PRINCE ALBERT 4 (SO)
VICTORIA 3
The Prince Albert Raiders won the battle of the mercury and the rink on Friday in a WHL game against the visiting Victoria Royals. As hard as people on the Island thought they had it on the thermometer, it was a -30 C versus mere -10 C blowout victory for Prince Albert over Victoria in that regard. It was closer on the ice as the Raiders prevailed 4-3 in a shootout.
Victoria, overtime losers in Regina and Brandon, have now taken three of their five East Division road-trip games to extra time only to come away with one point on each occasion. The other game was a 5-0 loss in Moose Jaw to the high-octane Warriors. The Royals conclude their once-every-two seasons swing through the East Division tonight in Saskatoon against the WHL-leading Blades.
While late third-period opposition goals in Regina and Brandon tied the games to send them to overtime, it was the Royals striking twice late to tie the game 3-3 Friday in Prince Albert. Tyson Laventure, acquired this week in a trade from Swift Current, scored his 16th goal of the season to bring the Royals to within one at 16:40 of the third period with rookie Cole Reschny, also with his 16th, tying it at 18:00.
“I thought it showed character and resiliency to stick with it,” said Royals head coach James Patrick. “It took us 18 minutes [in the third period] but we found a way. But I don’t like what we did at the end of the second period to put us in that [3-1] deficit.”
He was referring to the Raiders goals by Sloan Stanick and Justice Christensen in the final two minutes of the middle frame. “We put ourselves in a hole. We need to get over it. But every point [taken] is huge,” said Patrick.
The teams traded first-period goals by Oli Chenier of Prince Albert and Reggie Newman’s 13th for Victoria. Royals’ rookie goaltender Jayden Kraus started in his hometown and allowed all the Prince Albert goals in regulation through two periods. Veteran Braden Holt stopped all nine Raiders shots in the third period before being beaten twice in shootout.
