Prince Albert Raiders forward Ryder Ritchie celebrates his game winning goal Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nolan Kowal

Still undefeated

Raiders remain unbeaten in pre-season after thrilling win over Pats

Sep 15, 2023 | 10:21 PM

There’s been no shortage of excitement for Prince Albert Raiders fans this pre-season as the team has now won three straight one-goal games.

The latest triumph happened Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre with the Regina Pats in town. The Raiders built a 3-0 lead only to watch it evaporate in the third period after Pats forward Tye Spencer scored twice to tie the game 3-3.

But in the final minute of regulation, Raiders superstar Ryder Ritchie picked up the puck in the neutral zone, streaked down the right wing, and fired a shot past the glove hand of Regina netminder Ewan Huet. It was Ritchie’s second tally of the night and proved to be the game winner as the Raiders hung on for the 4-3 victory.

“When it comes to a third period, you know we’re up 3-1 and you don’t want to give a team a chance to come back 3-3 and that’s what happened,” said Raiders Head Coach Jeff Truitt post-game. “Clutch goal by Ryder there gets us the victory but I thought that we made things a little bit harder on ourselves than we needed to.”

Defenceman Justice Christensen scored the other two goals for Prince Albert, while Zack Stringer also scored for Regina. Max Hildebrand and Cooper Anderson both saw action between the pipes for the Raiders.

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The Pats concluded their pre-season with an 0-3-1 record while the Raiders improved to 3-0 heading into their final contest against Saskatoon on Saturday.

“I don’t put a lot of stock into it (the wins and losses). I just look at the improvement, the things that we’re doing from game to game,” Truitt said. “You obviously want to play well in the four games…the records don’t mean anything. You want your players to play well systematically and individually showing up and dictating the play.”

“I asked the team afterwards…that we want to make sure we play our best game (tomorrow) to finish this exhibition season off.”

Saturday’s final pre-season game between the Raiders and Blades will be played at the Legends Centre in Warman, Sask. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.

The Raiders begin the regular season at home on Friday Sept. 22 against the Moose Jaw Warriors.

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nolan.kowal@pattisonmedia.com