Marc Habscheid’s pre-game wish came true as the Prince Albert Raiders downed the Saskatoon Blades 4-1 Saturday night at SaskTel Centre to close out their respective W-H-L pre-Christmas schedules.
“Hopefully, we get one more than Saskatoon (Saturday) night, they get their Teddy Bear Toss in and we win the game, that would be ultimate for us because it’s such a good cause and people come out to do that,” said the veteran P-A bench boss before the contest.
That’s essentially what happened!
After Bridge City Bunch rookie centre Misha Volotovskii touched off the Teddy Bear Toss with his second goal of the season at 5:54 of the third period to knot the score at 1-1, P-A pulled ahead for good on Tayem Gislason’s first career W-H-L tally with 7:46 remaining in the final stanza. That allowed the Raiders to split the weekend home-and-home series, in which the road team won both evenings. Landon Kosior opened the scoring at 3:57 of the third period while Ozzy Wiesblatt and Evan Herman added empty net goals in the final two minutes to send most of the 4,004 fans home unhappy at the game result, but happy they were able to scale their teddy bears and stuffies onto the ice on Volotovskii’s tally. The Blue and Gold appeared to tie the score again with 1:47 left, but video review upheld the referee’s call on the ice that the puck didn’t cross the goal-line off a goal-mouth scramble. That was among the 26 saves Belarussian import netminder Tikhon Chaika made on behalf of 12-14-2 Prince Albert. The Blades, who out-shot the Raiders 27-26, go into the Christmas break with a 15-13-1 record, tied with Moose Jaw for 3rd place in the East Division and fifth spot in the Eastern Conference. Saskatoon has alternated results in the last two weeks, winning three consecutive road games, but dropping three straight home contests. The Bridge City Bunch returns to action on December 27th at P-A. Following is the official game summary, courtesy the W-H-L, and Les Lazaruk’s post-game show interview with Volotovskii…..
Prince Albert Raiders 4 at Saskatoon Blades 1 – Status: Final
Saturday, December 18, 2021 – SaskTel Centre – Saskatoon, SK
Prince Albert 0 0 4 – 4
Saskatoon 0 0 1 – 1
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Shilo Pa (tripping), 3:37; Watterodt Sas (slashing), 6:15; Lee Sas (hooking), 15:08.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-served by Shilo Pa (too many men), 16:33.
3rd Period-1, Prince Albert, Kosior 6 (Carson Latimer), 3:57 (PP). 2, Saskatoon, Volotovskii 2 (Hansen, Rhinehart), 5:54. 3, Prince Albert, Gislason 1 (Laventure), 12:14. 4, Prince Albert, Wiesblatt 7 (Vitelli, Allan), 18:25 (EN). 5, Prince Albert, Herman 10 19:11 (EN). Penalties-Sorensen Pa (charging), 1:26; Lee Sas (hooking), 3:34; Allan Pa (checking to the head), 12:58; Wiesblatt Pa (roughing), 13:01; Wiens Sas (roughing), 13:01.
Shots on Goal-Prince Albert 6-10-10-26. Saskatoon 10-6-11-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Prince Albert 1 / 3; Saskatoon 0 / 4.
Goalies-Prince Albert, Chaika 6-3-0-1 (27 shots-26 saves). Saskatoon, Maier 12-11-1-0 (24 shots-22 saves).
A-4,004
Referees-Bob Millette (61), Troy Murray (34).
Linesmen-Riley Carriere (72), Aidan Penner.
