After a disappointing loss to Prince Albert St. Mary's in the semifinal at the York City Classic the Raiders traveled the five hour journey to Prince Albert with eyes set on revenge at St. Mary's home tournament. With the long van ride north to Prince Albert, the Raiders would have to fight dead legs as they tipped off against North Battleford in their opening round matchup on Friday night.
The Raiders clawed their way to a win against North Battleford that despite Ben Redl's 29 points, should have in all reality been a wee bit easier given the Vikings rebuilding efforts during what has been a down year for last year's provincial champs. With dead legs the Raiders came out flat and allowed the Vikings, something they could not afford as they went up against Swift Current in the semifinals.
In the semifinal the travel strains continued to show for the Raiders as they could not get their offense going, and lost their rematch with the Colts despite allowing Swift Current to 58 points. Coach Jason Payne attributed the Raiders slow offense to some tired legs, but didn't use it as an excuse saying, "When you hold a team to 58 points, you should win most of those games but we played like a team that drove five hours for most of the weekend and combined with shooting being one of our weaknesses this year it ended up costing us." Another solid defensive performance against Swift Current should give the Raiders a boost going over, but found out that they will need the energy they showed in their home tournament win over Swift Current if they are going to get the points needed to compliment their defensive performances.
The loss brought the Raiders into a third place game for the second straight weekend, this time against Moose Jaw Vanier. With Vanier missing some personnel at the forward position the Raiders took advantage, dominating the offensive glass with 32 offensive rebounds, amounting to roughly 65% of the Raiders misses from the field according to Payne. The team rebounding hustle on the glass from the YRHS paid dividends as they scored a 68-56 victory and their second bronze finish in February.
Next up for the Raiders is a pre-February break trip to Swift Current where they will play Mount Royal in the first round. A win over Mount Royal will set up a likely semifinal game with Moose Jaw Central, which would be the first clash between the two teams since last year's Hoopla semifinal and would give the Raiders a good test of their Hoopla qualifications this year with a chance to prove that they can hang with the top ranked Cyclones.
