The St. Albert Raiders have put together a midget AAA team that is tough and talented to go deep into the playoffs.
“We can play a skill game and we can play a gritty game as well,” said head coach Sandro Pisani. “Our line-up might be a little grittier than in the past. Obviously those things can change but that’s what we see at this point so far.”
The Raiders have traditionally been a powerhouse in the regular season – 20-10-4 in 2010/11 and 23-6-6 in 2009/10 – but in the playoffs they failed to advance out of the north division. The last two seasons they were eliminated in the north semifinals by the Leduc Oil Kings in the fifth and deciding game. The 2011 series was a heartbreaker, as Leduc knocked off the second-place Raiders 3-2 in double overtime to win the best-of-five affair.
“In the past it seemed like we’ve always been a goal short,” Pisani said. “We’re trying to address that this year and the line-up we have will hopefully rectify the problems we had coming out of our division.”
Defenceman Ty Stanton, forward Luke Mahura and goalie Wyatt Hoflin are among five returning Raiders on the roster.
“All our forwards can play in all situations so we’ve got good balance in our line-up. We feel the same way with our back end. We think we have two of the premier goalies in the league [in Hoflin and Landon Bow],” Pisani said.
After going 5-1 in the pre-season, the Raiders started league play Saturday with a 5-0 victory over the Lloydminster Bobcats at Akinsdale Arena. Hoflin posted the shutout with 22 saves. Kyler Hehn was the top scorer with two goals and one assist. Trace Elson, Thomas Foster and Liam McNamara also tallied. Luc Lalor, Josh Jewell, Joe Berget, Mitch McNamara and Mahura picked up assists.
“That was a good hockey team we played. It was a pretty physical game,” Pisani said. “We played a complete game. It was a good effort from top to bottom. Our goaltending was very strong. Our special teams were strong. Overall we were happy with all areas of our game.”
However, the Raiders took a step backwards in Sunday’s 4-4 draw with the Maple Leafs at Bill Hunter Arena.
“That was a little disappointing. We were flat. We lacked energy. We were very undisciplined and we ended up paying the price. They scored I think three power play goals and tied the game,” Pisani said.
The next game for the Raiders is Saturday in Grande Prairie against the Storm at 3:45 p.m.
At 2:15 p.m. Sunday they play the CAC Gregg Distributors at Bill Hunter.
