The defending Western Hockey League champions are still a force to be reckoned with, and Brayden Tracey is pretty darn good at this hockey thing.
Tracey scored once and added three assists in his second game back in a Warriors uniform, but even that output wouldn’t be enough as the Tribe dropped an 8-4 decision to the Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.
Ryder Korczak scored once and added an assist in the contest and said on Warriors TV that better defensive zone play was needed.
“Our o-zone was good, we just didn’t get as many shots, I think we fell apart in the d-zone and didn’t win as many battles as we’d have liked to,” he said. “(It’s) just staying tight, blocking shots and doing whatever we can do to keep the puck out of the net.”
The Warriors got off to a good start, with Korczak scoring the opening goal 4:16 into the contest. The Raiders took over the period from there, though, scoring three times and outshooting the Warriors 14-2 in the process. Ilya Usau scored twice in the frame while Nolan Allan had their other marker.
Former Warrior Brayden Watts made the lead 4-1 early in the second before Tracey scored his first of the season at 5:32. Prince Albert’s Aliaksei Protas and the Warriors Owen Hardy scored 48 seconds apart with five minutes remaining in the period to see P.A. hold a 5-3 lead heading into the third.
There, Protas and Cole Fonstad scored in the first 5:28 to put the Raiders up 7-3, after which Jadon Joseph made it 7-4 midway through the period. Former Warrior Daniil Stepanov closed out scoring for the Raiders with 22 seconds remaining.
Bailey Brkin turned aside 25 shots in the Warriors goal, Boston Bilous made 11 saves for the Raiders.
The Warriors are back in action on Tuesday when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Game time is 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
