Braeden Cootes celebrates with Daxon Rudolph, the latter of which had scored his 11th powerplay goal of the season to tie the record for most powerplay goals by a defenceman set by Josh Morrissey. (Image Credit: Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders win 6-0

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Feb 7, 2026 | 1:51 AM

It had been an up and down week for the Prince Albert Raiders who have been facing injury troubles the last three games, but they did come into Friday’s game with points in the last two games and the first secured playoff spot in the league. The Lethbridge Hurricanes had lost their most recent game but won the three before that, but the Raiders were the ones the found the back of the net and earned the 6-0 win.

Still without Brayden Dube and Michal Orsulak, the Raiders also saw the returns of former Raider Oli Chenier for the first time since his trade to Lethbridge, and the recently returned Matteo Fabrizi.

The first five minutes of the game went by without a shot, and the Hurricanes even got out to a shot lead, but by the 10:26 mark the Raiders had taken all the momentum. Benett Kelly started the play on the breakout through centre ice, and sent a pass to Jonah Sivertson waiting at the right side of the blueline. Sivertson held the puck inside the blueline as the rest of the play caught up, shot for a rebound, and Kelly driving the net whacked it in for his fourth of the season.

Then after a reviewed play revealed Aiden Oiring get high sticked at the tail end of a breakaway, the Raiders got a four minute powerplay to work with. It took the Raiders 40 seconds to find the net Brandon Gorzynski stretched to hold the puck in on the right wall, then made a great short pass to Braeden Cootes in the middle of the blueline, then left for Daxon Rudolph who fired it home for his 22nd of the season at 18:30.

After 1: Raiders 2 – 0 Hurricanes, shots 11-3 Raiders

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For the fourth straight game, Steele Bass stood between the pipes for the Raiders. While the team in front of him spent more and more time in the second period in the offensive zone, Hurricanes leading goal scorer Owen Berge took a missed pass away for a breakaway, but Bass stood tall on the save for his best work of the night.

At the 13:30 mark, Braeden Cootes and Alisher Sarkenov made a fantastic play together on the forecheck, and Cootes finished it off with a phemonal finish. One of the Hurricanes was trying to leave their zone up the left side, but Sarkenov cutting in from the middle of the blueline forced the defender into Cootes curling out of the corner. Cootes first with the stick lift, Sarkenov took the puck, Sarkenov sent the puck ahead for Cootes, and Cootes finished it off with a great display of patience on the backhand before firing it off the post and off a crashing defender and in for his 17th of the season.

Before the end of the period, Linden Burrett would drop the gloves with Gavin Lesiuk. Burrett and Lesiuk largely tied each other up with their lead arms, keeping each other at distance and trying to throw heavy shots at each other. Only a few landed from either man before they were split up, and they’d each sit for five.

After 2: Raiders 3 – 0 Hurricanes, shots 16-6 Raiders, 27-9 Raiders overall

The first two periods still saw the odd mistake we aren’t used to seeing from the Raiders this season, but the third was another dominant period for the Raiders. At the 10:21 mark with the Raiders on the penalty kill, Matyas Man stole the puck at his blueline, and he quickly sent it ahead to spring Max Heise on a 2-on-1 with Aiden Oiring. Heise sent the pass from the right to Oiring crashing the backdoor on the left, and Oiring tipped it in for his 24th of the season.

AO wasn’t done yet, but with different linemates he scored an almost identical goal at 14:26. Connor Howe started the play out of his own zone when he sent a pass from the middle to Ben Harvey streaking up the right. With Oiring hustling off the bench, that created a 3-on-1 with Harvey and Howe, and Harvey decided to go right back to Oiring who scored his team leading 25th of the season and second of the night.

Finally at the 16:00 mark, Alisher Sarkenov made a check at the benches that freed the puck up for Jonah Sivertson. He quickly sent the puck ahead for Braeden Cootes drove into the zone down the left wall. Halfway in he slowed down and watched the play develop, then found Sarkenov trailing into the slot who snapped in his 14th of the season.

FINAL: Raiders 6 – 0 Hurricanes, shots 13-5 Raiders, 40-14 Raiders overall

With his 22nd goal of the season, Daxon Rudolph also tied Josh Morrissey for the Raiders record for powerplay goals by a defenceman with his 11th of the year.

With two goals on the night to bring him to 25 on the season, Aiden Oiring has now taken the lead in goal scoring from Max Heise, and now has the most points on the team with 57. In both categories, he is ahead by just one.

The line of ‘Smitty and the Kids’ Evan Smith, Ben Harvey, and Connor Howe continues to be hot for the Raiders. In the last three games, Smith has just one assist but has done a lot of the dirty work to help get the puck free on the forecheck and in the offensive zone, Howe now has three assists, and Harvey has two goals and and assist for a combined 2G-5A-7P.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com