Agri-Trade Road Trip: Game Day 18

The Rebels look to begin a 5 games in 8 days trip through most of the WHL's East Division.

Red Deer Rebels (12-5-0-0) 24 points AT Prince Albert Raiders (12-3-1-1) 26 points

Red Deer is coming off a come from behind 4-3 victory at home against the Seattle Thunderbirds. It was Red Deer's first time coming back from a deficit after 40 minutes. They are now riding a 2 game win streak and are 7-3-0-0 over their last 10 games. The win put Red Deer into a tie with Brandon for 2nd overall in the Eastern Conference.

Prince Albert also had a come from behind victory, they were down 2-1 in their last game, against Calgary and stormed back with 2 goals in the final 1:11 of the third period to win 3-2. This brought the team back to the winning side of the ledger following a loss and an overtime loss. Prince Albert is 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 and are a surprising 1st overall in the WHL.

The Rebels will look to get off to a quick start on the Prince Albert netminders. The team is 10-0-0-0 when having a lead after the 1st period. Hopefully Red Deer can continue to score first from guys like Grayson Pawlenchuk, who has 2 first goals of the game on the season, the team has 7. The first period is something they will look to improve upon as they have scored 18 goals but also allowed 18 goals.

Red Deer will look to get even more out of their imports this coming weekend as Ivan Nikolishin scored the eventual game winner in Tuesday's come from behind win. He leads the team in scoring, with 11 goals and 15 assists (26pts.) this is good for 6th in WHL scoring 6 behind leader, Brayden Point. Michael Spacek was held scoreless for the 3rd time this season but still has 22 points on the year (8 goals, 14 assists).

Kayle Doetzel  - RedDeerRebels.com

Not often talked about or "seen" on the ice is Kayle Doetzel ('95, undrafted). He is among the league leaders as an overager with a +10 plus/minus rating. He has 4 assists on the season, and he has this epic fight from Tuesday night http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/130347?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter against Jared Hauf. Kayle likes to throw the body around and make it generally difficult for the opposition to get the puck in the tough areas. He always works hard for his team mates and has few mistakes in his own end.

Prince Albert has taken over as the surprise team of the season, taking the crown so to speak from Lethbridge. No one saw this coming. They have had some excellent goaltending from Ian Scott and Rylan Parenteau (2015 Draft Eligible). I would suspect Parenteau to get the start over third string, Curtis Meager. Meager lost all 3 games he started in the preseason and does not have any WHL experience. Parenteau is 7-2-1-1 in 12 games this season. He sports a .910 save percentage and has a 2.98 goals against average.

Reid Gardiner - PA Herald

A large part of the Raiders success this season comes from 4th year Raider Reid Gardiner( '96, undrafted). He has scored 12 goals and 16 assists in 17 games this year. This is good for 3rd overall in WHL scoring. He is a + 14 and just passed 150 points in his WHL career. He now has 156. Prince Albert has 5 scorers over 14 points on the year, where they really get you is in the 3rd period, where they outscore the opposition 26-15. They have a sparkling .920 save percentage in the 3rd period and have started the period with a lead in 9 of their 17 games.

The game starts at 6PM local time, Cam Moon will have the pregame show starting at 5:50. Listen in on 106.7 the drive. Some friends and I will be making the trip this morning to watch our guys live, hopefully we can make it on to the radio. Good luck to the boys while they are away from the cozy confines of the Enmax Centrium for Agri-Trade.