Raiders forward Ty Meunier has 2G-3A in his last three games leading up to the weekend against Moose Jaw and Regina. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Busy weekend

Weekend preview: Raiders host Moose Jaw, head to Regina

Feb 21, 2025 | 12:00 PM

After Tuesday’s matchup saw the Prince Albert Raiders fall out of first place in the East Division with a 5-2 loss in Brandon, they are now looking to climb the standings. They’ll have the opportunity to do so on Friday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors, and on Saturday when the Raiders head to Regina to take on the Pats.

Tuesday’s loss in Brandon broke up a three-game winning streak for the Raiders with an 8-2 score on the road on Monday, a 4-2 win at home over Calgary, and a 6-1 win over Swift Current at home. In the two games before that, the Raiders split games against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Friday vs. Moose Jaw

The Raiders will start their second straight doubleheader against the Moose Jaw Warriors. They’ve lost their last eight games straight and in the 21 games since the start of 2025, they have only won twice. The Warriors have not played since that Monday meeting with the Raiders where the Raiders won 8-2.

The Monday matchup was the fourth game of the season series between the Raiders and the Warriors, in which the Raiders are a perfect 4-0. The Raiders won the first game 6-4 in September, then again 6-3 in December, and most recently a shootout win 3-2 in January.

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In the standings, the Raiders now sit second in the East Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference, just one point behind the Brandon Wheat Kings for the top spot in the East Division. Their record sits at 31-19-3-1 (W-L-OTL-SOL) and 66 points. The Warriors however are the bottom team in the league with a record of 11-38-4-2 on the year with 28 points.

On to goal scoring, the Raiders have a +19 differential between their 210 goals for and 191 goals against. That averages the Raiders to just below 3.9 goals per game.

The Warriors however have allowed 111 more goals than they have scored this season, the worst differential in the league, with 151 goals for and 262 goals against. That averages to a little below 2.8 goals per game.

On special teams, the Raiders powerplay sits second in the league at 29.2 per cent on the year, only behind the Spokane Chiefs at 29.6. On the penalty kill, the Raiders can’t seem to climb out of that spot at third last in the league at 72.9 per cent.

The Warriors powerplay went 1/2 on Monday which has brought them up to 13th in league powerplay at 23.1 per cent. Their penalty kill dropped down to the 17th spot to 74.3 per cent.

In individual scoring, Tomas Mrsic leads the Raiders and sits 12th in league scoring at 31G-45A-76P on the year. Aiden Oiring is still sitting 15th in the league and second on the Raiders with 21G-48A-69P, and both Mrsic and Oiring are both pointless in their last two games. Lukas Dragicevic is still tied for second in league scoring amongst defencemen with 14G-48A-62P on the year.

Riley Boychuk and Ty Meunier both have the longest point streaks for the Raiders right now with 2G-3A in their last three games. Oli Chenier also has an assist in each of the last two games.

The Warriors are led by Lynden Lakovic with 19G-25A-44P who missed all of January due to injury. Defenceman Aiden Ziprick sits second with 11G-27A-38P. Pavel McKenzie sits third with 15G-19A-34P, and former Raider Kryzstof Macias sits fourth with 13G-18A-31P.

Lakovic scored on Monday to extend his point streak to three games with 2G-3A since returning from injury. Aiden Ziprick has 1G-2A in his last three games, and Ethan Semeniuk has 0G-3A in his last three.

For goaltending, the Raiders are lead by Max Hildebrand with a league-best save percentage sitting at 0.915, and his record of 26-12-3-0 has him third in league wins and just two wins shy of the league lead. Backing up is Dimitri Fortin who played just once in the four games in a five night stretch for the Raiders where he stopped 37 of 39 shots faced (0.949) against Calgary. Fortin is 6-6-0-1 this season with a 0.887 save percentage.

Rookie Josh Banini has owned the net for the Warriors since the trades of Fortin and Jackson Unger. Banini’s save percentage dropped down to 0.894 after the loss on Monday, bringing his record to 3-13-0-1. Former Vancouver Giant Matthew Hutchinson is their backup, he sits at 0.878 and 11-15-2-0 on the year.

Saturday @ Regina

As for the Saturday matchup, this is the seventh of eight meetings this season between the Raiders and the Regina Pats, and the first time since January 29. The Raiders won that meeting 5-2 in Prince Albert, but the Pats won the Saturday before that 3-2 in a shootout in Regina. Before that, the Raiders won three straight meetings 5-0, 4-3 in a shootout, and 5-1, but the Pats won the opening game of the season 3-2 in overtime.

As of late, the Pats have lost their last six games in a row while picking up a single point in an overtime loss to Lethbridge, while they lost in regulation to Calgary, Medicine Hat, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Red Deer. In those six games, the Pats have been outscored 26-11. They play in Swift Current on Friday before meeting the Raiders on Saturday.

In the standings, the Warriors are the only team behind the Pats in the standings where they sit 10th in the Eastern Conference with 35 points on the year, and a record of 14-34-5-2.

The Pat have scored 143 goals this season with 230 goals against, meaning they’ve allowed 87 more goals than they’ve scored. They’re averaging exactly 2.6 goals per game.

On special teams, the Pats powerplay has seen the second last amount of opportunities this season, and they sit second worst in the league at 16.1 per cent. The Pats penalty kill is one of two worse than the Raiders this season, sitting 21st in the league at 71.7 per cent.

The top four scorers for the Pats are all players they’ve acquired via trades. It’s two former Everett Silvertips at the top with Julien Maze 10G-27A-37P, followed by Caden Brown at 16G-15A-31P. In third is former Calgary Hitmen Keets Fawcett at 10G-14A-24P.

In goal, it’s Kelton Pyne who has had most of the starts this season. His save percentage sits at 0.884 while his record is 11-18-4-2. Backing him up is Ewan Huet at 0.883 and 3-14-1-0 on the year.

The Raiders drop the puck against the Moose Jaw Warriors at 7:00pm on the Friday, at the Art Hauser Centre, and then the Raiders are on the road to Regina to take on the Pats at 7:00pm Saturday. The pregame show for both games starts at 6:30pm on Brandt Raider Radio on 900 CKBI.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com