Raiders are at their best when they are more than a hockey team

The Raiders salute the crowd at the Art Hauser Centre on Oct. 4.

The Prince Albert Raiders encompass the best of “Hockey Town North.”

They are the team of Mike Modano, Dave Manson and as seen by the Raiders faithful, the forever CHL MVP Dan Hodgson. They are the franchise where honour still matters.

The Raiders of today have gotten out to a 9-0-2 start in the current WHL regular season, and they sit in the top four overall in the WHL entering play on Tuesday. They are also rated eighth overall in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings that were released on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, 17-year-old star defenceman Daxon Rudolph was named to Team CHL for the CHL USA Prospects Challenge, which runs November 25 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary and November 26 at Lethbridge’s VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

Actually when you sit back and reflect, it is pretty cool Prince Albert has been home to the Raiders since they came into existence back in 1971.

This column of mine appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. To read the full article, feel free to click right here.

Hodgson will always feel home sweet home in Prince Albert

Raiders retire #16 of iconic high-scoring centre

Dan Hodgson, right, holds up a wall mount he was presented with.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Dan Hodgson lives the mantra “Once a Raider always a Raider.”

On Saturday night before 2,504 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre, the Prince Albert Raiders retired Hodgson’s #16 in a pre-game ceremony before their WHL regular season clash with the Moose Jaw Warriors. The skilled centre played for the Raiders in their first three seasons in the WHL from 1982 to 1985, and he set numerous club records that still stand to this day including most career goals (188), assists (305) and points (493) that were collected playing 202 career regular season contests.

He was the WHL rookie of the year in 1982-83 and finished off as the CHL player of the year and MVP of the Memorial Cup tournament, when the Raiders won the CHL’s biggest prize in 1984-85. In 1984-85 with Hodgson as captain, the Raiders swept the Kamloops Blazers 4-0 in the best-of-seven WHL championship series.

Dan Hodgson’s #16 is raised to the roof of the Art Hauser Centre.

On May 18, 1985, the Raiders won the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions downing the host Shawinigan Cataracts 6-1 in the title game of the CHL championship tournament that was completed in Drummondville, Que.

When Hodgson spoke to the Raiders faithful at the Art Hauser Centre after his #16 was hoisted to the building’s rafters, he closed with a comment that drew huge roars from the crowd.

“I just want to leave you with one thing – I am a Raider, and I will always be a Raider,” said Hodgson.

Hodgson joined the Raiders after they left the junior A ranks closing out their time at that level of hockey winning the Centennial Cup in the 1981-82 campaign becoming national champions for a fourth time.

Dan Hodgson address the crowd at the Art Hauser Centre.

While Hodgson had personal success in 1982-83, the Raiders posting a record of 16 wins, 55 losses and one tie. They improved to 41-29-2 in 1983-84 and 58-11-2 in their WHL and CHL championship season in 1984-85.

Hodgson played on Canada’s world junior team in his final two seasons with the Raiders, and that included winning gold in 1984-85, when Raiders iconic head coach and general manager Terry Simpson was head coach of the Canadian squad. Hodgson credited Simpson for being a huge influence on him in hockey and life during his address to all who were present in the Raiders storied home rink on Saturday.

“When I first got here, little did I know that I would play for one of the greatest mentors that I would ever have in my life,” said Hodgson, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 179 pounds. “(Raiders assistant coach) Rick (Wilson) and Simpso (Simpson) would shape me on and off the ice into the man I am today with how they were and how they treated me with respect and dignity and a lot of positive energy.

The video scoreboard shows newspaper clipping of Dan Hodgson.

“But more specifically with Simpso, I can’t express enough Simpso what you meant to me those three years we spent together and all the memories and thoughts you left me with for many years. Right up to this day, words can’t express Simpso what you mean to me. I held you in my heart all these years.

“I held you as a father figure. Simpso, I just want to really thank you for everything that you gave me, and let you know that you still mean the world to me, and Simpso, I love you very much. Thank you for everything.”

Terry Simpson walks to the ice at the Art Hauser Centre.

During Hodgson’s number retirement ceremony, a number of video messages were played in the building from Hodgson’s family members, former teammates and coaches. Simpson, who was at ice level for the number retirement ceremony, gave one of the video messages.

While Simpson did joke about the shenanigans that Hodgson got into off the ice or that he sometimes needed to be reintroduced to the squad’s defenceman and goalies due to being a mainly offensive focused player, the bench boss listed a number of Hodgson’s major accomplishments in junior before closing with a crowd-pleasing comment.

Curtis Hunt address the crowd at the Art Hauser Centre.

“Hodgy had a tremendous career in Prince Albert, and in my opinion, he was one of the best players to ever play in the Western Hockey League,” said Simpson.

Current Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt was a rookie defenceman with the club during the Memorial Cup winning season. Hunt said Hodgson was an outstanding person along with being and outstanding player.

“You invested in the young players to make us better,” said Hunt. “When the stakes were highest, you performed at your best.

“Whether it was one week between when I saw you or a decade, every time we met it was, ‘Hello brother.’ There was the same infectious smile, and in an instant, we were laughing about the times that were.”

Dan Hodgson, centre, sets to drop the ceremonial faceoff puck.

Unfortunately, the current Raiders, who wore special Hodgson tribute jerseys during warm-ups, couldn’t cap the night’s festivities by pulling out a win on the ice. The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and would go on to post a 6-3 victory.

The Raiders cut the Warriors lead to 3-2 early in the third and were down 4-3 with 9:48 remaining in the third before the visitors sealed the win.

Import left-winger Martin Rysavy netted a hat trick for Moose Jaw potting his third goal into an empty net with 45.8 seconds remaining in the third to round out the scoring in the contest. Rysavy had an assist to go along with his four goals, and he was a plus-four in the plus-minus department.

Ryder Ritchie wears a Dan Hodgson tribute jersey in warm-ups.

Ethan Semeniuk, Lynden Lakovic and Atley Calvert netted singles for the Warriors. Jacob Hoffrogge, Cole Peardon and Krzysztof Macias replied with singles for the Raiders.

Max Hildebrand turned away 25-of-30 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders (13-11-0-2). Jackson Unger stopped 52 shots to pick up the win in net for the Warriors (14-10-0-1).

The Raiders return to action on Sunday when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings (10-11-4-1) at 6 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Warriors return to action on Tuesday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (12-10-1) at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

While the current Raiders weren’t able to get the win on the ice, Saturday night still belonged to Hodgson. Following his time with the Raiders, Hodgson would play parts of four seasons in the NHL from 1985 to 1989 with the Toronto Maple Leafs for one campaign and the Vancouver Canucks for three seasons.

A look at the backside of the Dan Hodgson tribute jerseys.

In total, Hodgson suited up for 114 career regular season games collecting 29 goals and 45 assists including playing 40 regular season games as a rookie with the Maple Leafs in 1985-85 posting 13 goals and 12 assists. Following the 1988-89 season, Hodgson would go on to play 16 more seasons professionally in Europe with most of that time being spent in Switzerland.

In January, Hodgson was one of eight players featured on an Indigenous hockey card set put out by Upper Deck dubbed, “First Peoples Rookie Cards.”

The now 58-year-old, who is Cree, resides in Fort McMurray, Alta. His return to the Art Hauser Centre to have his number retired was a triumphant homecoming to “Hockey Town North.”

During the second intermission of Saturday’s game, Hodgson signed autographs in meeting a lengthy line of well wishers. That moment showed how junior hockey heroes can live forever and never be forgotten in junior hockey towns.

Martin Rysavy (#19) had a hat trick for the Warriors.

Hodgson is a larger than life figure in the history of the Raiders. When you take into account what players were able to accomplish in Prince Albert, Hodgson is the greatest Raiders player of all-time.

It just felt right to see his #16 hanging in the rafters of the Art Hauser Centre between the #4 of Dave Manson and the #9 of Mike Modano.

The Raiders organization did an outstanding job making a special night in honouring Hodgson on Saturday. When giving his address, Hodgson spoke about how great the support from the fans was during his years with the Raiders as the team grew into the WHL and Memorial Cup championship winner in 1984-85.

He said the team in 1984-85 was the epitome of what it was to be a Raider for him.

Dan Hodgson, left, poses for a picture with a young fan.

“We handled ourselves on the ice, and I believe off the ice the way Raiders should be,” said Hodgson. “We were respectful.

“We were proud, and we always were proud to walk the streets of Prince Albert and be known as Raiders.”

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Raiders deliver spectacular night for Vance, beat Pats 6-4

Long time business head inducted to Wall of Honour

Bruce Vance, second from right, was honoured on Friday night.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Bruce Vance might have known all the 2,383 spectators in attendance at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre on Friday night.

Before the Prince Albert Raiders 6-4 WHL regular season victory over the Regina Pats on Friday night, the long time business head of the Raiders was inducted to the Raiders Wall of Honour in the builders’ category. His plaque on the Wall of Honour sits next to that good friend and long time co-worker in the late Donn Clark, who held the positions of head coach, director of hockey operations and general manager during his time with the team.

The Raiders were paying tribute to Vance, who is putting up a valiant fight against Stage IV colon cancer, for all he did with the team from 2001 to 2015. From director of marketing to business manager and director of marketing, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say Vance might have at some point in time done every business function in the Raiders office during his time with the team. Often, he was the guy that made the Raiders go.

Plaques for Donn Clark and Bruce Vance on the Raiders Wall of Honour.

Even when Vance moved on to become the Marketing and Sponsorship Coordinator for the City of Prince Albert, he still did some volunteer work with the team. That work often required his help for a special event like the jersey retirement night of the #4 for legendary Raiders defenceman Dave Manson on February 12, 2016.

“Being involved in the community was very important,” said Vance in a video address to the crowd. “The Raiders are such a passionate part of Prince Albert.

Bruce and Liane Vance, centre, watch video tributes for Bruce.

“This community is so welcoming. It was easy to become immersed in the community as a team and as a family. To work for 14 years here in junior hockey in Prince Albert was very special with a number of great moments including games where we had the Teddy Bear Toss all the way to haunted houses.

“We gave away a truck and many other fun things. We got involved in the community events like ‘Bring Back the Magic’ (campaign), the Special Olympics Power Breakfast and the Father Daughter Gala. Over the 14 years, it was incredible to work with some great staff, players, board of directors and fans many of whom are still good family friends.”

Vance more then walked the walk when it came to community involvement. If you try to name every community thing he was involved with, you would inevitably forget a sizable amount of things.

Bruce Vance, centre, walks out to centre ice.

Vance involved himself in numerous ways in the community coaching, managing and volunteering due to the sports and activities his son, Jon, and daughters, Briane and Jessica, were involved with. A lot of the involvements continued after all three of his children moved into adulthood. That included being involved with the Esso Cup female under-18 AAA national championship hockey tournament held in Prince Albert this past April.

Vance served as co-manager alongside his wife, Liane, with the Prince Albert A & W Bears, now known as the Prince Albert Northern Bears, from 2011 to 2015. He served as president of the Crescent Acres Community Club for seven years and was named Softball Saskatchewan’s volunteer of the year in 2009.

The scene after Bruce Vance drops the ceremonial faceoff puck.

Family is very important to Vance too. Missing special events like graduations or presiding over Briane’s wedding is unthinkable. One of the reasons he started working for the City of Prince Albert was it allowed more time him to see Jessica play goal in the U Sports ranks. Jessica had a spectacular career playing for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Women’s Team that included Canada West Conference MVP honours in 2017-18.

Vance also got to travel to Krasnoyarsk, Russia, in March of 2019 to see Jessica play for Canada’s women’s hockey team that won silver at the FISU Winter Universiade.

Bruce Vance shakes hands with Raiders captain Eric Johnston.

Along with his family at home, Vance had a family in the Raiders. The team collected numerous video tributes from former players, coaches, staffers and family friends that were shown through the course of Friday’s contest. Josh Morrissey, who plays defence for the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, was one of the Raiders alums that sent in a video tribute.

Another one of the video tributes that came in was from NHL referee Chris Schlenker, who played defence for the Raiders in the second half of the 2003-04 season and the entire 2004-05 campaign, where the Raiders made it to Game 7 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series.

“When I think about my time in Prince Albert, it is still the best time of my entire hockey life,” said Schlenker. “It was because of the people of Prince Albert, the team and the overwhelming support for the Raiders around there.

Bruce Vance shakes hands with Pats captain Tanner Howe.

“The first guy I think about when all of that comes to mind is you. There is nobody who lives the green and gold more than you. You really felt you were a part of the team with us even though you weren’t going on the ice.

“I’m so, so proud of you. I’m happy you are being recognized tonight. Take care my good friend.”

During the pre-game ceremony for Vance, a number of video tributes were played for Vance coming from the likes of former Raiders play-by-play voice Brian Munz, Manson, former coach and player Peter Anholt, former coach Wade Klippenstein, former captain Jeremy Colliton, former NHL Toronto Maple Leafs star Wendel Clark, who is Donn Clark’s younger brother, and Betty Clark, who is Donn Clark’s wife. Vance is a huge Maple Leafs fan.

Aiden Oiring breaks into the offensive zone for the Raiders.

Munz also traveled into Prince Albert for the festivities for Vance from Winnipeg, where he is the director of communications for Golf Manitoba.

Vance applauded all the tributes. He came out to centre ice to a standing ovation from all in attendance.

After accepting the plaque he gets to keep for his Wall of Honour induction, Vance is his customary fun style got the job quickly making an immediate puck drop for the ceremonial faceoff between Raiders captain Eric Johnston and Pats captain and Prince Albert product Tanner Howe. Both players had a chuckle while pictures were taken before Johnston scooped up the puck.

The Raiders did their part to ensure the night would have a perfect ending. They scored first, fell behind 2-1 at the first intermission and proceeded to storm ahead 5-2 early in the third period. From there, they cruised to victory by the 6-4 final score.

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Easton Kovacs (#8).

Sloan Stanick, Easton Kovacs, Tyrone Sobry, Hayden Pakkala, Niall Crocker and Brayden Dube all netted singles for the Raiders, who improved to 7-3-0-1. Matteo Michels, Borya Valis, Sam Oremba and Cole Temple replied with singles for the Pats, who fell to 7-4-1.

Chase Coward stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Kelton Pyne turned away 32-of-37 shots to take the setback in goal for the Pats.

Following the end of the game, the Raiders skated to the east end of the rink to the box Vance and his family were seated in and gave him and his family a salute the then proceeded to salute the rest of their faithful in attendance at their storied home rink.

The Raiders return to action on Saturday when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors (6-5) at 7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre. The Pats return to action on Sunday when they travel to Swift Current to face the Broncos (4-6-1) at 4 p.m. at the InnovationPlex.

Niall Crocker had a goal for the Raiders on Friday.

As Friday’s game between the Raiders and Pats went along, Vance met a steady stream of well-wishers. While cancer sent an ultimate unfair hit to Vance, it didn’t matter on Friday night.

Vance was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer in November of 2013, and went on to get a no evidence of disease diagnosis in July of 2014. Liane being diagnosed with rectal cancer in July of 2018, and their family dog, Bella, was diagnosed with lymphoma that same month. Liane won her cancer battle, while Bella passed away after a year of battling the disease.

In August of 2020 about six months after Liane finished her treatment, Bruce was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer with metastases to his bones, liver and lungs. Vance’s diagnosis was terminal, and he was given 24 to 28 months to live. He has outlived that initial diagnosis.

Vance and his family have always approached their cancer battles with a positive nature and focus on doing upbeat things. That has been a huge ally in their cancer battles.

The Raiders give a salute to Bruce Vance and his family.

It has made people in Prince Albert and all the communities they have lived in take their family that much closer to their hearts.

Vance and his family very much deserved their special night on Friday. In the history of the Raiders franchise, he will live on as one of storied team’s most enduring figures.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Habscheid era gave Raiders renewed energy boost

Transition to Truitt should be seamless

Marc Habscheid raises the Ed Chynoweth Cup on May 13, 2019.

For fans and anyone involved with the Prince Albert Raiders, they likely held on to a deep hope that Marc Habscheid would coach the team forever.

Anyone that has interacted with junior hockey knows that hoping someone would coach a team forever is an unrealistic notion. For the people of “Hockey Town North,” they saw Habscheid as a natural fit to be the head coach of that franchise, and during his time with the team, the Raiders classic positive traits shone like they hadn’t since the legendary storied era of Terry Simpson.

The Raiders were indeed the team of Dave Manson and Mike Modano – the franchise where honour still matters. The players had a great work ethic and were skilled, tough and classy.

The coaches and team staffers gave the club a family feeling that gave the club a renewed stronger link to the community.

Of course, one of the all-time great Raiders moments was made during Habscheid’s days. That was the team’s Game 7 win in the 2019 WHL Championship Series at the Art Hauser Centre where Dante Hannoun’s overtime winner gave the Raiders a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants.

The sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the 2,580-seat building on that May 13^th day in 2019 erupted like never before as they watched their Raiders raise the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions. That was part of a magical Raiders season that saw the team finish first overall in the WHL regular season with a 54-10-2-2 record.

Those moments were so great that no one amongst the Raiders faithful wanted to speak about what it would be like when Habscheid moves on. In junior hockey especially in the major junior ranks in which the Raiders play, coaches and management move on just like players do.

Marc Habscheid mans the Raiders bench in September of 2019.

For Habscheid, that day came this past July 14, when he resigned his position as head coach of the Raiders. The 59-year-old wanted a new challenge and a professional opportunity in Europe becoming the first head coach of the Bemer Pioneers Vorarlberg located in Feldkirch, Austria, would do just that.

Jeff Truitt, who is one of Habscheid’s long time friends, was promoted from the role of Raiders assistant coach to head coach on July 22. Keaton Ellerby, who is a former NHL defenceman and alumnus of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and Moose Jaw Warriors, would be hired as a new Raiders assistant coach on August 2.

Truitt, who is 57-years-old, joined the Raiders staff as an assistant coach before the start of the 2018-19 WHL championship season. He played a big role as a players’ coach in the Raiders success taking on a spot that was held by Manson.

Following the 2017-18 campaign, Manson left the Raiders to become an assistant coach with the Bakersfield Condors, who are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. Manson is now an assistant coach with the Oilers.

Ellerby, who is 33-years-old, will be taking on his first coaching position since retiring as a player having played last season with the Sheffield Steelers of the Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom. The Priddis, Alta., product will be focusing his attention on the Raiders defence, and his experience in the professional ranks will help him greatly in that role.

The transition with Truitt taking over as head coach and Ellerby coming on board as an assistant coach should be seamless for the Raiders.

Marc Habscheid sits fifth on the WHL’s career wins list.

Still, Raiders supporters must have felt a slight sense of panic when news broke that Habscheid was leaving. Habscheid became Raiders head coach on November 1, 2014 as a midseason replacement for Cory Clouston.

Before Habscheid arrived, Raiders supporters had a compromised confidence in their team. Until Habscheid came on board, the Raiders hadn’t made it past the first round of the WHL playoffs since reaching the Eastern Conference Championship Series in 2005, where they fell in a heartbreaking seven-game series to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Peter Anholt was the head coach and Donn Clark was the general manager of a Raiders club in 2004-05 that was extremely popular in Prince Albert that went on a playoff foray that was known locally as “The Run.”

In the years leading up to Habscheid’s arrival, it felt like there was a plateau to any type of success the Raiders could potentially achieve. When Habscheid became the Raiders head coach, it came as a surprise to the Raiders faithful.

Habscheid was a star coach that experienced a fair amount of success in the WHL. While he grew up on a farm just outside of Swift Current, Raiders supporters never thought someone like Habscheid would become a head coach of their team, especially given the fact he didn’t have any ties to the Prince Albert area.

Once Habscheid arrived, it felt like he had always been a part of the community. He knew the Raiders history well and made it a focus his Raiders teams would emulate the positive characteristics the successful Raiders teams of the past did.

Jeff Truitt raises the Ed Chynoweth Cup on May 13, 2014.

When Curtis Hunt became the Raiders general manager before the start of the 2015-16 campaign, his arrival was a joyful surprise too for the Raiders faithful. 

As player, Hunt was a rookie defenceman with the Raiders when the team won the WHL championship and the Memorial Cup as CHL champions in 1984-85, and he later became the Raiders captain in his final season with the team as a player in 1986-87.

Habscheid and Hunt kind of became a hockey power couple. During the 2016-17 season, they assembled a core group of eight young players in forwards Sean Montgomery, Parker Kelly, Cole Fonstad and Spencer Moe, defencemen Brayden Pachal, Zack Hayes and Max Martin and netminder Ian Scott.

They took their lumps in the first half of the 2016-17 campaign and played tough hockey in the second half of that season finishing with a 21-44-5-2 record. 

The Raiders faithful were impressed by how much that group improved along with that group’s maturity and work ethic.

A guarded feeling started to take root in Prince Albert that something special might be coming with the Raiders again. Hunt kept adding pieces and Habscheid kept making things come together.

 The Raiders made the WHL playoffs in 2017-18 with a 32-27-9-4 record and fell in tough seven game first round series to the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Dante Hannoun (#17) reacts to his OT goal to win the 2019 WHL title.

When the Raiders won their first seven straight games to start the 2018-19 season, the Art Hauser Centre was packed from about October 13, 2018 onwards. 

It was in the minds of the Raiders faithful that the special season was happening, and no one wanted miss a thing.

It got to the point there were ticket buyers who would make 90-minute drives in from out of town to see the Raiders play at their storied home rink. 

Of course, the team finished first overall in the WHL regular season standings and proceeded to win the league title on Hannoun’s overtime winner in Game 7 of the league championship series in writing a spectacular tale for the 2018-19 campaign.

Along the way, Habscheid was able to play into the fact the fans enjoyed watching the Raiders down their archrivals in the Saskatoon Blades, which saw Habscheid have some verbal exchanges with former Blades head coach Mitch Love. You almost forgot that Habscheid was a star Blades centre from 1979 to 1982.

Many fun team building things happened along the way too. That was best seen on February 9, 2019, when Habscheid picked up his 500^th career WHL regular season win as a head coach with a 6-5 victory over the Hurricanes in Lethbridge. 

The Raiders did a fun team picture in the dressing room where Habscheid wore a top hat the team usually gave to the hardest working player.

Curtis Hunt, left, and Marc Habscheid were a great Raiders duo.

The team proceeded to head to a Lethbridge area Dairy Queen, where Habscheid paid for whatever the players wanted to order as part of the milestone celebration.

It also meant a tonne to Habscheid when the 2018-19 WHL champion Raiders rallied to support him after his father, Nicholas, passed in June of 2018.

When the Raiders faithful reflect on those memories and the fact Habscheid has the fifth most career regular season wins in the history of the WHL at 582, there is a little fear at first when you hear he is leaving.

Still, Hunt remains the Raiders general manager and Truitt has built a career as the good guy coach who wins wherever he goes. They will continue to build a Raiders team that is in a reload phase but still made the WHL playoffs last season with a 28-35-4-1 record.

The Raiders are still in good hands for the foreseeable future. The team’s faithful will be able to get behind a team they can be proud of.

With that said, Habscheid’s era with the club will be one that will always be celebrated, and he will always identify with the team.

Marc Habscheid and Jeff Truitt enjoy the 2019 WHL title win.

Habscheid showed it is still possible for the Raiders to reach the biggest heights and achieve the biggest dreams.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Oilers hit under the radar homer naming Manson AC

Prince Albert hero had major impact on Raiders’ bench

Dave Manson works the Raiders bench in February 2016.

For the first time in about 20 years, Dave Manson is back in the big league.

On Thursday, the 55-year-old was named an assistant coach with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. He was promoted from his assistant coach position from the Oilers AHL affiliate in the Bakersfield Condors.

When the Oilers host the New York Islanders at Rogers Place on Friday, Manson will be behind an NHL bench for the first time since he played defence with the Toronto Maple Leafs way back in the 2001-02 campaign.

In NHL circles, Manson is remembered as a solid defensive defenceman that played in two NHL all-star games and was one of the toughest to ever lace up the skates on the circuit. From 1986 to 2002, Manson played 1,103 career regular season games collecting 102 goals, 288 assists and 2,792 penalty minutes with the Chicago Blackhawks, Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, Dallas Stars and Maple Leafs.

Of course, Manson became an assistant coach with the Oilers after they made some major changes in their coaching ranks.

On Thursday, the Oilers fired head coach Dave Tippett and associate coach Jim Playfair.

That opened the door for the Oilers to promote Condors head coach in 45-year-old Jay Woodcroft to Oilers head coach and Manson to the role of assistant coach.

The promotion of Manson to assistant coach was an under the radar move that was overshadowed by what happened at the head coach position. It might be the best move the Oilers ever made in recent years.

Following the end of his NHL playing days, Manson and his wife Lana settled back in their hometown stomping grounds in the Prince Albert area with their four children. Oldest son Josh, oldest daughter Meagan and twins in son Ben and daughter Emma grew up in a stable environment playing sports of all sorts in one community area.

Josh is currently a veteran defenceman with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.

Dave and Lana wanted to make sure their kids weren’t being constantly uprooted, which happens a lot in the pro sports environment.

In Prince Albert, Dave Manson is a forever hero cemented by his playing days with the WHL’s Raiders. His time with the Raiders started by being called up for six games in the 1982-83 campaign.

Manson followed that call up by playing three full seasons with the Raiders.

Dave Manson delivers instructions on the Raiders bench in 2015.

In total, Manson played 218 regular season games for the Raiders between 1982 and 1986 recording 24 goals, 72 assists and 666 penalty minutes. 

After the franchise’s third season in the major junior ranks, Manson helped the Raiders win a WHL championship and junior hockey’s ultimate prize in the Memorial Cup as CHL champions in 1985.

His #4 was retired by the Raiders and hangs in the rafters of the legendary Art Hauser Centre next to the #9 of Mike Modano.

After settling back in the Prince Albert are following his NHL playing days, Manson rejoined the Raiders as an assistant coach part way through the 2002-03 campaign. He left the Raiders briefly to be an assistant coach with the Prince Albert Mintos under-18 AAA team for two full seasons from 2009 to 2011.

Manson rejoined the Raiders as an assistant coach in 2011 and took on the role of associate coach before the 2012-13 season. He remained with the Raiders to the end of the 2017-18 campaign.

With Josh, Meagan, Ben and Emma all having graduated high school, Dave Manson joined the Condors as an assistant coach for the start of the 2018-19 season.

During his time as a Raiders coach, Manson was a big influence in helping the Raiders players with their games on the ice and their personal lives. 

Those that have played under Manson are pretty unanimous in agreeing he was one of their favourite coaches.

His knowledge for playing the defence position in hockey is vast and impressive. Manson is able to give defencemen all sorts of little tips that help them make big strides in improving their games.

While he wasn’t on the Raiders staff when they won the WHL championship in the 2018-19 campaign, Manson played a major role in helping shape veteran defencemen in captain Brayden Pachal, Zack Hayes, Jeremy Masella, Max Martin and Sergei Sapago into the standouts they were that season.

Kaiden Guhle had a head start on being a solid 16-year-old rookie defenceman in 2018-19 thanks to being called up for eight games in and working with Manson in the 2017-18 campaign.

All the Oilers have to do is let Manson do his thing and even the defencemen they have now will get a lot better.

 At the moment, the Oilers sport a 23-18-3 record and sit six points behind the 23-16-9 Ducks for the final wildcard berth in the NHL’s Western Conference. The Oilers have four games in hand on the Ducks.

Dave Manson addresses the Raiders during a timeout in 2018.

It is easy to find media criticism and tonnes of negative social media fodder on the Oilers, who went 16-5 over their first 21 games and have posted a 7-13-3 mark over their last 23 contests.

Many have said the Oilers are wasting the talents of superstar centres Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl is also an alumnus of the WHL’s Raiders.

Manson’s promotion to assistant coach won’t be the one thing that cures all that ails the Oilers. His arrival is one piece of the puzzle that needs fixing.

Still, the Oilers will be better off having Manson behind the bench than they were when he wasn’t there.

Super Bowl team stories easy to follow, other notes

It should be easy to engage the casual fan in this year’s Super Bowl.

Super Bowl LVI set for Sunday in Los Angeles when the host Rams take on the Cincinnati Bengals. It is a contest that features a team that has everything to lose against a team that has everything to gain.

The Rams are the team that has everything to lose. They pushed all their chips to the centre of the table to win right now with the Super Bowl being held in their home park of SoFi Stadium.

During the off-season leading up to the 2021 campaign, the Rams acquired star quarterback Matthew Stafford in a trade from the woeful Detroit Lions in exchange for standout signal caller Jared Goff, a third-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, a first round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and a first round choice in the 2022 NFL Draft.

The Rams had selected Goff first overall in the 2016 NFL Draft. Goff guided them to the Super Bowl following the 2018 season.

On February 3, 2019, the Goff led Rams fell 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII to the Tom Brady led New England Patriots in Atlanta, Georgia.

After not returning to the Super Bowl following the 2019 and 2020 campaigns, Rams management believed they had a better chance of going all the way if they acquired Stafford, who had a stronger arm than Goff.

The Lions selected Stafford first overall in the 2009 NFL Draft. He played 12 seasons for the Lions making them look more respectable than they should have qualifying for the post-season three times.

Stafford put up passing numbers with the Lions that alone should get him elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also took a physical beating with the Lions, who never had the supporting cast to help him win an NFL title.

The Rams acquired Stafford with the promise that they now had the quarterback that could take them to the Promised Land.

If the Rams don’t win the Super Bowl, they will be heaped with piles of criticism. It is remarkable the Rams posted a 12-5 regular season record to win the NFC West Division title despite facing huge pressure week after week.

Anytime they lost, the team was written off as being finished.

Even during the Rams three playoff wins to get to the Super Bowl, it seemed like the vultures were circling overhead waiting the pounce and proclaim the team as being a crappy organization.

If the Rams win the Super Bowl at home, the critics will become bandwagon jumpers and talk about how they believed in that team all along that they could accomplish a glorious championship season. In the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, the Rams and their critics are enjoying a honeymoon state, but that can all changed with a loss in the Super Bowl.

The Bengals are the team with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

They reached the Super Bowl with a number of people asking the question, “How did you guys get here?”

Entering the 2021 campaign, the Bengals hadn’t won a playoff game since early January of 1991 and hadn’t made the post-season since the 2015 campaign.

The Bengals enjoyed a Cinderella season in 2021 posting a 10-7 record to win the AFC North Division title. They proceeded to win three exciting playoff games to make an unexpected Super Bowl appearance.

Cincinnati is led by second year quarterback Joe Burrow, who might be the signal caller with the most swagger since Joe Namath was the quarterback of the New York Jets in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Bengals selected Burrow first overall in the 2020 NFL Draft after he piled up all sorts of Godly statistics leading the Louisiana State University Tigers football team to an NCAA championship in 2019 as the Heisman Trophy winner.

Burrow was injured in the Bengals 10^th game of his rookie season in 2020 tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He claimed the NFL Comeback Player of the Year honours for his sensational play in the 2021 campaign.

Burrow and his Bengals believe they can win the Super Bowl right now. If the Bengals win the Super Bowl on Sunday, Burrow will sit alone as the team’s all-time leader in playoff victories.

So who is going to win?

Will it be the Rams who face all sorts of pressure to win right now? Will it be the Bengals who are playing with house money?

Those two storylines alone make the Super Bowl intriguing and must watch TV.

• On Wednesday, I created new content that went live on the Howe Happenings blog. The feature piece was about four members of the Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club cracking the Top 30 RBC Future Olympians list. That piece can be found by clicking right here. The new content also contains the latest photo round up of pictures I shot at the Complex. It can be found by clicking right here.
• On Thursday, the Spokane Chiefs fired Adam Maglio as the team’s head coach. The Chiefs sit last in the WHL’s B.C. Division with a 12-26-3-1 record. Associate coach Ryan Smith takes over as the Chiefs interim head coach. Part time assistant coach Dustin Donaghy moved into a full time assistant coach role.
• On Thursday, star right-winger Connor McClennon had a hat trick to lead the Winnipeg Ice to a 6-2 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings in a WHL regular season contest held at the Wayne Fleming Arena in Winnipeg. The Ice improved to 30-6-2-1 with the win, while the Wheat Kings fell to 21-15-2-2.
• Going into Friday’s action, Saskatoon Blades star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic is still leading the WHL in scoring. He has 29 goals and 37 assists for 66 points appearing in all of the Blades 42 regular season games.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Demise of traditional Raiders logo tough for P.A. faithful

A hat with the Prince Albert Raiders traditional logo on it.

It was a day the faithful of the Prince Albert Raiders franchise hoped would never come, but its arrival maybe did seem inevitable.

About a week ago on Friday, October 1, the Raiders unveiled new regular home and away jerseys along with a new alternate uniform. The alternate was styled after the regular jerseys the Raiders wore from 1982 to 1996 that included the team’s traditional Arab on skates logo.

One day later at 9:29 p.m. Saskatchewan time, the WHL issued a statement saying the league and the Raiders had agreed to discontinue the jersey and the brand immediately.

“On Friday night the Prince Albert Raiders unveiled an alternate third jersey, which was inspired by a highly successful era in club history,” said WHL commissioner Ron Robson in the statement. “We recognized the dated design is insensitive and offensive.

“After consultation with the Prince Albert Raiders, this uniform and brand will be discontinued effective immediately. On behalf of the WHL and the Prince Albert Raiders, we regret this uniform design was approved and sincerely apologize for any harm it may have caused.”

The release said there would be no further comment from the WHL or the Raiders.

All items that contained the traditional Raiders logo were removed from the team’s online store this past Monday.

It is safe to say in Prince Albert that statement was met with dismay. In Prince Albert, that Raiders logo was revered and loved. Originally designed during the 1973-74 campaign when the Raiders were still playing in the junior A ranks in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, the sight of that logo flooded back memories of some of the franchise’s greatest days to the people in Prince Albert.

A Raiders pennant from the 1980s.

While the logo wasn’t on team’s jerseys at first, it was in use by the squad for four Centennial Cup championships for junior A national supremacy in 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1982. During those junior A years, the front of the Raiders jersey had the team named spelled out on it often accompanied by the number the player wore.

The traditional Raiders logo became the front crest on the team’s jersey, when the Raiders moved up to the major junior ranks and began playing in the WHL in 1982-83.

The Raiders won the Memorial Cup as CHL champions in 1985 wearing that jersey, and the team usually sat in the top five in the overall WHL standings wearing that jersey.

That jersey was worn by Mike Modano and Dave Manson, who are the club’s two more famous NHL grads. The Raiders have retired both of their numbers.

Various team stars like Dan Hodgson, Dave Pasin, Emanuel Viveiros, Pat Elynuik, Dean McAmmond, Jeff Nelson and Chris Phillips all wore that jersey.

That logo and jersey were used pretty much for the whole duration when Terry Simpson was with the Raiders as head coach or held the dual role of head coach and general manager from 1972 to 1986 and in 1989-90. Simpson will forever be a legend in P.A.

The Raiders wore that logo developing their image as being both a skilled and tough team. They could play the run and gun style, get down in the trenches or take part in a flat out brawl, if the opponent wanted things to go that way.

The back of a Raiders jacket circa late 1980s early 1990s.

They developed the romantic image of being the franchise “where honour still matters.”

At the other end of the spectrum, there are circles outside of Prince Albert that greet the Arab on skates logo with dismay. In those circles, the Raiders traditional logo was seen to be depicting a violent Muslim man or that all people from the Middle East are violent terrorists.

When the WHL posted a link to the statement nixing the traditional Raiders logo on Twitter, there were lots of people who piled on voicing displeasure or being offended by the logo.

For people in Prince Albert, it felt like those who voiced their displeasure were from outside the northern Saskatchewan centre, which caused the nixing of the logo to be that much tougher to take.

On Oct. 2, it seemed the displeasure with the traditional Raiders logo first popped up on a blog-type site called the Queens Citizen. The WHL issued its statement discontinuing the Raiders alternate jersey and traditional logo brand about six hours later.

It is common that voiced opposition to something does get rolling from a blog-type site, where questions start to quickly come from mainstream media outlets and sponsors.

While this may sound strange to people in Prince Albert, a lot of people outside of Prince Albert have never seen the Raiders traditional logo and don’t associate that logo with the team, because it has been 25 years since the hockey club used the Arab on skates logo as its main emblem. That factor also helps fuel outrage with regards to the Raiders traditional logo.

It is likely this is what happened with regards to the Raiders alternate jersey and their traditional logo brand, and the WHL and the Raiders took a temperature read. From that temperature read, a decision was made to get ahead of the story, which saw the WHL issue the release that it did.

The Raiders 1985 Memorial Cup championship team.

Looking back over the last seven days, the move worked. Outside of the initial outrage on social media, the story over what was the cancellation of the Raiders alternate jersey and traditional logo quickly went away.

During these social media times, it does feel like people in general have shorter attention spans, and the social media outrage mob quickly moves on to the next thing to get outraged over.

The Raiders faithful and the people in Prince Albert were left to digest what happened and work through how they felt about what happened once the mob moved on.

With that noted, the Raiders did get into hot water over their traditional logo before. In late 2014, the Raiders unveiled a new mascot named “Boston Raider” which was patterned heavily after the old logo.

Due to a national uproar, the mascot was mothballed shortly after being unveiled.

That had to foreshadow that the day may indeed come where the Raiders traditional logo would be nixed for good.

Back in 2014, CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes arrived in Prince Albert when the “Boston Raider” mascot episode occurred. It is safe to say the CBC comedy show wasn’t going to put Prince Albert in a very good light.

Due to the fact the WHL and Raiders got ahead of the story, no TV programs like This Hour Has 22 Minutes ventured to Prince Albert to make the city look bad, and uproar had to be judged to be a lot less than it was in 2014.

Brayden Pachal wears a throwback Raiders uniform on Feb. 15, 2019.

It was smart for the WHL and the Raiders to not say anything further, because it was impossible to win no matter what you said. All that could be accomplished was an unsatisfying tie or going out and digging a deeper hole.

In the years since 2014, the Raiders quietly brought back the traditional logo on merchandise in the team’s gift store inside the club’s home rink, the Art Hauser Centre. Those items were always big sellers, because of the good memories it brought back for locals in Prince Albert.

The staff in the Raiders business office saw the logo made locals happy, so they kept bringing it back. The Raiders even wore jerseys that mirrored those worn from 1982 to 1996 for two games in their 2018-19 WHL Championship season.

Despite the fallout over the traditional logo, the Raiders have one of the best business offices in the league with Michael Scissons as business manager and Cliff Mapes as executive director of business operations leading the way.

The Raiders have one of the best hockey operations staffs in the WHL led by Curtis Hunt as general manager and Marc Habscheid as head coach.

Over the longer stretch of time, the Raiders have the people in place to keep the franchise in a good spot.

The fact that the traditional logo has gotten nixed doesn’t negate all the great things the Raiders franchise has done. 

The Raiders wear throwback uniforms on Feb. 15, 2019.

As time moves on, this episode might be a blessing in disguise helping the Raiders franchise move forward.

When it comes to the core of everything, the Prince Albert Raiders are still the franchise “where honour still matters,” and the faithful that follow the team are still good people. Those are things that are always good to remember.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Willoughby will always be an all-time champ in life

Huskies defender under appreciated in her playing career

Morgan Willoughby skates out for a game on Feb. 8.

    Morgan Willoughby might have been one of the most popular players on the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team who never got her full due.
    Last Saturday, the fifth-year defender played the final game of her U Sports career when her Huskies fell 1-0 in double overtime in Game 2 of a Canada West quarter-final series to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. Having lost Game 1 of the set 3-2 in overtime one night earlier, the Thunderbirds swept the best-of-three series 2-0 in two epic clashes between archrivals.

Morgan Willoughby (#9) in action for the Huskies last Saturday.

    The loss on Saturday by the Huskies brought an end to the careers of eight fifth-year players who gave their heart and soul to the program in Willoughby, Leah Bohlken, Courtney Cormack, Shyan Elias, captain Brooklyn Haubrich, Rachel Lundberg, Emma Nutter and Elizabeth Salyn. Fourth-year defender Kayla Kirwan, who emptied the tank during her time with the team, is finishing her agricultural and bioresources studies and has elected at the moment to not return for her fifth year.

    Willoughby always puts others before herself and would hate to be put above any teammates she ever played with. I believe in this case an exception can be made, because she always seemed to do the right thing, and I feel we all took advantage of that characteristic.

Morgan Willoughby in action for the Huskies in October of 2015.

    You got so used to her be reliable you would never ask how she was doing on any particular day. It was like you never questioned Willoughby was going to come to the rink every day and be an effective physical defensive defender.

    When the opposing team’s top line hits the ice, you put Willoughby and Nutter, who is her long time defensive partner, on the ice, and you just expect them to handle it.

    If there are misunderstandings with the players in the dressing room or between coaches and players, it was like Willoughby will handle it and nothing will be a problem.

Morgan Willoughby (#28) enjoys a Huskies win in October of 2015.

    When the players from the Huskies go out to community events where they wear their jerseys, Willoughby is the first to return the jersey or any team items that were brought out to be used as the event. Other players often would do the young person thing and forget their jerseys in laundry piles at home for a couple of days.

    Willoughby was fiercely competitive, but she was always under control to never let that competitive streak make her go over the line on the ice or off the ice. That said, if there was something that had to be taken care of on the ice due to an underhanded play and a figurative bell needed to be answered, Willoughby would take care of that.

Morgan Willoughby pictured with teammates at 2016 Huskie Salute.

    With all that said, Willoughby only had 28 penalty minutes in her U Sports regular season career, and her presence alone lessened the motivation for anyone to start trouble.

    All these intangibles allowed Willoughby to be named an assistant captain for her final two seasons for the Huskies. While in that role, you never worried about what she was thinking or feeling. She would make the team go and that was never questioned.

    Physically, Willoughby, who stands five-foot-eight, had all the tools to be a solid defensive defender. Few could skate as well as she could.

Morgan Willoughby works the point in October of 2016.

    Of course with being a defensive defender, her statistics won’t blow anyone away. In 117 career U Sports regular season games, Willoughby had six goals, eight assists and a minus-four rating in the plus-minus department. The minus rating was due to the fact she consistently played against the opposition’s top forward units.

    This season, Willoughby appeared in 26 regular season games collecting one goal, two assists and a plus-five rating.

    If she had the scoring touch of former Huskies great offensive defender Julia Flinton to go with her current skill set and personality make up, Willoughby would have been on Hockey Canada’s radar to be brought into camps for Canada’s national women’s team system.

    Actually, it always seemed Willoughby would be destined to be underappreciated in some form, because the 22-year-old came up through the sport in the shadow of sister Kaitlin, who is two years Morgan’s senior.

    Kaitlin was the talented high scoring forward who could play with grit, and everyone marvelled at what she could do.

Morgan Willoughby in action in October of 2016.

    Morgan was often greeted with, “Oh, you’re Kaitlin’s sister, how sweet.”
    Kaitlin, of course, played five seasons for the Huskies from 2013 to 2018 and finished as the program’s second all-time leading scorer piling up 50 goals and 61 assists for 111 points in 132 career regular season games. Kaitlin was a plus-30 during her regular season career too.

    Kaitlin and Morgan played together on the Huskies for three seasons from 2015 to 2018.

    Good luck to anyone trying to find one time where Morgan ever got upset or jealous about Kaitlin being in the spotlight at any time. I am pretty sure it never happened with the Huskies or at any time in the respective lives of both young ladies.

    Morgan was always super proud of Kaitlin and tried her best to be viewed as her older sister’s biggest supporter.

    Believe it or not, I had been planning to write a column about Morgan Willoughby after her career ended for about the last four months.

    In my view, our interactions have had their bumps over the years, and it was never her fault.

    I never saw our interactions being in an outstanding, straight line fashion with no adversity like my interactions have been with a number of female players from Saskatoon, Prince Albert and surrounding areas who have been popular and have had a sizable impact in the local game.

Morgan Willoughby controls the puck in February of 2017.

    Some of those players include Jordan Ashe, Kianna Dietz, Ashley Messier, Mackenna Parker, Sophie Shirley, Willow Slobodzian, Abby Soyko and Cami Wooster.

    From my side, the bumps started and quickly peaked in the 2016-17 campaign, which was Morgan’s second season with the Huskies. At the moment, 2016-17 campaign still goes down as my least favourite covering the Huskies program as a whole, and that came about due to a number of things that happened that season.

    First from my view, I ended up getting on bad terms with Kaitlin. As usual, Morgan ended up being the go-between that helped navigate the rough waters. That navigation went partially into the 2017-18 campaign as well.

    Morgan didn’t have to play that role, but I am thankful on my side that she did. As time went on, I felt really bad on my side that Morgan was placed in that spot at all.

    That situation had the unfortunate timing of developing at around the same time when the awkward separation occurred where legendary Huskies football head coach Brian Towriss retired from the team and working at the U of S. 

Morgan Willoughby, right, moves in on a check in February of 2017.

    That whole situation when it developed in December of 2016 wasn’t handled well by the U of S and Huskie Athletics, and it was largely viewed in the public the Huskies had heartlessly cut Towriss adrift.

    There was a time the story on Towriss’s departure was the number two trending national story in Canada.

    That situation even consumed my life for the two-week period around the Christmas season that year when it went down. I have always respected Towriss a tonne having known him for a long time, and I was feeling a lot of pressure to do something to hold the Huskie Athletics accountable.

Morgan Willoughby (#9) salutes a home crowd with sister Kaitlin (#17).

    I was overwhelmed by messages that said anyone associated with Huskie Athletics was basically dirt and scum. I had alums from various Huskies programs including women’s hockey message me saying they were embarrassed to have ever been part of the overall Huskie Athletics program.

    With all that negative messaging happening and negative emotions swirling around Huskie Athletics at an all-time high, I ended up by chance attending the same public New Year’s Eve social function as both the Huskies women’s and men’s hockey teams. I didn’t know the two Huskies hockey teams were going to be at that function, which I was given an invite to.

Morgan Willoughby (#9) celebrates a goal in November of 2017.

    I don’t think they realized I was there, but I thought the two Huskies hockey teams got a little too rambunctious on that night out. Looking back now, I believe the teams acted in a more normal young person rambunctious manner that night, but with all that was going on at that time, I didn’t take it that way.

    I remember seeing Morgan out that night, and she was as always being the responsible one.

    I remember her looking absolutely stressed trying to ensure no one got really out of hand. The Huskies hockey teams left that social function a short time after I discovered them there.

    At that time, I hadn’t learned the lesson to let things sit for a day and then proceed to reflect on them.

    That night I sent Morgan a bad email saying she had no honour and the Huskies hockey teams she deeply cared about had no honour. I knew saying that would be the worst thing you could ever say to Morgan to hurt her.

Morgan Willoughby (#9) in action for the Prince Albert Northern Bears.

    Morgan is an alumna of the Prince Albert Northern Bears female midget AAA team and was a captain of that team for two seasons.

    In Prince Albert, those that play hockey in that centre try to live up to the romantic vision of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders in being the team of Mike Modano and Dave Mansion – the franchise where honour still matters.

    To think that Morgan had a point at any time in her life where she didn’t have honour is totally ridiculous. She has so many characteristics and traits in common with Manson it is actually crazy to think about.

Morgan Willoughby jets up ice in January of 2018.

    She always had honour and always lived up to that romantic vision – Kaitlin too, who happens to be another former Bears captain.

    I apologize to both thinking otherwise even for the shortest span of time that anyone can imagine.

    Thinking the Huskies hockey teams don’t have honour is dumb too, and I apologize for thinking that as well.

    Even with being that mean, Morgan still worked to be the one to bring everyone together, and as usual, she succeeded.

    My dealings with Kaitlin improved and approximately all four times we’ve crossed paths since her Huskies career ended have been outstanding.

    (*Side note – big props to current Huskies football head coach Scott Flory for bringing the family back together there and growing the family over the years since that rough time on the football side.*)

Morgan Willoughby, middle, walks to the ice in February of 2018.

    Still, it kept crossing my mind, “Don’t be mean to Morgan.”

    There are times I still feel like I slipped up on that front, and I feel ashamed of myself every time it happens even in the smallest instance.

    I believe I unintentionally made life hard on her during what turned out to be her final weekend with the Huskies.

    Leading up to the Huskies series with the Thunderbirds, I wrote a rivalry column about the two teams and inserted some old school Western Hockey League showmanship used to sell tickets by taking some jabs at the Thunderbirds.

    The Huskies had a strong regular season finishing third in the Canada West Conference with a 17-7-2-2 record, and they looked to have the potential to win the conference and possibly U Sports nationals.

Morgan Willoughby in action in January of 2019.

    The Thunderbirds underachieved during the regular season with a stellar and skilled roster finishing sixth in Canada West with a 10-13-4-1. They were 2-11-3 in their last 16 regular season games.

    In the emotional aftermath of the series, it is only human nature to think that there were players on the Huskies roster that felt that rivalry column cost the Huskies the series and post-season glory. There has been a big surge in page views for that rivalry column after the Thunderbirds claimed that Canada West quarter-final.

    The jabs in that column towards the Thunderbirds and Saskatoon product, Thunderbirds defender and former Bears captain Hannah Koroll, who has the potential to be one of the best players the Thunderbirds have ever had, was poking the bear, and that was very clear to see in that series.

Morgan Willoughby celebrates her final U Sports goal on Feb. 8.

    While the two games of that set were phenomenal, that was likely little consolation to the Huskies. Knowing how competitive Morgan is, I suspect those sort of thoughts have to cross her mind over the past few days as she has reflected on things.

    As usual, Morgan played like a warrior despite the outside noise. She did everything in her power to help her team.

    After the shock of the double overtime heartbreaking loss in Game 2, Morgan’s only focus was caring for and coming to the emotional aid of her teammates despite her career being over. That was clearly visible on the ice.

    Once again what she was feeling was secondary to helping her teammates.

Morgan Willoughby (#9) hugs Emma Nutter after last Saturday’s game.

    I apologize for every moment I made life slightly hard for Morgan and for taking her for granted.

    More importantly, I want to thank Morgan Willoughby for everything she did for me during her hockey career and especially during her time with the Huskies. 
    I also want to thank her for her leadership over the years and for being the perfect example of being a leader.

    I deeply appreciate everything she has done for me.

    She deserved to get a national championship ring throughout her hockey playing career, and it is one of the unfair aspects of sport that will never happen. Still, she will always be a champion in the game of life.

    With saying that, I suspect there are others out there that have taken Morgan Willoughby for granted too.

Morgan Willoughby will always be an all-time champ in life.

    I hope you all will correct that oversight and thank her and tell how much she truly is appreciated.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.