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Raiders pull one out of the fire against the ICE

Feb 7, 2018 | 9:20 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders extended their point streak to nine games after 4-3 regulation win over the Kootenay ICE, but it was far from easy Wednesday at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Raiders controlled the play and led in shots 31-14, but only led 3-2 due to some opportunistic shots from the ICE.

In the third period, it was all ICE as they stormed back, got the tying goal from Alec Baer and had the Raiders on their heels for most of the final frame—outshooting them 9-3.

“In all honestly, we were schooled,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said about the third period. “We tried to cheat on the play a little bit and play an easier way. Shifts got long and we tried a lot of hope passes, just did a lot of things out of character. In the end, we got the win but we have to learn from this. There are some things to clean up before the weekend.”

Raiders forward Jordy Stallard scored with 1:18 left in the game to pull the win out of the fire for the Raiders.

Raiders forward Cole Fonstad had the puck and faked the drop pass to Parker Kelly who was at the top of the slot. That drew in three ICE defenders, leaving Stallard alone in front of the net.

“I think he tricked everyone on the ice where he was going with it,” Stallard said. “We had a 2-on-0 and he made a nice pass over to me, I was able to find the net.

“We made eye contact and we were like ‘are we really on a 2-on-0?’ I wasn’t sure if he was going to take it to the net, but I just to carry on in case he passed it.”

With the win, the Raiders are back into the WHL Eastern Conference wildcard spot with a 22-20-9-2. The Raiders are 6-0-3 in their last nine games.

It’s Pillar time

Elsewhere in the WHL, the Kamloops Blazers called up 15-year-old Josh Pillar from the Prince Albert Mintos.

Pillar leads all rookies in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League with 45 points (including 20 goals) in 39 games played. The Blazers drafted the warrior from Warman 14th overall in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Jordy Stallard from Regan Nagy and Curtis Miske, 5:39

2-0, Raiders, Curtis Miske from Vojtech Budik and Spencer Moe (power play), 17:27

2-1, ICE, Cameron Hausinger (unassisted), 17:50

Second Period

2-2, ICE, Sebastian Streu from Cole Muir and Loeden Schaufler, 13:45

3-2, Raiders, Spencer Moe from Curtis Miske, 18:43

Third Period

3-3, ICE, Alec Baer from Brett Davis and Gilian Kohler, 8:04

4-3, Raiders, Jordy Stallard from Cole Fonstad and Vojtech Budik, 18:42

Busy, busy weekend

The Raiders will go through their fifth and final three-games-in-three-nights stretch this season over the weekend.

The Raiders will head to Swift Current to take on the Broncos on Friday, then battle the Blades in Saskatoon on Saturday, before returning on Sunday to take on the Broncos at 4 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

 

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW