Rampaging Raiders get assist from trio of ‘Tobans Prince Albert team atop Canadian major-junior hockey standings with 21-1 record By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 4:24 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018 Last Modified: 10:32 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018 Updates

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This article was published 21/11/2018 (2129 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They play in one of the smallest markets in major-junior hockey, but the Prince Albert Raiders do not act like they know their place.

These guys are good. So good, the numbers read like fiction.

The Raiders have won 21 of their first 22 games this season and the lone blemish on their record, a 4-3 loss in Red Deer on Oct. 6, came after they outshot the Rebels 52-21. They routinely overwhelm their opponents with the Western Hockey League’s most powerful offence and shut them down with the stingiest defence. They have won only twice by one-goal margins and have gone to overtime one time.

Oh, and all-star goalie Ian Scott recently became the eighth puckstopper in league history to score a goal, accomplishing the feat on Nov. 16, two days after an earlier attempt to score on an empty net hit the scoreboard above the ice at Prince Albert’s Art Hauser Centre.

It’s been that kind of a season in P.A. and three Manitobans — defenceman Max Martin and forwards Justin Nachbaur and Jakob Brook — are playing key roles in the club’s rise to the top of the Canadian Hockey League rankings, where they have been perched in the No. 1 spot since the middle of October. The Manitoba contingent also includes Swan River’s Lane Kirk, a depth defenceman still waiting to get into his first game of the season.

“I think everyone knew we were going to be good this year but 21-1 is kinda far-fetched if you’re thinking about it before the year,” said Martin, a 19-year-old from Winnipeg, via telephone as his teammates boarded a bus Thursday for Medicine Hat and the beginning of a four-game Alberta road trip. “It’s pretty exciting right now and we’re just looking to keep it going.”

Nachbauer, a bruising 18-year-old left-winger from Cross Lake, has found some nice chemistry on a line with centre Kody McDonald and right-winger Noah Gregor, a San Jose Sharks draft pick.

“What makes it special is the group of guys we have,” said Nachbaur, who has seven goals, 12 points and 32 penalty minutes in 22 games. “We’re all team guys, there’s no guy who thinks he’s better than anyone else. Everyone’s equal and that’s a really important thing.”

Nachbauer’s game is often compared to NHL power forward Micheal Ferland, another Manitoban. Raiders head coach Marc Habsheid has developed a keen appreciation for Nachbaur’s style and upside.

‘I think everyone knew we were going to be good this year but 21-1 is kinda far-fetched if you’re thinking about it before the year. It’s pretty exciting right now and we’re just looking to keep it going’ – P.A. Raiders defenceman Max Martin, who is from Winnipeg

”He’s just a really great kid, he wants to get better,” said Habscheid. “He’s oozing with potential; he’s big, he’s strong, he’s mean. He’s got as good a shot as anybody in the league and he’s a good skater for a big man.”

That’s another scary thing about the Raiders. Most of them are still in the process of reaching their potential.

Coming off two unspectacular seasons in the league, stud left-winger Brett Leason is the WHL’s breakout star in 2018-19 with 22 goals and 47 points — trailing only Edmonton’s Trey Fix-Wolansky, who has 48 points in 25 games.

Leason was acquired last season for what was the modest price of a third-round bantam draft pick from the Tri-City Americans and now, still undrafted as a 19-year-old, is one of the hottest prospects available for the 2019 NHL Draft.

After Leason, the Raiders have 12 more players with double-figure point totals.

“It’s kind of unique,” said Habscheid. “Brett Leason leads the league and after that there’s nobody in the top 20 but yet we’re the highest-scoring team in the league.”

Martin believes his team’s depth of talent is essential to success.

“(Leason) obviously stands out a lot but we’ve got other guys producing every night, so that helps,” said Martin, a skilled puck mover who has a regular spot on the club’s No. 2 power-play unit. “We’re putting up goals and it’s coming from all over, especially a few from the guys on the back end which helps.”

With three goals and 13 points in 19 games, Martin would prefer to have higher offensive numbers but he’s not complaining. He went through a rocky start as a 16-year-old with the Prince George Cougars, blowing out a shoulder that required reconstructive surgery.

Traded in mid-season to Prince Albert as a 17-year-old, he’s grown into an accomplished WHLer and helped the Raiders to a near-upset of the powerhouse Moose Jaw Warriors in the opening round of the 2018 playoffs.

This season, he’s paired with Sergei Sapego, one of the team’s two Belarusian imports. Martin and his teammates have impressed their coach with their humility and work ethic. The speedy Brook, a 16-year-old from Roblin whose brother Josh stars in Moose Jaw, is also starting to gain traction as a rookie.

“They’re good players, but above all they’re good people, and when you have that, they’re coachable, they’re selfless and they work to get better,” said Habscheid. “I think the thing with us is they don’t get big-shot-itis.”

How good they become will be interesting to watch. Fans have watched the Raiders miss the playoffs in seven of the past 13 seasons while never progressing beyond the first round of the post-season in the other six.

“I think the key is you’ve gotta develop your guys,” said GM Curtis Hunt, in his fourth season at the helm of the franchise. “There’s times when we lose patience as managers with our players. I think you’ve gotta develop your own, I really believe that.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14