Raiders over Red Deer

Times Reporter   

 

The Rocky Mountain Raiders finished their AMBHL season first in the Ram South Division, with a 20-10-3 record. Their successful year continues, as they defeated Red Deer Black in their first best-of-three playoff series with two straight wins: 3-1 on Feb. 11, and 4-2 on Feb. 15.

In the 3-1 victory, Strathmore’s Kaden Hanas scored in the third. On Feb. 15, Strathmore-born Scott Desserre’s third period goal secured the win, and the series. 

Both Hanas and Desserre are onto their second year of bantam hockey.

“There are second years that will definitely need to be leaders,” Raiders assistant coach Paden Grant said. “Everybody on the team has to be a leader at this point. There’s really no first year or second year mentality now – it’s playoffs.”

Another Strathmore teammate on the Raiders, Isaac Benoit, finished with 18 points on the year. Tyler Strath, also from Strathmore, finished with four.

“We played really well. We had a few ups and downs but we always came back to get the wins,” Benoit said. “It’s really good to compete; it’s a good challenge.”

All teammates spoke of using their bodies and speed for success on the ice.

“I think we need to stay physical, and get lots of shots on net – and crash the net whenever we get the chance,” Strath said.

Used to playing two games a week with breaks, teams in the AMBHL could be playing up to three depending on how long playoff series go.

“It’s basically a series a week. It’ll be a lot of hockey, and trying to fit in practices in between. It’ll be a busy schedule, but we don’t want to be done,” Grant said. “We’re playing good. We have to keep battling and hopefully we can have a good run.”

The Raiders and Red Deer Black split their games during the season – a 7-2 win for Rocky Mountain on Dec. 22, and a 4-2 loss on Jan. 19.

“We’ve had really close games against them, and a tough loss against them a little while ago,” Desserre said. “We just needed to keep playing strong,”

That never-give-up mentality is also in the head of teammate Kaden Hanas.

“We need to work on just staying consistent and playing our game, every game,” he said. “We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Rocky Mountain will now face the winner of Airdrie and Red Deer White; should they prevail, they will go on to face the winner of the Calgary Division.