that number is a little deceiving.

With a season start as one of the most penalized teams in the league, now three teams have been shorthanded less times than the Raiders’ 60 penalty kills. For the Americans, their penalty kill is fourth in the league at 81.9 per cent, and their powerplay sits 16th in the league at 20.8 per cent.

Niall Crocker had his point streak broken two games ago, but his tying goal again Brandon on Saturday has Crocker sitting with nine points in his last five games, leading the Raiders with 8G-12A-20P on the season.

Lukas Dragicevic has moved into second in scoring with 1G-18A-19P and the league lead in powerplay assists, and Tomas Mrsic has 8G-10A-18P to tie with Aiden Oiring’s 6G-12A-18P for third in team scoring.

As for points streaks, Mrsic also comes in with a point in each of the last seven games to bring him to 8G-10A-18P, leading the league in powerplay goals with seven. Raiders captain Justice Christensen also has a six-game point streak going with 2G-7A in that time, and Brayden Dube has a four-game streak going with 4G-2A. Luke Moroz has a goal and an assist in his last two games.

As for the Americans, they’re lead by 2004-born over-age forward Brandon Whynott with 11G-13A-24P, followed by another over-age forward in Jake Sloan with 7G-15A-22P, and in third sits 2006-born forward Gavin Garland at 10G-11A-21P.

Whynott has points in each of the 12 games the Americans have in their ongoing win streak with 8G-13A-21P in that time. Jake Gudjeli comes in on seven-game streak with 7G-6A-13P, Carter MacAdams has 5G-4A-9P in his last nine games, and Gavin Garland has 5G-4A-9P across the last eight games. Finally both Jake Sloan and Jordan Gavin have 4G-5A-9P in the last four games.

In goal, the newest commitment to Bemidji State University Max Hildebrand has been battling to try and get his save percentage back above 0.900, he currently sits at 0.893 with a record at 6-6-2. With the Raiders winning four of their last five, Hildebrand has played in all five games with 153 saves on 170 shots for an even 0.900 in that time. Cooper Anderson on the other hand has been in four games this year with a 0.802 save percentage and a 0-2 record.

While Lukas Matecha doesn’t have the greatest save percentage in the league at 0.883 per cent, his record of 11-2-1 through 14 games boasts the most wins by a goaltender in the league. Nathan Preston’s 0.930 would be the best in the WHL, if it weren’t for the fact he’s only played three games this season and therefore doesnt have enough games played to rank in the league-wide stats. His record sits at 2-1.

As for Saturday’s matchup with the Edmonton Oil Kings, they sit just four points ahead of the Raiders in the standings for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Oil Kings play Friday in Saskatoon, so if the Oil Kings lose and the Raiders win on Friday, that means Saturday’s matchup could be for the final playoff spot in the east. The Oil Kings are 8-8-1-1 on the season, and have lost their last two games 2-1 to Medicine Hat at home, and 4-3 to Swift Current on the road.

The Oil Kings have 63 goals for and 62 goals against on the season, good for a +1 differential and an average of 3.5 goals per game through their 18 games.

Edmonton’s powerplay sits just below the halfway mark of the league at 13th and 22.0 per cent, and they have had the second-most powerplay chances in the league at 82. Their penalty kill is one of the better in the league, ranked sixth with an 81.0 per cent success rate.

Looking at their top scorers, 2005 born Florida Panthers second-round pick Gracyn Sawchyn leads the Oil Kings with 9G-13A-22P ahead of the weekend’s action. 2006-born Gavin Hodnett sits second with 9G-12A-21P, and 2005-born Toronto Maple Leafs fifth round pick Miroslav Holinka sits third with 10G-8A-18P.

Finally looking at their goaltending tandem, Alex Worthington is tied for fourth in the league with a save percentage sitting at 0.913 and a 8-5-0-1 record in 14 games. Perry Hudson has played in four games, and is yet to win one with a 0-2-1 record and a 0.785 save percentage.

The Raiders will play first against the Tri-City Americans on Friday, and against the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday. Both games start at 7:00 p.m., and the pregame show starts with Nick Nielsen at 6:30 p.m. on both nights.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com