Raiders vs Cougars

[Triton]

HOCKEY TOWN NORTH REPORT: Wednesday the Raiders suffered their second straight loss on home ice, falling 3-2 to the WHL leading Medicine Hat Tigers…Tonight is the sixth game in their 7 game home stand, the longest of the season…The Raiders are 2-3 so far…Wednesday's loss dropped the Raiders record to 17-27-1-9 (11-12-0-4 at home, 6-15-1-5 on the road) for 44 points, 5th in the WHL East four points behind the Brandon Wheat Kings…Wednesday the Raiders had a quick start against the top team in the league, scoring 2 first period power play goals less than 2 minutes apart to lead 2-0 after twenty minutes…The Tigers pulled to within 2-1 scoring with just over 4 minutes left in the second…In the 3rd, the Tigers struck for a pair of power play goals, 5 minutes in, then with just under 6 minutes to go in regulation time…The Raiders out shot the Tigers 33-29…Of the Raiders combined 37 losses, 22 have been by 1 goal (including empty nets)…They are 13-22 in games decided by 1 goal…The Raiders are third in the WHL in overtime games with 15 - they are 2-1 in games decided in OT and 3-9 in shoot outs…They have not gone into extra time in their past 11 straight games, their longest stretch without OT this season…The Raiders are tied as the 11th most penalized team in the league averaging 20.2 minutes/game…The Raiders are on pace to score 165 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 22 players on their roster - 2 goaltenders, 7 defencemen & 13 forwards…The Raiders have 3 20 year-olds, 6 19 year-olds, 4 18 year-olds, 6 17 year-olds & 3 16 year-olds.


SPECIAL TEAMS: The Raiders scored twice in 7 chances against the top penalty killing unit in the league of Medicine Hat Wednesday…That snapped an 0/11 streak over two games for the Raiders…Overall the Raiders are 43/274 on the power play (15.7 % - 13th in the league)…The Tigers scored 2 power play goals in 8 tries Wednesday…Overall PA has given up 46 power play goals in 298 chances (84.6 % - 8th in the league)…The Raiders have scored 5 short handed goals and given up 11 short handed against, after giving up 4 short handed against all of the 04-05 season.


UPCOMING GAMES: Tonight is the sixth game in the Raiders' 7 game home stand, the teams' longest of the season...The Swift Current Broncos wind up the stand Wednesday before the Raiders embark on a crucial home and home with Brandon, starting in Brandon Friday, back at the Art Hauser Centre Saturday, Feb.18…5 of the Raiders next 6 games are on home ice…In February 9 of 12 are at the AHC.


VS THE COUGARS: This is the only meeting of the season between the Raiders and Cougars…In their lone game of the 2004-05 campaign, the Cougars shut out the Raiders 4-0 in Prince George Oct.8/04…That ended a 3 game Raider winning streak over the Cougars…In 03-04 the Raiders won both games between the teams - 4-3 in their last visit to Hockey Town North Oct.15/03 and 4-3 in Prince George Mar.9/04…The Raider beat the Cougars 7-3 on Feb.4/03 in PG in their only meeting of the 02-03 campaign.


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: Brent Ottmann Foot (1-2 weeks), Mike McDonald Foot (week to week), Jarrid Dowhay Concussion (week to week).


RAIDER NOTES: Dane Byers and Affiliated Player Andy Smith were the goal scorers Wednesday…Smith has been credited with the second goal after tipping A.J.Thelen's point shot…Thelen, Mike Hellyer and Aki Seitsonen (2) picked up assists…Jesse Deckert made his 15th straight start in goal and suffered the loss stopping 26 of 29 shots he faced…Deckert is 10th in the WHL in GAA (2.55) and 13th in Save Percentage (.913)…Hellyer has picked up points (1G, 4A) in 4 straight games and has 3G, 7A in 8 of the past 9…Thelen is 15th in the league in rookie scoring and 17th in scoring among defencemen (26 pts.)…Byers (122) has regained the team lead in PIMs over Mike Gauthier (120)…Tonight is Brett Novak's 313th game in his WHL career, all with the Raiders, 5 behind Shane Zulyniak (318 games from 1990-95)…Brent Ottmann suffered a foot injury in Lethbridge Jan.20 and has missed the past 7 games...Mike McDonald has missed the past two games with a foot injury…Jarrid Dowhay suffered a concussion Wednesday and is out indefinitely…16 year-old centre Smith was back with his Moose Jaw Midget AAA Warriors last night scoring a goal in a 4-1 win over Swift Current in Saskatchewan Major Midget League action…Smith, who has 2 goals in 2 games as a Raider is back in the lineup tonight…16 year-old defenceman Cody Vann (#7) will make his Raider debut tonight…Vann, the Raiders 5th round selection in the 2004 Bantam Draft appeared in 5 pre-season games…The 6'3", 200 pound product of Winnipeg, plays for the Winnipeg Thrashers in the Manitoba Midget AAA league where he has 1 goal, 14 assists and 184 PIMs in 30 games.

[Dwight Schrute]

well here's hoping :thumb: good luck tonight boys
oh yeah lets see smith get goal # 3 in game #3

[Dwight Schrute]

isnt tonight a big promo night ??? and you gotta wear an nhl jersey to be able to win stuff ??? i'll be sporting my canucks jersey !!! anybody else gonna be sporting theirs ????

[Dwight Schrute]

wow they really played well with their shortened bench and all!!!. smith once again scored and played a great game.he seems to find good open spots and picks up loose pucks very well. whats with hellyer??? wow a 3 point night,and 9 points in his last 5 games!. what a shame about thelen a guy asks him to fight he accepts drops his mitts and the other guy turns and thelen picks up a penalty.i dont think anholt was impressed he came out of the box seconds later the raiders score and he was sat for the rest of the game.
what was the point of bringing up vann for the last game he was eligible for and giving him 2 short shifts ??? (he looked good though).
here's hoping the moose jaw aaa midget warriors dont make the playoffs and there season ends quick !!! lol.
the one cougar ty wishart wow is he ever good !! smart poised big and all around good he's gotta go pretty high in the draft

[Drop em' eh]

Allright, its nice to see the guys come up with that kind of effort against a pretty good team. Good to see Archie have a good game too! Would'nt it be nice to see Andy Smith in the playoffs for us? He'll be a good one for next year thats for sure. Yeah, and whats with Anholt or Manson playing Cody Vann for what 3 shifts? He played good, and physical too, put 2 guys on their butts in his first shift, and then sat the rest of the game!?! We could use some more physical play from the defence. He'll be anorher good one for next year. Anyway, good game, good, good, good!! :thumb:

[westbeach55]

i thought the reff and linesman for both teams was brutal. did you notice on a couple of times, the puck was fired right at the ref

[Sabes]

Also nice to see DePape go with Zimmer and land the only punches in a quick scrap.

[Dwight Schrute]

i thought the reff and linesman for both teams was brutal. did you notice on a couple of times, the puck was fired right at the ref
yeah i laughed my arse off when a guy hooked byers no call and 5 seconds later byers fired the puck right at the ref