By Trevor Redden

Redden on the Raiders: Royal victory

Oct 27, 2017 | 2:00 PM

If you really look for it, you can always find the flaws in any situation, and the current play of the Prince Albert Raiders is no exception as some have been quick to point out the “ifs” and “buts” following Wednesday’s win over the high-flying Victoria Royals.

Yes, the Royals were on the tail end of a grueling seven-game road swing, and coming off a game the night before in Saskatoon.

Yes, the game was low on intensity through the first 40 minutes as the two teams engaged in a chess match, with the Raiders defending the quick strike offence of the Royals.

Yes, the Raiders have just two wins in their last five games, and gave up a two-goal lead against the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday night before picking up the overtime win.

However, from what I have seen from this team so far this season, there is no reason not to believe that this is a winning hockey team.

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Coming into Wednesday, the Raiders picked up points in seven of their last nine games, and although the wins hadn’t been coming with the frequency that fans would have liked, the team was playing in a way that was giving them a chance to win every single night.

This game was no different as the Raiders defended the potent Royals offence well all night before striking with three big goals in the third period to knock off the number nine team in the CHL.

Prior to their meeting with the Raiders, the Royals were 10-1-0 when leading after two periods, but Prince Albert found a way to break through, picking up their second straight win.

My thoughts this week:

Pachal thrives against former team

Wednesday night’s game was a big one for defenceman Brayden Pachal, who was facing his former team for the first time since a trade brought him to Prince Albert last season.

Ahead of the game, Marc Habscheid said of Pachal: “The best way to describe him, is he’s a winner. He plays to win, he trains to win, he does everything to win, and you need that on your team.”

In the third period, with the game tied at 2-2 and the Raiders on the penalty kill, Pachal muscled the puck up the boards in the defensive zone and cut toward centre, seeing an opportunity to advance the puck. In doing so, he put himself in a vulnerable position and took a high stick from a Royals defender, drawing a penalty call. However, before the Royals could touch the puck, Pachal moved it ahead to Devon Skoleski who broke in and put it home to give the team a 3-2 lead in the third.

The game wasn’t over yet as the Raiders needed more to put away the Royals, but Pachal played a key part in getting the Raiders rolling in the third.

I saw him briefly postgame, and he had a big smile on his face as he talked about how good it felt to get the win against his former team.

Guhle puts on a show at WHL Cup

Raiders prospect Kaiden Guhle, the first overall draft pick in the 2017 bantam draft, put on a stellar performance at the WHL Cup last week, a tournament that pits the top 15-year-old talent from each western Canadian province head to head. Guhle finished third in tournament scoring and first amongst defencemen with five goals and four assists for nine points in five games played with Team Alberta.

“I was pretty surprised with the showing I put out. I think you’ve got to have good teammates to play with to be able to do that well,” Guhle said of his performance. “For sure it helps with my confidence to know that I’m capable of doing that, and I’m looking forward to bringing it back to my team (OHA Prep) in Edmonton.”

My conversation with Kaiden will be aired during Friday night’s broadcast, and a story will be available on paNOW early next week.

Muay Thai?

On Saturday night, D-Jay Jerome showed a different side to his game as he engaged in two fights, first against Blades defenceman Jake Kustra in the first period, and later against Gage Ramsay early in the second.

These were the first two official fights in his WHL regular season career, but as it turns out, he’s no stranger to the rough stuff.

“I’ve been around fighting my whole life, growing up with my brother being a professional fighter,” Jerome said before casually elaborating. “He holds the Muay Thai world title.”

I won’t pretend to know anything about kickboxing, but a quick Google search revealed that D-Jay’s brother Cody Jerome is the current Middleweight World Champion of the International Kickboxing Federation after a Muay Thai title fight in April in Burbank, California. D-Jay also told me that Cody trains other fighters at a gym in Lethbridge, and they spend a lot of time working out together in the off season.

If you saw what Kevin Bieksa did to Radko Gudas earlier this week in the NHL, you know that martial arts and hockey can be a dangerous combination.

Roster shakeup

The Raiders goaltender situation was sorted out Thursday as the team announced that Nicholas Sanders had been reassigned. Tough pill to swallow for a guy that by all accounts did a great job last season, but full credit to Curtis Meger for taking advantage of his early season opportunity and forcing his way onto the team.

As for Sottile, he’s a hard-working player that seemed to do what he was asked, but unfortunately it became a numbers game when the team acquired Brett Leason from the Tri-City Americans Wednesday night.

Leason is an intriguing player, as he was the MVP of the Alberta Minor Midget Hockey League in 2014-15 with 83 points in 30 games played. The 1999-born forward has played 81 games with the Americans, producing 19 points.