Redden on the Raiders: Back-to-back with Broncos, Moe stays hot, Belarusians defending home ice

The Broncos have seen some big offensive contributions by new faces in the past couple weeks, with Jaxan Kaluski and Sergei Alkhimov both near a point-per-game pace in a Bronco uniform since joining the club this month.

Overall, Swift Current is led by Prince Albert native Ethan Regnier, pacing the club with 11 points in 19 games played.

On the Raider side, Spencer Moe will look to finish the month of November strong after putting up points in 10 of 11 games so far since the calendar turned. Altogether, Moe has 17 points this month, and is now seven points back of setting a new career high after producing 33 points all of last year.

Moe was my guest this week on the Overtime Podcast, discussing his good start to the year among other things.

Moe-vember continues

Sometimes there’s an interesting story behind a change of fortune for a player.

A new tape job, a different hair cut, an alternate route to the rink. Hockey players are notoriously superstitious, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for Moe. He didn’t want to take credit for his recent successes, and instead pointed to his linemates.

“It’s easy playing with Protas and Watts; they’re pretty good players and sometimes I just have to give them the puck and they put it in the net,” Moe said in the oversimplification of the month.

In addition, Moe discussed his changing role this year as part of the team’s leadership group, one of just two 19-year-olds remaining on the roster. It was a slow start to the year offensively, but he scored his first two goals of the year on Oct. 11 vs. Lethbridge and has been on fire ever since.

Belarussians to defend home ice

Both Aliaksei Protas and Ilya Usau have been selected to represent Belarus at the upcoming World Junior Division 1A Championships, beginning Dec. 9 in Minsk.

It’s certainly not much of a surprise that the two have been invited, with Protas showing himself as one of the top players in the WHL with 37 points in 23 games coming into the weekend, and Usau nearing the 20-point threshold as a rookie.

An opportunity to play for their home country on home soil is something that they are taking very seriously.

“It’s a big honour for me to be named to the roster,” Protas said. “I will try to bring my best to make the team and play in front of our fans in Belarus. It’s a big deal for us, we want to play in the top division next season so we will try to bring our best.”

Belarus hosted a world event back in the spring of 2016, with the Under-18 Division 1A tournament being held in Minsk. That year, Belarus finished first and moved to the top division the following year, which is something the team is hoping to duplicate this year.

“I hope this season is going to be the same, we want to play against the best teams. It’s a big deal for our team, for our fans, for our staff, everybody,” Protas said, adding that the fan support will be massive in Minsk.

“It will be a full rink, around 7,000 every game, so it’s going to be awesome.”

Protas and Usau will leave the Raiders after this weekend, returning after Christmas when the schedule resumes on Dec. 27.

“It doesn’t matter for us, we just want to playi the elite division and help our country be the best they can be. We’ll try to bring our best to this tournament, and it would be fun to play in Edmonton and Red Deer next year.”

Trade winds blowing

November is typically a month where contending teams begin making trades to bolster their lineup for the remainder of the season, and this year seems to be no different.

Last season, we saw a blockbuster on Nov. 29 with the Regina Pats sending Jake Leschyshyn and Nick Henry to Lethbridge for two players and seven picks. The next day, Kootenay dealt Brett Davis and Cam Hausinger to Red Deer for four players and five picks.

The year prior, Regina made a splash by acquiring Cale Fleury from Kootenay on Nov. 13, and Swift Current swung for the fences acquiring Matteo Gennaro and Beck Malenstyn from Calgary on Nov. 25.

This year, there have been several significant November trades including Red Deer’s package of four assets to Swift Current in exchange for forward Ben King. Kelowna sent three players and a pick to Moose Jaw for Jadon Joseph, and Tri City trading a second and a third-round pick to Kamloops for defenceman Luke Zazula.

With the exception of a couple teams near the bottom of the standings, there hasn’t been a lot of separation from the pack so far this year, making the distinction between buyers and sellers murky at best. The moves we see between now and Jan. 10 will tell us which teams are building for a championship run this year.

On air

As always, we’ll have every minute of this weekend’s action on Great Canadian Oil Change Raider Radio on CKBI with puck drop at 7 p.m. both nights, and pregame at 6:30 p.m.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden

by Trevor Redden

Redden on the Raiders: Back-to-back with Broncos, Moe stays hot, Belarusians defending home ice

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