Feb.8 at Brandon
HOCKEY TOWN NORTH NOTES: Tonight is the Prince Albert Raiders 8th straight road game…Their last game at home was Jan.18th, a 6-2 win over Red Deer…The Raiders are 2-5-0-0 on this junket on the road including going 2-3-0-0 on their most recent 5 game tour of the US Division…The Raiders defeated the Everett Silvertips 3-1 and Portland Winter Hawks 4-2 during their dip south of the boarder…In their last game, Saturday the Raiders were defeated 5-1 by the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Washington…The Raiders record stands at 18-32-3-2 (7-15-2-1 at home, 11-17-1-1 on the road, 1-3 in overtime, 1-2 in shoot outs) for 41 points, 11th in the WHL Eastern Conference one point behind Saskatoon, but with a game in hand over the Blades…Saturday in Kennewick, the Raiders opened the scoring against the Americans, 2 and a half minutes into the game…Tri-City responded 4 minutes later and it was 1-1 after the first…The Ams scored goals 10 minutes apart in the second to go up 3-1 after forty minutes, then scored two more unanswered in the third for the 5-1 win…Tri-City out shot PA 48-27…When the Raiders lead after 2 periods they are 15-0-2-1, but when trailing after forty minutes are 0-26-0-1…The Raiders have 24 players on their roster including 2 twenty-year olds, 7 nineteen year-olds, 3 eighteen year-olds, 9 seventeen year-olds and 3 sixteen year-olds…The Raiders roster includes 11 first year WHL players.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Raiders failed to score on 6 power play chances in Tri-City Saturday and surrendered one short handed against…On the season the Raiders have scored 40 power play goals in 234 tries (17.1% – 17th best in the WHL)…On the road the Raiders have the 6th best PP in the league (25/123=20.3%), but on home ice they are ranked #21 (15/111=13.5%)…Tri-City did not score on 4 power play opportunities Saturday as the Raiders have allowed just one power play goal against in 18 chances in the past 4 games…On the season the Raiders have surrendered 59 power play goals against in 277 chances (78.7% – 18th in the WHL)…The Raiders have scored 3 short handed goals and surrendered nine short handed goals against.
UPCOMING GAMES: Tomorrow night the Raiders return home for the first time in over three weeks as they entertain the Edmonton Oil Kings with the Wheat Kings to visit Sunday…The Raiders play 11 of their remaining 16 regular season games after tonight at the Art Hauser Centre…Next week they are on the road Wednesday in Moose Jaw…A game originally scheduled for Tuesday, Feb.12 in Saskatoon has been moved to Wednesday, Feb.20.
VS. THE WHEAT KINGS: This is the 4th of 6 meetings this season between the Raiders and Wheat Kings and first in Brandon…The Raiders are 0-2-0-1 against Brandon…The Wheat Kings won the first game 5-4 in a shoot out Nov.14 in PA then 4-3 Dec.15 in PA…In the Raiders first visit of the season to Brandon the Wheat Kings prevailed 9-3 Jan.6…Last year the Raiders were 3-4-0-1 against the Wheat Kings – 3-1-0-0 in games played in PA and 0-3-0-1 in games played in Brandon…The Wheat Kings are in PA for the final time Sunday, with the Raiders in Brandon Mar.12.
INJURY REPORT: Bryce Lamb – Mononucleosis (day to day), Jordan Trach – Concussion (week to week), Blaine Tendler – Concussion (week to week).
RAIDER REPORT: Zak Stebner scored his first WHL goal in Tri-City Saturday assisted by Jared Jagow and James Dobrowolski …Steven Stanford took the loss in goal despite stopping 43 of the 48 shots he faced…Dustin Butler was in goal for both wins in the U.S. including beating his former teammates in Portland…Stebner’s goal was the first by a Raider defenceman in the past 7 games…Ryan McDonald has points (3G, 5A) in 6 of the past 8 games…McDonald has taken over the team lead in scoring by one point over Matt Robertson…Max Brandl is tied for 14th in the league in first goals (5), is 2nd among rookies for power play goals (8) and is tied for 19th in rookie scoring (26 pts.)…Justin Bernhardt has 33 points (14G,19A) in 36 games since being acquired from Kelowna Nov.1…Bernhardt has 22 of his 33 points on the road…17 of Dustin Cameron’s 24 points in a Raider uniform have been picked up on the road…Ryan White suffered a large cut on his leg Jan.29 in Everett that took numerous stitches to close…White missed the games in Seattle Jan. 30 and Portland Feb.1, but returned to the line up Saturday in Tri-City…Jordan Trach suffered a concussion Jan.15 and is out week to week…Blaine Tendler suffered a concussion Jan.18 and also is sidelined week to week…Only Robertson, Nathan Deck and Ashton Hewson have appeared in all 54 games this season…Robertson celebrated his 20th birthday yesterday, one of five Raiders who have birthdays in February (Brandl turns 20 Feb.13, Tendler turns 18 Feb.21, Bernhardt turns 20 Feb.25 and Tomas Voracek turns 18 Feb.27)…7 Raider celebrate birthdays in April…16 year-old left winger Cole Penner has been added to the Raiders roster for the remainder of the season…Penner, the Raiders first round WHL Bantam pick, 4th overall in 2006, was at training camp, but decided to go to Brooks (AJHL), then Medicine Hat Midgets this season…Penner has 7 points in 12 games for Brooks before suffering broken ribs…Jagow was acquired before the trade deadline, along with a 3rd round bantam pick from Regina in exchange for Ryan DePape…Also at the trading deadline the Raiders dealt 20 year-old captain Jeff May to Lethbridge for 15 year-old Brent Martin, 16 year-old Robbie Ciolfi and a second round draft pick…Bryce Lamb has been out the past 41 games, since Oct.23…He suffered a broken wrist, which is healed, but Lamb is now out with mononucleosis.
