Beam me up Scottie; Raiders rookie stars in win over Giants

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Up to a couple days ago, Ian Scott wasn’t sure if he’d have a permanent roster spot with the Prince Albert Raiders for the entirety of this season, as there were still two other goaltenders to beat out.

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But since the Raiders announced on Thursday that Nick McBride ‘mutually left’ the team, that means that Scott’s cemented into the Raiders roster for his 16-year-old year.

“I knew coming in, it wasn’t going to be easy,” said Scott. “Rylan’s a good goalie, Nick’s a good goalie and I could learn a lot from them. But I just came here with a goal and that was to make the team.

“I’m just happy it all worked out.”

After making 29 saves through 65 minutes, Scott stopped all three Giants shooters in the shootout. After stopping Giants’ 6’5 giant Radovan Bondra to seal the deal, the Raiders bench came and mobbed Scott after to congratulate the rookie with the big win.

Tim Vanstone, who played his first game as the Raiders’ captain, beat everybody and was the first to give Scott a big hug at the Raiders’ faceoff circle.

“I remember when I scored my first goal, it’s the same thing getting that first win. You want the guys embracing,” said Vanstone. “He held us in there, he gave us a chance to win, that’s all you can ask for.

“The guy’s 16, the ceiling he has is… you can’t see it. The guy has so much potential, he’s proving it right now.”

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid jokingly took the credit for Scott’s success in the shootout after shooting on him himself in practice.

“I’ve been shooting on him in the shootout, it must be my mischievous moves that he’s caught on to. The backhand-forehand deke, he’s figured that out so I guess I’ll take credit for the shootout [success],” grinned Habscheid. “Seriously, he’s a world class goalie for his age, it didn’t surprise me at all.

“He’s really calm in there, what he does is he anticipates and he sees how the shooters do it. You can’t teach that, it’s a good given skill. He’s got a really good future ahead of him.”

Tale of the tape

The Giants led 2-0 after the first period with goals from Dakota Odgers and Jackson Houck. The Raiders got back into the game after an enthusiastic start to the second period, with Sean Montgomery and Simon Stransky scoring to tie the game.

The Giants got the last laugh in the second. While Odgers was leaving the box, he dished over to Jesse Roach to put the Giants ahead 3-2 with just 17.4 seconds left in the second frame.

The Raiders dug in to go ahead 4-3 in the third after a snipe from Reid Gardiner and a jam goal by Luke Coleman.

With 34.9 seconds left, Giants forward Alec Baer tied the game to send it to overtime. Reid Gardiner was the lone scorer in the shootout.

Giants goaltender Payton Lee made 32 saves in the loss, his first of the year.

The announced attendance was 2,147. In the Raiders’ home opener on Saturday, they had 2,627.

Looking ahead

The Raiders will stick around at the Art Hauser Centre for two more games before their American road trip Oct. 10-17.

They’ll play the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday, before the Kootenay Ice on Tuesday.

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea