Raiders announce captains ahead of yearly match with Thunderbirds

Raiders Head Coach Ryan McDonald will talk about all five captains during the pregame show on 900 CKBI. He spoke about why Sivertson is the right leader for this group.

“Just looking at Jonah’s growth. It’s been tremendous year over year and we thought he’s done a fantastic job on and off the ice. This is a group that is going to be lead by committee, and we got a lot of leaders in that room and we felt Jonah’s voice was the one to spearhead that leadership.”

Last Five Games:

The Raiders have been bouncing back and forth between home and road games over their last five, but the Raiders are coming into Friday’s contest on a three game winning streak.

Most recently on Wednesday, the Raiders won at home 4-2 over Brandon, then on the road 7-2 in Swift Current, and then started the win streak at home 3-2 over Everett. Then came three losses in overtime in a row, including an overtime loss in Brandon 5-4, and a 4-3 loss in a shootout at home against Moose Jaw. The sixth game in the point streak was also a 4-3 shootout loss to Moose Jaw, but on the road.

As for the Thunderbirds, they 1-3-1 in their last five games and are finishing up their Saskatchewan road swing this weekend with only Prince Albert and Saskatoon left on the trip.

They were shutout in Swift Current 3-0 in their last game, but won 6-4 in Moose Jaw. They also lost 2-1 in Brandon and took a 6-0 loss in Regina to start the trip. In their last game before leaving, the Thunderbirds lost 3-2 in a shootout at home against Spokane.

Season Series and Team News:

It’s the only matchup of the season between the Raiders and Thunderbirds, and the first meeting between the two teams after last year’s blockbuster deal that saw the Raiders acquire Braeden Cootes. Last year, the Raiders won 5-4 in overtime in Seattle thanks to Brayden Dube’s shot bouncing off the goaltender’s stick, high over his head, and dropping into the net behind him.

The Raiders have won the last three contests in a row against the Thunderbirds. The last time the Thunderbirds took the win was Jan. 13, 2022 when the Thunderbirds won 3-2 over the Raiders.

Aside from the big news about the captaincy, the other big news for the Raiders heading into the game is the announcement that Brock Cripps has earned a spot with Team CHL at the upcoming CHL USA Prospects Challenge coming up in December. Cripps currently leads the WHL in assists with 16, is second in points among all defencemen, and is the only defenceman in the WHL to receive an ‘A’ ranking on the first NHL Central Scouting List, and will join Raiders Head Coach Ryan McDonald on Team CHL. Ben Harvey and Oskars Luks also made the NHL Central Scouting lists with ‘C’ and ‘W’ ranks respectively, and Raiders prospect Gavin Sattler also received a ‘C’ rank.

As for the Thunderbirds, five players received nods on the NHL Central Scouting List lead by Brock England with an ‘A’ rank. Marcus Laraque and Grayson Tash both received ‘C’ ranks, while Seamus Dillon and Owen Hayden both received ‘W’ ranks. The game also marks the return of Ethan Bibeau to the Art Hauser Centre, who was part of last year’s deal to acquire Cootes.

On special teams, the Raiders powerplay is continuing it’s climb up the ranks at fifth in the league now, operating at 25%. The penalty kill still sits 20th in the league, but improved to 74.5%, up 2.1% from their last game.

Seattle’s powerplay has been the second worst in the league so far, only ahead of Swift Current at 11.5%. Their penalty kill however is top half of the league at ninth, or 83.3%.

Leading Scorers:

With six straight multi-point games, Brock Cripps has taken a lead at the top of the Raiders scoring with 1G-16A-17P. Then there’s a tie for second between Alisher Sarkenov (8G-5A-13P) and Ben Harvey (6G-7A-13P), and Brandon Gorzynski rounds out the top four with 7G-4A-11P.

Scoring streaks:

Brandon Gorzynski: seven games, 6G-4A
Brock Cripps: six games, 1G-12A
Alisher Sarkenov: six games, 5G-4A
Benett Kelly: three games, 1G-3A
Jonah Sivertson: three games, 3G-0A
Riley Boychuk: three games, 1G-2A (2G-4A in last six games)
Owen Corkish: three games, 0G-3A (1G-4A in last six games)
Ben Harvey: two games, 1G-2A
Jordan Murray: two games, 0G-3A

For the Thunderbirds, Noah Kosick leads the way with 4G-9A-13P. After that there’s a tie for second between Antonio Martorana (4G-5A-9P) and Brock England (3G-6A-9P), and finally Tash Grayson with 2G-5A-7P rounds out the top four.

Scoring streaks:

The Thunderbirds were shutout in their last game, so no one has an active point streak going. Before losing in Swift Current on Wednesday though:

Antonio Martorana: two games, 1G-2A
Noah Kosick: two games, 0G-3A
Matthew Gard: two games, 1G-1A

Goaltending:

In goal, Michal Orsulak is rested after taking Wednesday off, he has a 4-4-2 record, a 0.889 save percentage and a 3.13 goals against average. Steele Bass is coming off one of his best performances for his first win of the year, now with a 1-2-1 record along with a 0.883 and 3.12.

As for the Thunderbirds, Grayson Malinoski has the majority starts this year. Malinoski has a 2-4-1 record, a 0.919 save percentage, and a 2.28 goals against average. Marek Sklenicka has a 2-3-0 record, a 0.871, and a 4.07.

The Raiders play host to the Thunderbirds in their only game of the weekend Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre. Game time is at 7:00 p.m, you can listen in on 900 CKBI during the Brandt Raider Radio pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m, and stick around after the game for Music Bingo.

nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

Raiders announce captains ahead of yearly match with Thunderbirds

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