Justice Christensen celebrates after scoring his first career WHL goal against the Brandon Wheat Kings on Jan. 7, 2023. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)
Win Column

Raiders cruise past Wheaties 6-2

Jan 7, 2023 | 10:04 PM

PRINCE ALBERT, SK – The Prince Albert Raiders had their offense on all systems go on Saturday night when they defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-2 at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Raiders offense didn’t waste any time getting to work either, scoring three in the first period alone. Brandon scored once in the opening frame and again in the third, but PA didn’t let off the gas and scored three unanswered goals to close out the game.

Sloan Stanick, Aiden Oiring, Evan Herman, and Niall Crocker all shared the top spot in the points department scoring two each. Stanick had two goals while Oiring, Herman, and Crocker had a goal and assist. Justice Christensen was the other goal scorer for the Raiders while Gabe Ludwig, Brayden Dube, Eric Johnston, and Hayden Pakkala all had assists.

Nate Danielson and Nolan Ritchie were the two goal getters for Brandon while Danielson, Ryder Roersma, Mason Ward, and Jake Chiasson each had helpers.

Max Hildebrand needed just 18 saves to collect his second consecutive win, and to help the Raiders improve to 14-21-3-0 on the campaign.

Nicholas Jones stopped 21 of 27 in the loss wehre the Wheat Kings now fall to 16-18-4-0 on the year.

COMPLETE BOX SCORE

The Raiders got on the board less than three minutes into the first and who else but the new guy to get the party started on the powerplay. Ludwig’s initial shot was stopped but Oiring was there to put the puck past the Brandon netminder to put PA up one.

Not too long after and the Wheaties pulled it back to even thanks to a great effort from Danielson.

Chaos ensued a short time later when two separate fights broke out less than a minute apart from one another. Brett Hyland and Sloan Stanick were the first to duke it out while Prince Albert’s own Matthew Henry took on Grady Martin. The Raiders ended up on the losing end of both tilts and instead of heading to the box, Stanick, Hyland, and Henry each went to the dressing room for some repair. Fortunately, Stanick and Henry returned almost immediately while Hyland returned at the start of the second.

Before the middle period however, the Raiders kept adding to their score. Christensen found the back of the net on the powerplay for his first career goal while Herman ended his 12-game goalless drought to give the Raiders the 3-1 lead after one.

The second period was just as exciting where the two team each traded powerplay goals. The first came from Brandon just four minutes in with Ritchie twinkling the twine to cut the lead to one. The Raiders had a response though in the dying second of the frame when Stanick joined the scoring parade to restore PA’s two-goal lead going into the third.

The Raiders added two more in the final period and the first was the best one of the contest. Stanick entered the offensive zone by himself and managed to force his way through the two Wheat Kings defenders for a shot on goal. Jones made the initial save but in a last-ditch effort, Stanick somehow got enough on it to not only score from a tough angle but while he was simultaneously falling down.

Crocker added one more for the road as Prince Albert throttled Brandon, 6-2.

The Raiders now have a few days rest before welcoming the Portland Winterhawks to the Art Hauser Centre on Tuesday night.

logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann

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