Christmas came early for the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders.
The midget AAA Raiders unwrapped their fourth win in five games as the first team to beat the Foothills Bisons of Strathmore this season.
"It's a big confidence booster for our club. Hopefully we can continue on," said captain Sam Smith-Ackerl of the 3-1 breakthrough performance at Akinsdale Arena. "It shows what our club can become and what we can do. We need to be able to play at that level every game and continue that."
The south division Bisons (17-1-2, 91 GF/41 GA) are No. 1 overall in the league and the Raiders (8-11-1, 60 GF/62 GF) are tied for second in the north.
"Obviously we were underdogs going into that game but in our dressing room we knew that we could win before it started and that's exactly what we did. We deserved that win and we got it," Smith-Ackerl said. "We executed our plays and our systems and we played our roles. When we all play our roles that's when we succeed and that's what we did. The shut-down guys shut down and the scorers scored."
The result also surpassed last season's win total.
"After last year it's definitely nice to be getting off to a pretty good start," said defenceman Owen Churko, one of four returnees from the ninth-place 7-24-3 Raiders.
"We've been playing as a team lately and doing the simple things, like playing the right way," Churko added. "At the start of the season we were kind of playing a little bit individual but now we've started to kind of play as a team a little bit better and that's led to team success in wins."
The Raiders are rolling like thunder after a season-opening 3-6-1 October.
"We kind of got off to a little bit of a rocky start and then lately we've gelled together, which shows in our play," Smith-Ackerl said. "Now we just need to build on that."
The linchpin during the team's winning ways is netminder Chris Curr (7-7, 2.73 GAA). The north division's player of the month played six out of eight games in November and faced an average of 37 shots per game for the injury-riddled Raiders and posted a .923 save percentage and 2.83 GAA over that span.
"Chris has been unreal. You can always rely on Chris when he is in the net and it's the same with Mitchell (Reidy). Both our goalies are awesome," Smith-Ackerl said. "Chris has been playing a little bit more and he's been lights out. Without Chris in the game on Sunday that score would not have been the same."
Curr stopped a game-high 35 shots by the Bisons in his fourth win in as many starts, including a 19-save effort in the 6-0 shutout of the Lloydminster Bobcats (4-12-3) Nov. 26.
"Right now we've got to give Chris Curr a lot of props," Churko said. "From goaltending out it's definitely helped us. Some of our forwards have been stepping up and producing some goals, like Garrett Clegg. He's definitely been playing very well lately so that's very good for us.
"All three of our lines have been playing really good lately too so that's helpful when we've got all three lines rolling.
Clegg's goal against the Bisons was his fifth in the last four games for a team-high 14 for a share of the league lead. The returning Raider is also tied for fifth in the league scoring race with 23 points in 20 games.
Clegg, Curr, Smith-Ackerl, Aidan Steinke and Peter Michailides of the Raiders have also been call-ups for Alberta Junior Hockey League teams this season.
The Raiders were winless in three games before rattling off a season-high three victories in row until Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs (6-12-1) at Bill Hunter Arena.
"We took them for granted. We kind of went into that game thinking that team doesn't have as good of a record as (the Bisons), who we were playing the next day. We thought we might as well focus on the Sunday game and took them lightly," said Smith-Ackerl, a centre with four assists in 20 games.
The Raiders march into Calgary this weekend for games against the Flames (11-7-1) today at Father David Bauer Arena and the Northstars (9-8-2) Sunday at Max Bell Centre. Start times are 2:30 p.m.
Smith-Ackerl, 17, is confident the Raiders can sweep their Calgary hosts after wins of 7-2 against the Northstars on Nov. 6 in Sherwood Park and 5-2 against the Flames on Nov. 20 in St. Albert.
"Right now our team is rolling. We're four out of five and we're all playing our best hockey that we have all season so we're expecting two wins and four points," said the Grade 12 Bellerose Composite High School student.
The Raiders are 3-6-1 against the south.
"In their division there is obviously some very strong teams," Churko said. "We've just got to keep playing the right way and keep taking this little ride here going from the wins and just continue it down into Calgary."
The only north team with a winning record is the Sherwood Park Kings (15-2-3), while the Raiders, Leduc Oil Kings (8-10-1), Southside Athletic Club (8-11-1) and Grande Peace Storm (7-10-3) are deadlocked in second spot and 16 points back of the front-runners.
"Props to Sherwood Park. They're a good team this year and they've got a lot of skilled guys so they've definitely been giving teams a run for their money," Churko said. "All the other teams are pretty close, but I'm hoping right now that we can make a little bit of a push to kind of get away from the pack."
Churko, 17, is among a number of Spruce Grove products with the Raiders who have bonded on and off the ice with the St. Albert players.
"In any team sport all the boys definitely get really close right off the bat and it's working pretty well. These St. Albert guys take us Spruce guys in and they make us feel like we're just one big family and hopefully we keep it that way. The boys are really close right now and we're winning so it's good," said the Grade 12 St. Peter the Apostle Catholic High School student.
Churko's game winner against the Bisons was his second goal and 12th point in 20 games as the team's top-scoring blueliner after posting one goal and six points in 31 games last season.
"I have a lot of confidence in my game right now. Being a second year I had to step it up a little bit this year. I'm kind of one of the go-to guys now," he said.
Toys for Tots
The Raiders will be collecting children's toys for Toys for Tots and non-perishable food items for the St. Albert Food Bank next weekend in their last home games before the Christmas break: Dec. 17 versus the Storm at 3 p.m. and Dec. 18 versus the Calgary Buffaloes (14-1-4) at 1:15 p.m.
Bins will be located in the lobby of the Akinsdale rink prior to and during the games for donations from fans or members of the community.
