The north division-leading St. Albert Raiders have entered a late season rut that’s causing some concern among the team’s coaching staff.
After struggling to advance to the playoff round in the prestigious Mac’s tournament in Calgary, the Raiders resumed league play Saturday against the Southside Athletics Club and were soundly defeated 5-1 at Bill Hunter Arena.
Raiders assistant coach Geoff Giacobbo said it was one of the worst performances displayed by the team this season.
“It was awful. We forgot to show up. We didn’t compete. Our defence was very suspect and we weren’t committed to playing well in front of our net,” he said.
It was the first game for the Raiders after going 2-2 at the Mac’s. Southside won the tournament.
“We need to focus on the solution and the solution is to be more prepared and committed to battling in the tough areas on the ice,” said Giacobbo. “At this point of the year, guys have to understand you can’t have mental breakdowns and you can’t make simple mistakes. There is going to be mistakes, that’s the nature of the game, but we have to minimize those mistakes. When we make two or three mistakes it comes back to bite us and 99 per cent of the time that’s mental.”
In the pennant race Southside (16-7-2) trails the Raiders (17-7-3) by three points with two games in hand.
The next day the Raiders bounced back with a resounding 7-3 victory over the seventh-place Fort Saskatchewan Rangers (7-13-7) at Akinsdale Arena.
With seven games left in the regular season, the Raiders are planning to have a post-season mentality early so they can be ready once the real dance begins.
“We want to have the mindset that it’s a must-win. It’s the first playoff round in our heads, that’s the way we want to treat it,” said Giacobbo.
This weekend the Raiders host the Calgary Flames (17-4-5), co-leaders with the Red Deer Rebels (18-5-3) in the south, Saturday at 8 p.m. and the Calgary Northstars (11-9-6) Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The Raiders are 8-2-1 on home ice.
Meanwhile, forward Brady Goebel was added to the north team roster for the 22nd annual all-star game Jan. 23 in Fort Saskatchewan. Goebel (16-11-27, 26 games) joins first-team selections Jayden Hart (16-20-36, 27 games) at centre and goalie Tanner Kovacs (2.12 GAA). The Raiders’ coaching staff will run the north bench.
