March 10, 2023 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Prince Albert Raiders News Release
Conner Roulette scored three times on Friday night, as the Saskatoon Blades beat the Prince Albert Raiders 6-2 at the Art Hauser Centre. Jake Chiasson, Charlie Wright, and Misha Volotovskii rounded out the scoring for the Blades, while Sloan Stanick and Ryder Ritchie had the goals for Prince Albert.
The Blades wasted no time getting on the board, taking a 1-0 lead just 1:32 into the game. Conner Roulette took advantage of a Raider turnover. The forward stole a puck and walked right down the middle, firing a shot bar down past Max Hildebrand. The early strike broke the ice to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.
The Raiders tied things up less than three minutes later. A point shot from Hayden Pakkala was tipped neatly in front by Sloan Stanick. The redirection found its way through Austin Elliott’s five hole and in for his 22nd goal of the season to make it a 1-1 game.
At the 8:50 mark of the first, the Raiders took their first lead of the night on their first powerplay of the game. After failing to generate anything in the first half of the man advantage, the green and gold struck, thanks to Ryder Ritchie. The rookie forward skated towards the right circle and sniped a laser past Elliott for his 19th goal of the season. The strike put the Raiders up 2-1 midway through the opening frame.
That lead didn’t last long, as the Blades tied it up once again seven minutes later. It was Roulette who picked up his second goal of the night to tie things up at 2-2. Less than three minutes after that, Saskatoon took the lead for the second time in the period, as Jake Chiasson scored his 20th goal of the season to make it a 3-2 game.
A back-and-forth opening period resulted in Saskatoon taking that 3-2 lead into the second period, with the Raiders holding an 11-10 edge in shots.
Just like the first period, the Blades struck early, this time padding their lead. Charlie Wright scored his seventh goal of the season to give Saskatoon a 4-2 lead. Egor Sidorov took advantage of Eric Johnston falling in the corner, and stole the puck. Sidorov then fed a pass in front to a wide-open Wright, who tapped the puck into a wide-open net.
With less than four minutes to go in the middle frame, the Blades added another, and it was Roulette picking up his third of the night. The Blades forward tried to send a pass across to Aiden De La Gorgendiere, but Johnston blocked it. The puck came right back to Roulette, who snapped a quick shot home to give the Blades a 5-2 lead.
With 2:35 left in the second, Misha Volotovskii scored his fourth goal of the season, as Saskatoon took a 6-2 lead into the third period, despite trailing 19-15 in shots.
Tikhon Chaika came in for the third period for the Raiders and stopped all nine shots he faced. The Raiders couldn’t develop any offense in the third period, as the Blades won by a 6-2 final.
The Raiders 25-33-3-0 return to action on Sunday for the second half of a home and home set in Saskatoon. Puck drop is at 4pm.
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