With his third goal in two nights, Aiden Oiring celebrates after scoring his team leading 26th of the season. (Image Credit: Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders win 5-2

Raiders extend their point streak to four with dominant win over Wheat Kings

Feb 8, 2026 | 1:37 AM

The Prince Albert were a little up and down in their previous four games with a tough loss to Saskatoon, a dominant rematch over Saskatoon, an overtime loss to Calgary, and a win over Lethbridge that became more dominant as the game went one. The Raiders then welcomed the Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday night, and the Raiders took advantage of a banged up Wheat Kings squad for a 5-2 win in front of all their families celebrating parent/billet weekend.

Defenceman Benett Kelly got the scoring started the night before against Lethbridge by jumping up into the play and heading for the left side of the net. This time at 5:05, Riley Boychuk sent a puck from centre ice to Brandon Gorzysnki skating left through Wheat Kings blue line, and Kelly jumped into the play through centre the same way as the night before but he went to the right this time, took the pass from Gorzynski, and Kelly tipped it in to score his fifth of the season.

At 11:33, another Raiders rookie would score his fifth of the season. This time it was Evan Smith that got the play started out of his own zone to send Ben Harvey on the right side of centre, 2-on-2 through centre with Connor Howe. Harvey fed Howe in time to keep him onside, and Howe skated in to the right of the slot, stopped and made the defenceman fall, then ripped a wrist shot over the shoulder on a beautiful move.

The Raiders continued to press, but Wheat Kings goaltender Filip Ruzicka made some fantastic saves through the back half of the period including robbing Linden Burrett on a back door feed and immediately after on the rebound, and then on the next shift he stopped Braeden Cootes on a breakaway.

After 1: Raiders 2 – 0 Wheat Kings, shots 15-6 Raiders

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The Wheat Kings opened the scoring in the second period when Linden Burrett threw a big hit on Nigel Boehm on the left wall, but the puck came back towards Boehm as he was picking himself. Boehm quickly fired at the net and the puck bounced off of Michal Orsulak’s pad, and off Prabh Bathal’s skate and in at the 5:32 mark.

The Raiders went back to work after that and took control of the period, and at 9:39 Braeden Cootes scored another beauty on the night. Linden Burrett started the play and helped get the puck loose in his own zone for Cootes, and then Cootes drove up through the right side of centre. Cootes passed to Jonah Sivertson who moved the puck onside, then passed behind the defence for Cootes again who finished the play with a ridiculous wrist shot from a sharp angle for his 18th of the year.

At the 16:00 mark, and just as the Wheat Kings were leaving their zone, Jonah Sivertson picked up an assist when he used his long reach to jab a pokecheck away at centre. The play quickly came around as Braeden Cootes again picked up the puck, but this time he fed Alisher Sarkenov for the partial breakaway. Sarkenov fired again, and he had his second goal in as many nights as well as his 15th of the year.

After 2: Raiders 4-1 Wheat Kings, shots 14-7 Raiders, 29-15 Raiders overall

Not a lot of penalties were called in this game, but both teams would trade goals on their second chance of the night early in the third. The Wheat Kings converted on the powerplay first when Cam Allard was given the puck in the middle of the blue line, and the Raiders penalty kill gave him a little too much room in the slot before he fired and gave the Wheat Kings some life at 5:20.

Then the Raiders got a long 5-on-3 powerplay for their second and third powerplay chances of the night, and they scored on a picture perfect passing play. Daxon Rudolph didn’t get an assist but he started the play when he sent a pass from the right point down low to Braeden Cootes in the left corner. Cootes one touch passed it back to Justice Christensen on the left point, he fired a wrist shot, and Aiden Oiring crashed in for the rebound and his team leading 26th of the season.

With less than seven minutes left in the came, Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett and Wheat Kings defenceman Giorgos Pantelas each went to the penalty box with roughing penalties, but the tensions didn’t ease there. When the penalty box doors opened, the gloves came off and the staredown began. The two circled each other towards the Wheat Kings blue line before they locked up, and Linden Burrett won the first bit of the fight when he switched between uppercuts and straight right hands. Pantelas wrestled Burrett and got his left hand free, and Pantelas threw some left hands that landed hard and bloodied up Burrett’s face. Burrett then wrestled Pantelas to the ground, the two were seperated, and Burrett fired up the crowd on his way off the ice after a great fight to finish the game.

FINAL: Raiders 5 – 2 Wheat Kings, shots 18-9 Raiders, 47-22 Raiders overall

Both Benett Kelly and Connor Howe scored their fifth goal of the season on the night. Also on the night, Kelly, Aiden Oiring, Braeden Cootes, and Alisher Sarkenov have all scored in two consecutive games.

On the note of Connor Howe, the line of ‘Smitty and the Kids’ with Evan Smith and Ben Harvey have again been one of the best parts about the Raiders offence. Harvey has a point in his last four games, Howe has a point in each of the last three games, and Smith has a point in three of the last four games. In the last four games as a unit, they have combined for 3G-7A-10P.

In his return after missing four games, Michal Orsulak was his usual self with a solid performance in net. The two that got by him were a wide open look at the net from the middle of the slot, and a play that saw the right guy crash the net at the right time to bounce it in off a skate. With 20 saves on 22 shots, Orsulak would post a 0.909 save percentage.

The Raiders will have the next two days off before finishing this four game home stand on Tuesday when the Raiders welcome the Regina Pats.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com