By Chad Klassen

Blazers not ‘just hoping to stay close’ against No. 1 Raiders

Jan 18, 2019 | 12:41 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Blazers have lost five in a row, and to make things worse they get the best team in Canadian junior hockey on Friday night at the Sandman Centre.

The Prince Albert Raiders are in the midst of a memorable season, only losing six games all season and holding the No. 1 ranking in the CHL since the four week of the regular season.

But the Blazers say they’re not about to fold their tent just because the Raiders are highly-touted.

“It’s going to be a great test,” said head coach Serge Lajoie. “We’re not going into that game just hoping to stay close. We’re going into that game focusing on playing the game we need to play and get everyone on board.”

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The Raiders caught the attention of everyone across the country with a 19-game winning streak and 25 wins in their first 26 games. While they haven’t been able to keep that electric pace up at 38-5-0-1, they’re still the best team in the CHL. 

“[The Raiders] have a combination of experience, depth. They have some top-end players. I think their depth on defense is very important. They’ve got great goaltending. It’s a team you can tell the structure and the system is well-entrenched. I think [head coach] Marc Habsheid has done a really good job.”

Nineteen-year-old Brett Leason leads the way for Prince Albert offensively. A member of Canada’s world junior team, Leason has 30 goals and 40 assists in 37 games this season. 

The Raiders have six players with more than 40 points, while the Blazers only have one with Zane Franklin with 42. 

Raiders goalie Ian Scott was Canada’s back-up netminder at this year’s tournament. He’s been stellar with a 1.78 GAA and .937 SV%. 

“They’ve got guys that are lethal scorers. They’ve got Leason, they’ve got [Noah] Gregor [27G, 33A], they’ve got a lot of guys that can put the puck in the net. They’ve got a really good goalie in Scott,” said Blazers captain Jermaine Loewen. “We’re going to have to get some greasy ones, get in front of the net, and when we get an opportunity to score we’ve got to bury it.”

The Blazers know full-well it’s their biggest challenge of the season, especially riding a five-game losing streak. But if they can pull off a win against Prince Albert, the team says it would do wonders for the rest of the season.

“That would give us a huge boost. We got two more games on the weekend. We play Prince George and we’ve played them very well this season. So if we get a win against P.A., come in there with the right mindset and attitude and never quit, never retreat, it will be big for us because we need a building point and a win would help us build our confidence,” noted Loewen.

“We’re at a really low point.”