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westbeach55
01-18-2006, 03:52 PM
HOCKEY TOWN NORTH REPORT: The Prince Albert Raiders are on a season high 4 game winning streak after knocking off the Red Deer Rebels 2-1 at the Art Hauser Centre Sunday…The Raiders have points in 5 games (4-0-0-1) and 8 of 9 since Christmas (5-1-1-2)…All 9 of those games have been decided by one goal…Of the Raiders combined 31 losses, 19 have been by 1 goal (including empty nets)…They are 11-19 in games decided by 1 goal…Sunday's victory improved the Raiders record to 14-21-1-9 (9-8-0-4 at home, 5-13-1-5 on the road) for 38 points, fourth in the WHL East, two points ahead of the Brandon Wheat Kings…In the 04-05 season, the Raiders had 39 points after 45 games…The Raiders lead the WHL in overtime games with 15 - they are 2-1 in games decided in OT and 3-9 in shoot outs…This is the first time this season the Raiders have been over .500 at home…Sunday against Red Deer, the Raiders opened the scoring on the power play 7 and a half minutes into the game and led 1-0 after the opening period…Red Deer tied the game early in the second and it was 1-1 after forty minutes…PA scored the game winning goal, on a short handed break away 33 seconds into the third…The Raiders out shot the Rebels 31-28…The Raiders are tied as the 15th most penalized team in the league averaging 19.0 minutes/game… The Raiders are on pace to score 166 goals this season, which would establish a franchise record for least goals in a season (they scored 185 last year and in 02-03)…The Raiders have 20 players on their roster - 2 goaltenders, 6 defencemen & 12 forwards…The Raiders have 3 20 year-olds, 6 19 year-olds, 4 18 year-olds, 6 17 year-olds & 1 16 year-old.


SPECIAL TEAMS: Sunday the Raiders scored 1 power play goal in 5 tries against the Rebels…Overall the Raiders are 34/228 on the power play (14.9% - 16th in the league)…The Rebels did not score on 5 power play chances Sunday with the Raiders netting the game winner short handed.…Overall PA has given up 36 power play goals in 251 chances (85.7% - 6th in the league)…The Raiders have scored 5 short handed goals and given up 10 short handed against, after giving up 4 short handed against all of the 04-05 season.


UPCOMING GAMES: The Raiders are on the road this weekend to play the Lethbridge Hurricanes Friday and the Red Deer Rebels Saturday…They finish up the road trip in Moose Jaw one week from tonight…After that road trip, they are home for 7 straight, starting Sunday, Jan.29 against Saskatoon…In February 9 of 12 are at the AHC…In total 12 of the next 16 are on home ice for the Raiders.


VS THE WHEAT KINGS: This is the sixth of ten meetings between these WHL Eastern Division rivals this season, with the Raiders 3-1-0-1…PA won in Brandon, 4-3 in overtime Nov.19 before the Wheat Kings won 5-2 in Brandon Dec.2 with the Raiders prevailing here 2-1 Dec.4 and 3-2 Dec.30, before the Wheat Kings won in a shoot out at the AHC 2-1 Jan.7…The teams meet next in a home and home series in February…They play in Brandon on Friday, Feb.17th, then back in PA Saturday, Feb.18th.


DRAFTED PLAYERS: A.J. Thelen - Minnesota '04 (1st round, 12th overall), Kyle Chipchura - Montreal '04 (1st round, 18th overall), Dane Byers - Rangers '04 (2nd round, 48th overall), Evan Schafer - Florida '04 (4th round, 105th overall), Aki Seitsonen - Calgary '04 (4th round, 118th overall), Jeff May - Detroit '05 (5th round, 151st overall), Mike Gauthier - St. Louis '05 (6th round, 169th overall).


INJURY REPORT: None.


RAIDER NOTES: Kyle Chipchura scored the game winning goal on a short handed break away Sunday against Red Deer to give him 5 goals and 3 assists in 5 games since the World Junior Championships (the Raiders have scored 12 goals in those 5 games)…Overall in a Raider uniform, Chipchura has points in 8 straight games (7G, 5A) dating back to Dec.6…Chipchura has been the first star 4 times and second star once in the 5 games since the WJC…Aki Seitsonen had the other Raider goal Sunday with Chipchura and Jeff May picking up assists…Jesse Deckert has started the past 6 straight and registered the victory Sunday stopping 27 of 28 shots…Deckert is 9th in the WHL in GAA (2.47) and tied for 8th in Save Percentage (.914)…Chipchura has scored goals in 4 straight games…Dane Byers had his 3 game points streak (2G, 1A) halted Sunday…Sunday was the first time in 3 games that Michal Polak did not register an assist since rejoining the team…The 20 year-old from the Czech Republic played with the Raiders from 2002-04, but returned home last season…May has assists in back to back games and moved into 19th in the league in scoring among defencemen (21 pts.)…AJ Thelen is tied for 16th in the league in rookie scoring (20 pts.)…Tonight is Brett Novak's 304th game in his WHL career, all with the Raiders…Novak is second on the all-time games played list for the Raiders to Shane Zulyniak (318 games from 1990-95)… At the WHL trading deadline Tuesday, the Raiders added 17 year-old defenceman Mike McDonald (#6) from the Portland Winter Hawks in exchange for a 7th round pick in the 2006 Bantam Draft…Raider 2005 first round WHL bantam pick Jordan Trach has been named to the North Division team for the Saskatchewan Major Midget League All Star game Saturday in Saskatoon…Trach has 15 goals and 7 assists in 30 games for the North Battleford North Stars in the SMAAAHL this season.