The Raiders look for their first win of the season series against the Broncos after 5-4 and 9-4 losses this year. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Revenge and First Action on the docket

Weekend preview: Raiders on the road for revenge and at home for a first matchup

Nov 29, 2024 | 9:11 AM

A new opponent comes to Prince Albert on Saturday night, but first the Raiders will seek redemption against a previous rival on the road Friday. The Prince Albert Raiders head to Swift Current tonight to take on the Broncos, the last team to beat the Raiders in regulation, and then welcome the Lethbridge Hurricanes to town for the first time this season on Saturday.

Starting with the Friday matchup, the Swift Current Broncos have surprised many as they found a top three spot in the Eastern Conference with a record of 14-9-0-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) on the season. However, the Broncos have found themselves in a bit of a rough patch lately, giving up seven goals in each of their last two games and losing three of their last four, including their most recent game where they lost 7-4 to the last-in-league Moose Jaw Warriors.

The Raiders and Max Hildebrand are coming into the game off their first shutout of the year, winning 5-0 over the Regina Pats. The Raiders have not lost in regulation in their last six games, earning five wins and an overtime loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Their recent hot streak has brought the Raiders into the fight for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, sitting one point back of the eighth-place Red Deer Rebels.

This marks the third matchup of the season between the Raiders and Broncos, with the Broncos winning 5-4 at home on September 28, and 9-4 in Prince Albert in the Raiders’ most recent loss in regulation on November 1. It’s also the Raiders only road game out of an eight-game stretch. In the nine games since the Raiders went to B.C., the Raiders have only lost twice.

On to scoring, the Raiders goals-per-game this season has stayed consistent at the 3.6 mark with 72 goals for in 20 games. Two big wins over Edmonton and Regina have helped bring their goal differential down to -6 thanks to only 78 goals against. As for the Broncos, they’ve managed 91 goals in 23 games for an average of just below 4.0 goals per game with 89 goals against for a +2.

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The Raiders are coming in with some of the best specials teams in the league on both sides of the puck. On the powerplay, the Raiders number ranked powerplay in the league has had at least one goal in the last nine games, since October 19, and is operating at 29.5 per cent. As for the penalty kill, it might not look great at 17th in the league and 74.3 per cent, but the Raiders have gone 14/14 in their last four games on the penalty kill.

As for Swift Current, the Broncos’ powerplay sits 15th in the league at 20.5 per cent, being held scoreless through the last five games at 0/5. Their penalty kill is in a similar spot, ranked 16th in the league at 75.0 per cent, but their penalty kill has been perfect in three of their last five games at 11/14 or 78.6 per cent.

Aiden Oiring is back on top of the Raiders scoring race with 9G-18A-27P, and is currently riding a five game point streak where he’s put up 3G-7A. Tomas Mrsic is right behind him with 13G-13A-27P on the year and leads the league in powerplay goals with nine, and Lukas Dragicevic sits third with 1G-24A-25P on the year. Dragicevic’s 24 assists is good for fifth in the league, and his 16 powerplay assists leads the league by three.

Aside from his five game point streak, Oiring also has goals in each of his last three. The only other true streak for the Raiders belongs to Niall Crocker with three assists in his last two games. After having his seven-game assist streak broken two games ago, Dragicevic earned two assists in his last game for 15 assists in his last nine games. Tomas Mrsic also got back on the board with an assist last game after having his seven-game streak snapped, now with 7G-8A in his last nine games.

As for the Broncos, they’re lead by Luke Mistelbacher with 16G-22A-38P on the season. Captain Clarke Caswell sits second in team scoring with 7G-27A-34P, and his 27 assists are good for the third place spot in the league. Brady Birnie sits third with 14G-18A-32P on the year.

Carlin Dezainde is the hot hand for the Broncos with 1G-5A in his last four games after making his commitment to play NCAA Div I hockey at the University of Connecticut next year. Rylan Gould comes into the game with 1G-4A in his last three games, and with points in each of their last two games are Grayson Burzynski with 1G-2A and Brady Birnie with 0G-2A.

In goal, Max Hildebrand comes in with a fifth in the league ranked 0.910 save percentage and a 9-6-3 record. Fresh off his first shutout of the season, Hildebrand has been in net for every game of the Raiders six game point streak with a 0.941 save percentage in that time.

As for the backup situation, Cooper Anderson’s last action came against the Swift Current Broncos where he was brought into the game in the second period. On the season, Anderson is 0-2 with a 0.802 save percentage. The Raiders also brought in Dimitri Fortin from the Moose Jaw Warriors earlier this week, his record sits at 1-2 with a 0.863 save percentage.

Reid Dyck has had the majority of the starts for the Broncos this season. He sits at 9-7 on the season through the 16 games he’s played with a save percentage at 0.894 with one shutout on the year. Joey Rocha has started in eight games this year, boasting a 0.875 save percentage and a record of 5-2 record.

Now to Saturday’s matchup when the Raiders return home to play host to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, the Hurricanes come in with a 12-8-1-1 record on the year. The Hurricanes just finished one of their two trips to the U.S. this year, where they lost all three games to extend their losing skid to four games. They’ll play Saskatoon on Friday night before coming to Prince Albert.

The Hurricanes have 77 goals for and 74 goals against on the season, good for a +3 differential and an average of 3.5 goals per game through their 22 games.

On the season, Lethbridge has one of the better powerplays in the league sitting at 25.6 per cent for sixth place, but their man advantage has been on a skid recently. They went 2/6 on the powerplay in their most recent game against Seattle, but in the four games prior they went 0/8.

As for their penalty kill, they’re in the middle of the league at 76.6 per cent, tied with Everett for the 12th place spot. Before going a perfect 6/6 on the penalty kill in Seattle, the Hurricanes had given up at least two goals on the penalty kill in each of the three games leading up to it.

Brayden Edwards leads the Hurricanes in scoring with 12G-18A-30P on the year. Logan Wormald has four game winning goals this year, he sits second in team scoring with 13G-16A-29P, tied with Miguel Marques at 10G-19A-29P. It’s a steep dropoff to fourth though where Will Sharpe sits with 2G-17A-19P on the year.

Finally looking at their goaltending tandem, Brady Smith has 15 games under his belt this year with a record of 8-3-1-1 on the year and a 0.885 save percentage. Koen Cleaver has the lone shutout of the year for the Hurricanes, his record sits 4-4 through eight games with a 0.896 save percentage.

The Raiders are on the road Friday to take on the Swift Current Broncos, then return home to face the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday. Both games start at 7:00 p.m., you can catch all the action on 900 CKBI with Nick Nielsen starting with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com