The goal this weekend for the St. Albert Tire Warehouse Raiders is to score a goal.
Putting the puck into the net is priority No. 1 after three consecutive shutout losses during a 0-5-1 winless stretch by the slumping Raiders (13-12-5) in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League with games scheduled today in Grande Prairie against the Storm (8-16-6) and Sunday against the Calgary Flames (15-8-6) at 1:15 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
“We’re going into the weekend a little bit more confident. We’ve been working hard in practice to score some goals,” said left-winger Jacob Hiemstra, the team leader in goals with 10 in 30 games.
Hiemstra, 18, is the last Raider to light the lamp and the even-strength goal was a backdoor shot off the forecheck at 6:20 of the third period in the 4-1 loss to the KC Pats (17-10-3) Jan. 7 at Bill Hunter Arena.
“We need to start scoring goals as a five-man unit. We need to do a little better job of simple easy plays, getting to the net and creating scoring chances. We need to work just a little bit harder to get that extra shot at a goal. We have to create some urgency,” said the fourth-highest scorer on the Raiders with 14 points.
The Raiders lost their mojo offensively after the 40th annual Mac’s Midget AAA World invitational Tournament during the Christmas break in Calgary with two goals in two games before the three in a row goose eggs: 6-0 Jan. 14 against Southside Athletic Club (13-12-5) at home and 2-0 Jan. 20 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes (22-4-5) and 3-0 Jan. 28 against the Red Deer Chiefs (20-4-6) on the road.
“We lost our touch a bit and kind of lost sense of team play but I think we’re bringing it back now. We’ve had a few strong practices so hopefully we'll come into this weekend strong,” said centre Jacob Charko, the top point producer for the Raiders with 18 in 30 games.
So, who will be the sniper to end the goal-scoring drought?
“I’ve got to say probably Syd or Brady (Nicholas) will get us out of this slump,” said Charko of Blake Sydlowski, a first-year Raider, and Nicholas, a second-year Raider and assistant captain. Both players have six goals and 12 points apiece.
“It will be really whoever wants it the most but I feel Sydlowski might come out and score a goal,” Hiemstra added of the 2017 MVP in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League with the St. Albert Flyers.
The lack of offensive coincided with the team’s pratfall from first to second in the north division after the Mac’s tournament.
“Most teams get the Mac's hangover whenever they do good so we didn't really know about it until we got told about it and as soon as we heard it, it got into our minds and got into our games so it kind of brought us down. We kind of thought about it too much,” said Charko of the Mac's semifinalists while going 4-2 in the tournament. “It’s kind of carried over since then.”
The Raiders resumed league play after the Mac’s two points ahead of the Pats with one extra game played and are now six points back of the division front-runners after the team’s fourth straight setback.
“It started when we got hit by KC, probably our biggest rival. We took a big loss to them and it kind of shattered our confidence a little,” Charko said.
The Raiders were hotter than a pistol in a pawn shop during a 12-game undefeated stretch at 8-0-4 before the 2-1 loss to the Canadian Olympic women’s team Dec. 19 at Go Auto Arena and the result counted in the AMHL standings.
“After that game we faced a few teams that we definitely should've dominated against but I think we came in overconfident,” said Hiemstra, a first-year Raider who played for the Pats last season.
Charko, 16, believes the Raiders were looking too far ahead towards the playoffs.
“We kind of got too caught up in the future and not focused on the present,” said the Whitecourt product who recorded 19 goals and 49 points in 36 games for the PAC Saints last season in the AMMHL. “We’ve got to focus on the games at hand and come into the playoffs strong.”
The Raiders have five games remaining before the playoffs and unless the team hits rock bottom it will start the post-season with a first-round bye as one of the two top finishers in the north.
“We’re doing our best to focus on each and every game we have here. We’re going to try our best to win game by game so we can go 5-0 so then we're coming into the playoffs with a big push,” said Hiemstra, a Grade 12 Memorial Composite High School student.
The Raiders, the lowest-scoring team (2.53 per game) and the No. 1 defensive team (2.23 per game) in the north, were encouraged by the team’s performance against Lethbridge, the south division leader, despite the offensive power outage.
“It was a pretty strong game, we just lost a few breakdowns,” said Charko, a Grade 11 Paul Kane High School student.
