By the time the contest was over, the 19-year-old native of Humboldt, Sask., had himself a three-point night (2-1-3) and first-star honours. Gardiner celebrated in appropriate fashion, pounding his fists on the glass after he tallied his team’s third of the night and the momentum was completely in the hands of the visitors. That third goal was huge to get momentum going into the third.”

We had a good few power plays there to kind of get the game within one and tie it, obviously. “We started slow - they jumped out to a 2-0 lead there quick and we just had to regain our composure. “I just tried to simplify it in the second and third, get pucks deep and get my feet moving.

“In the first period, I was forcing things a little too much,” Gardiner said following the win. On the ensuing man advantage, Reid Gardiner struck for his second goal of the game to give the Raiders their first lead of the night with only 44 seconds remaining in the second period. On the next shift, Ice captain Tanner Lishchynsky was sent to the penalty box for tripping. With a delayed penalty call coming late in the period, Raiders forward Simon Stransky redirected a point shot past Ice goaltender Wyatt Hoflin to tie the game 2-2 with 2:23 to go before intermission. Indeed, the Ice wound up hooped and it all started to go wrong in the second period. “If we keep it three or less, we give ourselves a chance.

Coaches are too good in this league and players are too good - they’ll figure out what you’re doing, then they exploit you and you’re behind trying to catch up. I remember Game 1 of the year against Calgary - same scenario - we killed off the first three. “You kill off the first three and do a really good job. “It impacts everything,” said Luke Pierce, head coach of the Kootenay Ice, following Friday’s loss. A Kootenay Ice parade to the penalty box allowed the Prince Albert Raiders to march out of Cranbrook with two points, as the visitors scored four unanswered goals, including three with the man advantage, en route to a 4-2 victory in WHL action Friday night.īy the final buzzer, the Raiders - ranked 14th on the power play heading into the game - had converted on three of seven opportunities.

Caught by Kimberley Cale