Raiders return to Prince Albert to heroes’ welcome

Dante Hannoun meets the Raiders faithful on Wednesday.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – If the Prince Albert Raiders had any doubts about how special their season was, those doubts were erased upon arriving home at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The Raiders were eliminated from the Memorial Cup tournament in Halifax, N.S., on Tuesday falling 5-2 to the OHL champion Guelph Storm. Prince Albert finished round robin play winless at 0-3.

    On Wednesday afternoon, the Raiders returned to Prince Albert, and when their team bus arrived at their home rink, they received a heroes’ welcome from about 200 supporters.

Fans started to assemble 50 minutes before the Raiders bus arrived.

    People started gathering at the rink at 1:30 p.m. a good 50 minutes before the team bus arrived around 2:20 p.m.

    When the bus turned on to the street that leads to the Art Hauser Centre, it stopped allowing the Raiders players and staff to get out. They approached the throng of fans, who formed two lines providing a lane for the players to walk through.

    As the players walked down the aisle, they gave the fans on either side high-fives. During the WHL playoffs, this scene became a common sight starting in the second round when the club returned from the road. Twice this scene happened after series wins on the road.

Fans wait at the Art Hauser Centre for the Raiders bus to arrive.

    The Raiders had a memorable post-season winning the WHL title for the first time since 1985. The WHL championship series clinching win came in Prince Albert on May 13, when Dante Hannoun scored the overtime winner to deliver the Raiders to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants in Game 7 of the league final.

    A rally is scheduled for the team on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

    Raiders captain Brayden Pachal said seeing the fans waiting for the team bus to arrive home on Wednesday helped lift the spirits of the players. He said it eased some of the sting of being eliminated from CHL championship tournament.

    “It was pretty cool,” said Pachal. “They supported us all playoffs.

    “We’re looking to celebrate our WHL championship with them tomorrow.”

Fans start lining the roadway to greet the Raiders.

    Hannoun, who has exhausted his junior eligibility, said the homecoming rallies of fans waiting for the team bus throughout the playoffs will always be a cherished memory. The Delta, B.C., proud was proud his club was able to win the WHL title for the fans.

    “Obviously, it is pretty special the community behind us,” said Hannoun. “It is a lot of people.

    “They bring out so much support, and we’re just happy that we pulled this off for them. We fell a little short (at Memorial Cup).”

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid had a huge smile on his face when he saw the gather of fans at the team’s home rink waiting for the bus.

Joy ensues when the Raiders’ bus arrives.

    “It is nice,” said Habscheid. “They care about the team and care about the kids and that is a good thing.

    “They just wanted to be here on their arrival, so it says a lot about the support that we’ve had.”

    After a 13-year period that saw the team miss the playoffs seven times and be eliminated in the first round of the post-season six times, the Raiders had a dream year in 2018-19.

    They finished first in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. In the playoffs, the Raiders proceeded to win Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions taking out the Red Deer Rebels, Saskatoon Blades, Edmonton Oil Kings and Giants on their playoff march.

Fans cheer the arrival of the Raiders.

    The last time the Raiders achieved both those feats came back in the 1984-85 campaign, when they posted a regular season record of 58 wins, 11 losses and three ties to finish first in the WHL. Prince Albert proceeded to win the Memorial Cup that season, which the club wasn’t able to pull off this season.

    Overall, the WHL champion team has lost its last 13 straight games at the Memorial Cup tournament.

    The last time a WHL champion posted a win at the Memorial Cup came back on May 29, 2015, when the Kelowna Rockets hammered the host Remparts 9-3 in Quebec City, Quebec, in a semifinal contest.

A group of fans cheer the arrival of the Raiders.

    “It is tough,” said Pachal. “Obviously, we didn’t get the results that we wanted in Halifax.

    “I’m proud of the guys. We accomplished something that hasn’t been done in P.A. for a long time. We put small marked P.A. back on the map where it should be.

    “I’m really proud of what we accomplished. We just have to celebrate what we did accomplish.”

    Habscheid, who coached the Kelowna Rockets to a WHL title in 2003 and a Memorial Cup championship as the host squad in 2004, isn’t reading anything extra into fact the WHL champion club has currently lost 13 games in a row at the event that determines the CHL champion.

The Raiders players start giving the fans high-fives.

    “That doesn’t enter into the equation,” said Habscheid. “I look at our tournament the first game against Halifax was almost unfair.

    “The second game we should have won. Last night, were gassed, so that is the way I look at it. Those teams before, we had nothing to do with that.”

    Prince Albert fell 4-1 to the host Halifax Mooseheads in the event’s opening game last Friday. The Raiders were taking the ice in just their second full day in Halifax after traveling there from Prince Albert and four days after winning the WHL final.

    On Monday, the Raiders fell 6-3 to the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. That contest was tied 3-3 late in the third period before Prince Albert fell victim to two bad bounce goals.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid meets the fans.

    In the loss to the Storm, the Raiders found themselves often chasing the play winning only 18 of 59 faceoffs.

    Habscheid said the players on the Raiders mean a lot to him, which caused him to be emotional in the post-game press conference on Tuesday.

    In that conference, he talked about how those with the team had to be there for each other to deal with deaths that affected the club.

    On April 6, 2018, Raiders prospect and defenceman Adam Herold passed away in the bus crash involving the junior A Humboldt Broncos.

A couple of Raiders players hug a billet mom.

    Herold played four career regular season games with the WHL club and made strong friendships during his time with the squad.

    Last summer, Habscheid’s father, Nicholas, passed away and the bench boss said his players were big in helping him through that.

    Last December, Ron Gunville, who was the Raiders director of player personnel, passed away as well.
    In March, former Raiders player, head coach and general manager Donn Clark passed away too.

    “It is difficult,” said Habscheid. “I kind of expressed it there in my post-game.

    “It is difficult, because a lot of these guys have seen the worst of it and seen the best of it. To win the league championship in dramatic fashion the way we did was sure nice even though it would be nice finishing the year with your last game being a win.

The fans give the Raiders a big ovation.

    “You take it for what it is, and the league championship is pretty special.”

    Pachal believes everyone on the current Raiders will remain close to each other as the years and decades go by.

    “The bond of champions is something is something you can’t break,” said Pachal. “We’re going to remember this for the rest of our lives.

    “We’re going to be super close for the rest of our lives. Obviously, we are going to celebrate this time together until we go back home.”

Mooseheads fall to Huskies, make Memorial Cup title game

    It was a defeat that felt like victory for the Halifax Mooseheads.

    On Wednesday in the final round robin game of the Memorial Cup tournament, the host Mooseheads fell 4-3 to the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies before 10,004 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S., but the Mooseheads still advanced to Sunday’s title game.

    Wednesday’s contest was tied 3-3 until left-winger Jakub Lauko netted the winner with 54.5 seconds remaining in the third period for the Huskies.

    The result left the Mooseheads, Huskies and OHL champion Guelph Storm all deadlock in the standings with 2-1 records in the four-team tourney. The WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders were eliminated from the playoff round finishing 0-3 in round robin play.

    A goals for and against mathematical formula involving the three teams tied in the standings placed the Mooseheads and Storm ahead of the Huskies. The Mooseheads were subsequently awarded first place when their head-to-head victory over the Storm was taken into account.

    The Storm placed second ahead of the Huskies, and those two clubs will face each other in Friday’s semifinal game.

    In Wednesday’s clash between the Mooseheads and the Huskies, the Huskies took a 2-0 lead after the first period. The Mooseheads scored the only three goals in the second period to go ahead 3-2.

    The Huskies responded with two goals in the third including Lauko’s winner.

    Felix Bibeau, Joel Teasdale and William Rouleau had singles for the Huskies. Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Arnaud Durandeau and Antoine Morand replied with singles for the Mooseheads.

    Samuel Harvey stopped 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies. Alexis Gravel turned away 36 shots to take the setback in goal for the Mooseheads.

    The Huskies and Mooseheads faced each other in the best-of-seven QMJHL final, where the Huskies captured the series in six 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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Raiders bow out at Memorial Cup with 5-2 loss to Storm

Skid for WHL champs grows to 13 games at CHL title tourney

Sean Montgomery had a goal for the Raiders on Tuesday.

    The Prince Albert Raiders suffered the same fate at the Memorial Cup as the three WHL champions that came before them.
    On Tuesday, the Raiders closed play at the Memorial Cup tournament falling 5-2 to the OHL champion Guelph Storm before 9,248 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.

    With the loss the Raiders were eliminated from the tournament finishing last in the round robin standings at 0-3.

    The same fate was suffered by the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2016, the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2017 and the Swift Current Broncos a year ago. Like the Raiders this year, all of those clubs felt an extreme high winning the WHL title and capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    The league championship victory was followed by an epilogue of going winless in the CHL championship tournament creating a bit of flat feeling at the end of the campaign.

    In total, the club that enters the Memorial Cup as the WHL champion has lost 13 straight games at the CHL championship tourney. The last time a WHL champion posted a win at the Memorial Cup came back on May 29, 2015, when the Kelowna Rockets hammered the host Remparts 9-3 in Quebec City, Quebec, in a semifinal contest.

    Since 2015, WHL clubs have earned wins at the Memorial Cup, when they enter the event as the host team. The Red Deer Rebels went 2-2 as tournament host in 2016, and the Regina Pats were 3-2 as the hosts of last year’s 100^th edition of the event.
    The Pats made the Memorial Cup title game a year ago falling 3-0 to the QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

    Still when looking at the fate of the entrant that is the WHL champion since 2015, one wonders how long the losing streak for that entrant will go at the Memorial Cup.

Noah Gregor was one of the Raiders top players this season.

    Over the past 10 tournaments that have determined the CHL champion, a WHL club has come out victorious just once in 2014 when the Edmonton Oil Kings captured the Memorial Cup in London, Ont.

    Clubs from the OHL won the Memorial Cup five times over that span of time, while clubs from the QMJHL have taken the title four times. When the title game of this year’s tournament is played on Sunday, the WHL as a league will have won one of the last 11 Memorial Cup championships.

    Now that the Raiders have been eliminated at this year’s event, the WHL as a league has matched its longest drought of not winning major junior hockey’s biggest prize spanning five seasons. The WHL failed the win the Memorial Cup over a five year span from 2009 to 2013.

    Clubs from the WHL first became eligible to play for the Memorial Cup in the 1970-71 campaign.

    Due to the WHL’s lack of success at the Memorial Cup, the notion that teams coming out of the OHL and QMJHL are better than those in the WHL just keeps growing.
    Honestly, how can that notion not grow?

    While the WHL has been in a funk at the Memorial Cup, hopes were high the Raiders might break that funk, even when they entered Tuesday’s game against the Storm.

    Fans of the Prince Albert club saw a core group of players grow together in overager Sean Montgomery, who is a career Raider, captain Brayden Pachal, Zack Hayes, Max Martin, Spencer Moe, Cole Fonstad, Parker Kelly and star netminder Ian Scott from a 2016-17 campaign that saw the then young squad take their lumps posting a 21-44-5-2 record.

    In a magical 2018-19 campaign, the Raiders posted the WHL’s best regular season mark at 54-10-2-2 and were also rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

Dante Hannoun scored for the Raiders on Tuesday.

    They captured the WHL title in dramatic fashion when standout overage centre Dante Hannoun scored in overtime in Game 7 of the league final to beat the Vancouver Giants 3-2 before a sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre.
    With all that had happened to the Raiders, you thought fate wouldn’t let them exit the Memorial Cup at 0-3.

    The Storm finished eighth overall in the OHL’s regular season with a 40-18-6-4 mark before winning their league championship. If the Raiders were going to pick up a win at the Memorial Cup, this might very well be the spot.

    The Storm opened the scoring on Tuesday at the 9:42 mark of the first period. After catching the Raiders on a bad line change, the Storm entered the Prince Albert zone on a two-on-one break.
    Storm centre Nick Suzuki made a sweet pass over to pinching defenceman Fedor Gordeev, and Gordeev converted the setup for his first goal of the tournament.

    The Raiders pulled even at 1-1 scoring their first power-play goal of the tournament, when Montgomery tipped home a point shot by star overage centre Noah Gregor at the 11:32 mark of the first.

    The goals kept coming in the opening frame. With 4:42 remaining in the first, Storm captain Isaac Ratcliffe took a pass from linemate MacKenzie Entwistle, cut across the front of the Prince Albert net and tucked home a backhand shot between the legs of Scott to give Guelph a 2-1 lead.
    With 43.1 seconds remaining in the first, the Raiders pulled even at 2-2, when Hannoun tipped home a point shot from Pachal.

    From that exciting opening 20 minutes, Guelph assumed control of the game.

    The Storm surged ahead 4-2 scoring twice early in the second period.

Brayden Pachal gave the Raiders great leadership.

    While working the power play, import left-winger Pavel Gogolev sent a pass from the left boards to Liam Hawel in front of the Prince Albert goal. Hawel blew home a shot to put the storm up 3-2 just 81 seconds into the second.
    The Storm struck again on a centre ice turnover. Storm defenceman Sean Durzi picked off a Raiders pass at the red-line and quickly transitioned the puck up ice.

    Durzi sent the puck to Ratcliffe on the left wing, and Ratcliffe slipped a beauty pass to get Suzuki in alone on the Prince Albert goal. Suzuki put a shot to the right corner of the Raiders net at the 5:02 mark of the second to put the Storm up 4-2.

    At the 6:42 mark of the third, Suzuki had the puck behind the icing line in the Prince Albert zone and banked it off the back of Scott into the Raiders goal to round out the scoring in the contest.

    Scott turned away 20 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders. Anthony Popovich stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Storm.

    The Raiders weren’t able to get any real traction to mount a comeback over the second and third frames, as the Storm had an advantage in puck possession. Guelph also had a 41-18 edge in faceoffs won forcing Prince Albert to chase to get possession of the puck.

    To make the night even more heartbreaking for the Raiders, star right-winger Brett Leason was stopped twice on one breakaway opportunity late in the third.

    The Storm finished round robin play with a 2-1 record. Guelph is waiting on the result of Wednesday’s final round robin game between the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (1-1) and host Halifax Mooseheads (2-0) to see if it will play in Friday’s semifinal or Sunday’s title game.

    For the Raiders, they had a spectacular season. Since entering the major junior ranks at the start of the 1982-83 campaign, the Raiders captured the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for finishing first in the overall league standings for the second time in team history.

Parker Kelly played the power forward role to perfection in 2018-19.

    Prince Albert won the WHL crown for the second time in team history.

    The last time the Raiders finished first in the WHL regular season and won the league title was back in 1984-85, when they won their only Memorial Cup title.

    For a team that went through a 13-year stretch from 2006 to 2018 of missing the playoffs seven times and being eliminated in the first round six times, the Raiders have a lot to be proud of. They returned to elite status in the major junior ranks.

    Unfortunately for the WHL, the losing streak by its league champion at the Memorial Cup tournament remains.

    It will be the elephant in the room the circuit has to deal with until a WHL champion finally wins to put an end to the skid.

    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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Huskies, bad luck beat Raiders

Prince Albert faces elimination from Memorial Cup

Noah Gregor had three points for the Raiders on Monday.

    Is the magic running out for the Prince Albert Raiders?
    The ending of Monday’s round robin game at the Memorial Cup tournament in Halifax, N.S., might be a bad omen for the WHL champions.

    The Raiders entered the third period locked in a 3-3 tie with the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in a clash played before 9,186 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre.

    Inside of the final five minutes of the third period, the puck luck did not go the way of the Raiders. The Huskies scored two gritty goals and put a third into an empty net for a 6-3 victory.

    With 4:32 remaining in the third, the Huskies jumped ahead 4-3, when 19-year-old right-winger Tyler Hinam scored his second of the night.

    Huskies star offensive defenceman Noah Dobson drove down the right wing into the Prince Albert zone and threw a pass to the front of the Raiders net. The puck sat loose in front of the Prince Albert goal and Hinam beat everyone to the puck firing home what turned out to be the winning tally.

    With 3:07 remaining in the third, the Huskies received another bit of puck luck to go up 5-3. A centring pass from Huskies centre Peter Abbandonato deflected off the skate of Raiders defenceman Zack Hayes right to Huskies left-winger Joel Teasdale, who was in perfect shooting position right in front of the Prince Albert net.

    Teasdale blew home his second goal of the contest to put the Huskies up two.

    Dobson added an empty-net tally with 1:41 remaining in the third to round out the Huskies three-goal surge and the 6-3 final.
    The result ruined a great game for Raiders star overage centre Noah Gregor, who had a goal and two assists in the contest.

Brayden Pachal had a goal for the Raiders.

    The win allows the Huskies to improve to 1-1. They will conclude round robin play on Wednesday with a game against the host Halifax Mooseheads, who are 2-0 in the tournament.

    The Raiders fell to 0-2 at the tournament with the loss. They will need to beat the OHL champion Guelph Storm, who are 1-1, in a round robin game on Tuesday (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet) to earn a likely berth into a standings tiebreaker game on Thursday.

    Prince Albert could conceivably end up in Friday’s semifinal, but would need to blowout the Storm on Tuesday and hope the Huskies lose on Wednesday. The Raiders are hampered in any tiebreaking scenario posting by far the worst goals for-and-against ratio after two games with four goals for and 10 goals against.

    If the Raiders lose on Tuesday, their season is over.

    This marks the second time the Raiders are facing elimination from the current post-season.

    Their only other elimination game came back on May 13, when overage centre Dante Hannoun scored in overtime in Game 7 of the WHL final in a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Giants. Of course, that victory allowed the Raiders to win their second WHL championship and the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    Monday’s result also marks the 12^th straight time the WHL champion has lost a game at the Memorial Cup tournament. The last time a WHL champion posted a win at the Memorial Cup came back on May 29, 2015, when the Kelowna Rockets hammered the host Remparts 9-3 in Quebec City, Quebec, in a semifinal contest.

    The clash between the Raiders and Huskies featured the squads that posted the two largest regular season win totals in the CHL in 2018-19.
    The Raiders posted the WHL’s best regular season record at 54-10-2-2 and were also rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    The Huskies topped the QMJHL regular season standings with a 59-8-0-1 record and were rated first in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

Cole Fonstad had a goal for the Raiders on Monday.

    Monday’s game started with the goalies on each side giving up a weak goal.

    At the 4:34 mark of the opening frame, Hinam snuck home his first of the contest from a bad angle standing along the right corner boards by the icing line in the Prince Albert zone to give Rouyn-Noranda a 1-0 lead. It was an uncharacteristic shot allowed by Raiders star netminder Ian Scott.

    Just under four minutes later, Raiders star left-winger Cole Fonstad scored on a wraparound to even things up at 1-1. Fonstad’s shot just snuck under the skate of Huskies star netminder Samuel Harvey, who didn’t have a strong seal on the post of his net.

    At the 13:47 mark of the first, the Raiders jumped ahead 2-1, when Gregor found captain Brayden Pachal pinching down from the point on a backdoor feed. Pachal, who rounded into an offensive defenceman this season, fired the puck into an empty right side of the Rouyn-Noranda goal.

    With 1:28 remaining in the first, the Huskies scores a picturesque power-play goal to even things up at 2-2. Felix Bibeau and Rafael Harvey-Pinard combined to set up Teasdale for an open backdoor chance to the right side of the Prince Albert net.

    Teasdale made no mistake knocking home his first goal of the contest.

    At the 12:59 mark of the second, the Huskies jumped ahead 3-2. Huskies import left-winger Jakub Lauko centred a pass from behind the Prince Albert net to Bibeau, who was alone in front of the goal.

Bibeau quickly wired home a shot to put Rouyn-Noranda up one.

    The Raiders evened things up at 3-3 with 2:17 remaining in the second, when Gregor took a smart drop pass from Fonstad and snapped home a shot from the right slot.

    That set the stage for the Huskies goal surge late in the third period.

Raiders netminder Ian Scott deal with some bad breaks on Monday.

    Scott turned away 27-of-32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders. Harvey stopped 30 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies.

    Monday’s game was a much improved performance by both teams from their respective opening contests at the event. The Raiders fell 4-1 to the host Mooseheads on Friday.  The Huskies dropped a 5-2 decision to the Storm on Saturday.

    Prince Albert was way better than the 6-3 final in Rouyn-Noranda’s favour on Monday.

    Before any possible tiebreaking scenarios can be discussed, the Raiders need to post a win on Tuesday. If the Raiders don’t win on Tuesday, they will be the first club heading home from this year’s Memorial Cup as their spectacular 2018-19 campaign will have come to an end.

Hangover not kind for 2018 Memorial Cup teams

Titan goalie Evan Fitzpatrick makes a save in last year’s Memorial Cup.

    The 2018-19 campaign was not kind to the participants of the 2018 Memorial Cup held a year ago in Regina, Sask.

    None of the four teams from last year’s CHL championship tournament qualified for this year’s event currently going on in Halifax, N.S.

    Actually, three out of the four clubs had dreadful rebuilding campaigns.

    The Acadie-Bathurst Titan won the Memorial Cup a year ago as the QMJHL champions. They finished second overall in the QMJHL regular season with a 43-15-8-2 record.

    After going through a huge turnover on their roster and seeing head coach Mario Pouliot leave to become the head coach and general manager of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, the Titan finished last this season in the QMJHL at 8-54-5-1.

    The Swift Current Broncos entered the 2018 Memorial Cup as WHL champions. The Broncos finished second overall in the WHL regular season in 2017-18 with a 48-17-5-2 record.

    After undergoing a massive turnover in the organization, the Broncos finished last in the WHL this season with an 11-51-4-2 record.

    The host Regina Pats fell 3-0 in the Memorial Cup championship game to the Titan a year ago. The Pats finished seventh overall in the WHL regular season with a 40-25-6-1 record in 2017-18.

Regina had serious roster turnover and finished third last in the WHL this season with a 19-45-1-3 record.

Glenn Gawdin finish off his CHL days at last year’s Memorial Cup.

    The Titan, Broncos and Pats stacked up their rosters with older players in an attempt to win the Memorial Cup.

    The Hamilton Bulldogs entered the 2018 Memorial Cup as champions of the OHL. The Bulldogs had the third best record in the OHL regular season in 2017-18 with a 43-18-4-3 record.

    The Bulldogs were the only participant from last year’s Memorial Cup that managed to earn a playoff berth this season. Hamilton posted a 29-34-3-2 record to finish in eighth and capture the final post-season berth in the OHL’s Eastern Conference.

    Hamilton was swept 4-0 in a best-of-seven first round playoff series against the Ottawa 67’s.

    The four participants at last year’s Memorial Cup showed just how quickly life can change in major junior hockey. The Titan, Broncos and Pats are expected to feel the effects of loading up to make it to that event still in the upcoming 2019-20 campaign.

    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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Manson pumped by Raiders run to WHL championship, Memorial Cup appearance

Dave Manson addresses the Raiders during a timeout last season.

    Dave Manson will always live and breathe being a member of the Prince Albert Raiders, and he is taking special joy in tracking the team’s magical playoff journey from afar.

    The 52-year-old Prince Albert product was a tough as nails defenceman for his hometown WHL team from 1982 to 1986. He played a big part in helping the Raiders win the WHL title and the Memorial Cup in 1985.

    Manson was an assistant coach this season with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, who are a farm team for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.

    Before joining the Condors, Manson was an associate coach with the Raiders from 2012 to 2018. He coached a number of players on the current Raiders club.
    The current Raiders won the WHL title for the second time in franchise history and are playing through the Memorial Cup tournament going on now in Halifax, N.S.

Captain Brayden Pachal earned praise as a leader from Dave Manson.

    The Raiders face the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the second round robin game for both teams on Monday (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet). Both sides lost their respective opening games at the CHL championship tournament.

    Manson loves seeing how tightly knit the current Raiders have become as a team over the years.

    “They are a team, and the team accomplishes more than individuals,” said Manson. “They have great leaders in (captain) Brayden Pachal and Parker Kelly.

    “They have all the pieces. They’ve done a good job of adding pieces to the puzzle. Every piece has kind of fit this year, so it has been great to see and great to watch when I can.

    “It is a big credit to coach (Marc) Habscheid and to Hunter (Curtis Hunt). Hopefully, they can get her done here now.”
    Manson saw Habscheid join the Raiders part way through the 2014-15 season as head coach and saw Hunt come on board as general manager before the start of the 2015-16 campaign.

    Manson and Hunt were teammates on the Raiders 1985 Memorial Cup winner.

    Habscheid was named the WHL’s coach of the year and Hunt earned honours as the WHL’s executive of the year for their work in helping the Raiders post the circuit’s best regular season record at 54-10-2-2.

Parker Kelly received props for his leadership from Dave Manson.

    The Raiders were also rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    Manson said the honours for both were well deserved. He said Habscheid did what Raiders legendary head coach and general manager Terry Simpson once did with the team.

    Simpson guided the Raiders to four Centennial Cup championships as junior A national champions and to the Memorial Cup title after the Raiders joined the major junior ranks in 1982.

    “Habby (Habscheid) has done a heck of a job,” said Manson. “In his tenure as head coach, he has slowly improved that team every year, and that is a credit to him.

    “It is the same as what (Terry) Simpson was like back in the day. You got a little better every day, and that is what you want to see. You want to see that improvement.”

    Manson has tracked the Raiders whenever he has had a chance. When the Raiders won Game 7 of the WHL final 3-2 in overtime on May 13 in Prince Albert, Manson was behind the Condors bench as they were eliminated by the host San Diego Gulls 6-2 in Game 6 of a second round AHL playoff series.

    After the May 13 games for both the Condors and the Raiders were finished, Manson was able to watch video of overage centre Dante Hannoun scoring the Game 7 overtime winner for the Raiders.

Dave Manson was happy Raiders fans got to see their team’s run up close.

    Manson said it was great the sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre could see the Raiders win the WHL title at home and enjoy the moment of the team celebrating with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    “I’m very proud,” said Manson. “I’ve always been very proud of the Raider organization.

    “They don’t have to win a championship to make me proud, but the fact that they are having the success that they are having this year just puts a smile on my face. You play a small part in it, but a credit to the coaching staff they have now. They’ve done a great job keeping that group focused.

    “Hopefully now, they can finish this journey that they started.”

Mooseheads improve to 2-0 at Memorial Cup

    The host Halifax Mooseheads know the earliest they will hit the ice for the playoff round at the Memorial Cup will be in the event’s semifinal contest.

    On Sunday before 10,036 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre, the Mooseheads outlasted the OHL champion Guelph Storm 4-2 in a hotly contested round robin game.

    With the win, the Mooseheads, who lost the QMJHL final to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, improved to 2-0 at the Memorial Cup. The Mooseheads have locked up a berth to at least Friday’s semifinal contest of the event’s playoff round.

    The Storm fell to 1-1 at the event with the setback.

    At the 5:10 mark of the first period, Mooseheads captain Antoine Morand knocked home a setup pass from linemate Jocktan Chainey to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

    With 49.8 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Storm defenceman Sean Durzi drove a point shot home to the top right corner of the Halifax goal to even things up at 1-1.

    Halifax went ahead 2-1 at the 6:48 mark of the second on a highlight reel short-handed goal from Raphael Lavoie. Lavoie jetted into the Guelph zone, split two Storm defencemen and roofed home a shot to the top left corner of the Guelph net to give his side the lead.

    The Mooseheads extended their advantage to 3-1 at the 10:34 mark of the second, when left-winger Maxim Trepanier knocked home a loose puck in the crease of the Guelph goal.

    The Storm didn’t go away. Just 67 seconds into the third and working on a power play, Durzi slipped home a point shot through a screen for his second goal of contest to cut the Mooseheads edge to 3-2.

    The Mooseheads rounded out the scoring at the 7:20 mark of the third, when a shot by overage centre Samuel Asselin bounced up and over Storm netminder Anthony Popovich into the Guelph goal.

    Alexis Gravel made 33 saves to pick up the win in net for the Mooseheads. Popovich turned away 38 shots to take the setback in net for the Storm.

    Halifax finished first in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference in the regular season with a 49-15-2-2 mark and was rated eighth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    The Storm finished eighth overall in the OHL’s regular season with a 40-18-6-4 mark.

    The Memorial Cup continues on Monday when the WHL champion Prince Albert Raiders face the QMJHL champion Huskies (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet).

    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 watch party could be bigger after long weekend

Raiders fans watch their team intensely on a big screen.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - A few hearty souls were able to hold off the allures of the lake to get together to support the Prince Albert Raiders.

    On Friday, about 150 people gathered at the Art Hauser Centre to watch the broadcast of the Raiders first game at the Memorial Cup tournament in Halifax, N.S., on a huge big screen television that was set up on the building’s drained ice surface. The club’s staff that remained in “Hockey Town North” to keep the home fires burning while the team participates in the CHL’s championship tournament helped set up the watch party.

    The gathering likely could have been bigger had it not been for the fact Friday was the start of the May long weekend.

    Driving to Prince Albert from Saskatoon, the intersection where Highway 11 turns north to Highway 2 at 5 p.m. on Friday was lined with about 45 vehicles, and most of those were haft-ton trucks pulling some sort of a camper unit. It was pretty obvious most of those vehicles were heading to the vast lake country north of Prince Albert.
    The watch party itself was still fairly fun. With Prince Albert being a small city with a population of about 36,000 people, most of the people at the gathering knew each other.

A couple of fans chuckle watching Friday’s Raiders game on a big screen.

    As the Raiders faced the host Halifax Mooseheads at the opening game of the Memorial Cup, the party at the Art Hauser Centre started with cheers, but quickly became silent as Halifax took a 2-0 first period lead.

    Applause would spark up a little any time Raiders star netminder Ian Scott made a big save.

    As the second period got underway, the cheers started up again along with chants of “go Raiders go.”

    The noise hit a peak when star overage centre Noah Gregor tipped home a point shot from offensive defenceman Max Martin at the 10:46 mark of the second period. That goal cut the Mooseheads lead to 2-1.

    For about the next 10 minutes in real time, you would have thought a Raiders game was happening live at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The excitement came to a halt when defenceman Jake Ryczek scored on the power play to give the Mooseheads a 3-1 advantage with 4:08 remaining in the second period.

    When Mooseheads centre Antoine Morand scored an empty-net goal with 1:53 remaining in the third, a number of people at the watch party started making their way to the exits and by the sounds of the chatter, most were heading to the lake country too.

    It hadn’t hit 8 p.m. in Prince Albert yet, so there was lots of time to commute.
    After the third period clock expired on a 4-1 victory for the Mooseheads, the rest of the fans in the building made their way to the exits.

    Again from the chatter, it sounded like the lake country was the next destination for most.

The Raiders up on the big screen on Friday.

    About five minutes after the game ended, the Art Hauser Centre was empty outside of rink staffers.

    While things didn’t go well for the Raiders on the scoreboard on Friday, those at the watch party enjoyed coming together as a community to watch the team from afar. As Friday’s game progressed, many said they would be back for Monday’s watch party, when the Raiders take on the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet).

    If the Raiders advance to the Memorial Cup’s championship game on May 26, it is likely a lot more people will head to the Art Hauser Centre for that watch party.

Storm, Toropchenko impress in 5-2 win over Huskies

    The Guelph Storm announced their arrival at the Memorial Cup with an impressive statement win.

    The Ontario Hockey League champions faced the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, who are the champions of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, on Saturday in the first game for both sides at the CHL championship tournament.

    The Huskies topped the QMJHL regular season standings with a 59-8-0-1 record and were rated first in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. They took the best-of-seven QMJHL final 4-2 against the Halifax Mooseheads.

    The Storm finished eighth overall in the OHL’s regular season with a 40-18-6-4 mark. Guelph went on a remarkable run in the OHL playoffs.

    The Storm trailed the London Knights 3-0 in a best-of-seven second round series and rallied for four straight wins for a 4-3 series victory.

    In the best-of-seven Western Conference final, the Storm fell behind the Saginaw Spirit 3-1 before rallying for three straight wins to take the series 4-3.

    In the best-of-seven OHL final, the Storm fell behind the Ottawa 67’s 2-0 before rallying for four straight wins to take the series 4-2.

    On paper, it appeared the Huskies would be favoured over the Storm, but the Storm players had other ideas. They skated to a 5-2 victory over the Huskies before 9,509 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.

    The Huskies took a 1-0 lead at the 2:17 mark of the first period on a goal from 19-year-old centre Vincent Marleau.

    At that point, the rest of the first period turned into the Alexey Toropchenko show. The Storm right-winger, who is from Moscow, Russia, evened things up at 1-1 scoring a short-handed goal off a Huskies own zone turnover with nine minutes to play in the first.

    With 6:53 remaining in the first, Toropchenko gathered a rebound of a shot taken by Storm defenceman Jack Hanley in front of the Huskies net to pot his second goal of the contest.

    Toropchenko completed his hat trick with 1:37 remaining in the opening frame, when he was sprung on a breakaway by Storm defenceman Sean Durzi on a stretch pass. On the breakaway, Toropchenko tucked a shot in between the legs of Huskies netminder Samuel Harvey.

    During the regular season, Toropchenko had 17 goals and 26 assists for 43 points in 62 games. In the OHL playoffs, he netted 13 goals and six assists for 19 points in 24 games.

    MacKenzie Entwistle gave the Storm a 4-1 advantage at the 3:20 mark of the second.

    Jakub Lauko replied for the Huskies at the 11:16 mark of the second to cut the Storm lead to 4-2.

    With 44.3 seconds remaining in the second, Nick Suzuki scored for the Storm to round out the 5-2 victory.

    Anthony Popovich turned away 22 shots to take the win in goal for the Storm. Harvey turned away 24 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies.

    Harvey is one of three players the Huskies have on their roster from the last time they appeared in the Memorial Cup back in 2016 in Red Deer, Alta., along with centre Peter Abbandonato and defenceman Jacob Neveu. Neveu, who is an overager, was scratched on Saturday due to fracturing his jaw blocking a shot in Game 2 of the QMJHL final.

    The Huskies fell 3-2 in overtime in the title game at the 2016 Memorial Cup to the Knights. Matthew Tkachuk had the winner for the Knights.

    Action resumes at the Memorial Cup on Sunday when the host Halifax Mooseheads take on the Storm (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet).

Dyck throws caution, notes good hand with Giants

Bowen Byram could be a key returnee to the Giants.

    The WHL Championship series will likely only be the beginning for the resurgent Vancouver Giants.

    On Monday, the Giants bowed out of the post-season falling 3-2 in overtime in Game 7 of the WHL final to the host Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre. Vancouver finished second overall in the WHL with a 48-15-3-2 mark and was rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

Going into the current post-season, the Giants were in search of their first playoff series victory since 2010. 

    From 2011 to 2018 the Giants missed the playoffs four times and were eliminate in the first round in their four playoff appearances.

    Vancouver has the potential to return star offensive defenceman Bowen Byram and netminder Trent Miner as 18-year-olds. The Giants could have steady Dylan Plouffe on defence as an overager and Alex Kannok Leipert, Kalek Bulych and Seth Bafaro on the back end as 19-year-olds.

    Up front, Tristen Nielsen and import Yannik Valenti could be back as a 19-year-olds, Lukas Svejkovsky as an 18-year-old and Justin Sourdif as a 17-year-old.

    While Plouffe would seem to be a lock for one of the three overage spots, five forwards will be in the running for those spots in import Milos Roman, Owen Hardy, Dawson Holt, Jadon Joseph and Brayden Watts.

Lukas Svejkovsky will look to play a bigger role with the Giants.

    Defenceman Landon Fuller would be highly unlikely to be around to compete for an overage spot due to only playing 21 career regular season games in the WHL. Netminder David Tendeck could be an overager, but he is an NHL Entry Draft selection of the Arizona Coyotes and could be in their system.

    Michael Dyck will be in his second season guiding the Giants as head coach. He optimistic about next season throws caution to the win.

    The veteran bench boss said the team still has to wait to see who will be in their lineup and who might stick in the professional ranks.

    “We’ve got the building blocks in place,” said Dyck. “It is a new team, but certainly the building blocks are in place, but we will see what happens.

    “Obviously, Bowen Byram is going to be a high draft pick (in the NHL Entry Draft). We could have a bunch of guys drafted. That is our job is to develop guys to get them ready for the next level, but the building blocks are in place.

    “It is exciting.”

    Dyck praised the efforts of Giants outgoing 20-year-olds in captain Jared Dmytriw, winger Davis Kock and defenceman Dallas Hines for helping return the team to being one of the top clubs in the league.

    “For our 20-year-olds that are moving on, they left a legacy here,” said Dyck. “They’ve been a huge part of the chance in the culture and winning some respect back.

    “For our younger guys, what an experience it was for them and a foundation to build on.”

Raiders sign Crocker to players agreement

    While the Prince Albert Raiders are in Halifax, N.S., playing in the Memorial Cup, they locked up part of their future.

    On Thursday, the Raiders announced they signed forward Niall Crocker to a WHL Standard Players Agreement. The Raiders selected Crocker in the first round and 22^nd overall in the WHL Bantam Draft held on May 2.

    Crocker, who will turn 15-years-old in late July, already stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 161 pounds.

    In 30 games with the Delta Hockey Academy Bantam Prep program, Crocker piled up 18 goals and 27 assists for 45 points. He added two goals and an assist in three playoff games.

    Crocker is eligible to appear in five regular season games in 2019-20 with the Raiders as a 15-year-old.

Never say never again, back in the Daily Herald

One of my stories in the Daily Herald’s special section.

    If you checked out Friday’s edition of the Prince Albert Daily Herald, you are in for a treat.

    The staff at the Daily Herald put together a special Prince Albert Raiders section due to the fact the team is playing in the Memorial Cup.

    I contributed three stories for the special section. Two stories revolved around the 1984-85 Raiders who won the WHL championship and the Memorial Cup.

    The third piece was my “More than just a hockey team” column on the Raiders.

    When I left the Daily Herald as a sports reporter back in September of 2004, I didn’t think I would ever have the chance to write for that publication again. I am happy I was wrong in this instance.

    I believe you can still purchase copies of Friday’s edition of the Daily Herald in Prince Albert, or pop by their office during office hours to pick up a copy.

    The staff there did a great job with the special section.

    Also of note, the Raiders captured the Memorial Cup 34 years ago today in 1985 with a 6-1 victory over the Shawinigan Cataractes, who were the tournament hosts.

    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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Lazar has to be an X-factor for Canada

Curtis Lazar (#27) in action for the Edmonton Oil Kings.

            For Canada, the power might be in the man with the biggest smile.

            When the NHL’s Ottawa Senators allowed Curtis Lazar to participate in this season’s world junior hockey championship tournament in Toronto and Montreal, Canada’s chances at winning its first gold since 2009 got a big boost. The boost doesn’t just come from the fact the skilled forward had three goals and four assists in seven games for Canada at the last world juniors in Malmo, Sweden.

            The 19-year-old Salmon Arm, B.C., product, who has one goal and six assists in 27 games with the Senators, joins the Canadian squad carrying the intangible of a recent championship pedigree. In May, Lazar, who will be Canada’s captain, helped the Edmonton Oil Kings win their second Western Hockey League title in three years, and then the Memorial Cup for Canadian Hockey League supremacy. The Memorial Cup win was the first for the modern era Oil Kings, who began play in the fall of 2007.

            When the Oil Kings advanced to major junior hockey’s biggest stage, they were trying to end a league-wide drought, as a WHL team hadn’t claimed the Memorial Cup since the 2008 victory by the Spokane Chiefs. The WHL was facing its longest stretch without winning the big prize since it started competing for the Memorial Cup in 1971.

            The stretch was known as “The Curse of the Drop,” because the Memorial Cup was dropped after the trophy presentation, when it was being exchanged by Chiefs players Chris Bruton and Trevor Glass.

The Oil Kings ended the curse, and Lazar took centre stage in a number of key moments in the championship run. The biggest came in the semifinal contest of the playoff round at the Memorial Cup at London, Ont.

He scored the winner in triple overtime to deliver the Oil Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Val-d’Or Foreurs to end the longest game in the history of the event lasting 102 minutes and 42 seconds. The tally also vaulted the Oil Kings into the title game.

During that contest, it appeared the scene was set to allow “The Curse of the Drop” to continue. The Oil Kings held a 3-1 lead, but the Foreurs battled back. Guillaume Gelinas found the equalizer inside of the final minute of the third period to tie things up at 3-3 and force overtime.

Edmonton also had a 1-2 record in round robin play, so no one would have thought twice, if they fell in the semifinal. Lazar came through with the overtime winner. Two days later, the Oil Kings would double up the Guelph Storm 6-3 to win the Memorial Cup title.

Leading up to the Memorial Cup, Lazar proved to be a centre figure in helping the Oil Kings win the WHL title. He piled up 41 goals, 35 assists and a plus-41 rating in the plus-minus department in 58 regular season games and netted 10 goals and 12 assists in 21 WHL playoff games.

He had key contributions in the WHL championship series, where the Oil Kings faced the Portland Winterhawks for the third straight year. Entering the series as defending league champions, the Winterhawks, who were 54-13-2-3 in the regular season, were favoured over the Oil Kings, who posted a 50-19-2-1 mark.

The Winterhawks took Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-seven set in Portland and led Game 3 in Edmonton 2-0. Lazar helped turn the tide in contest and the series to that point helping set up an early second period power-play goal by Henrik Samuelsson to cut the Portland lead to 2-1. That sparked a 3-2 comeback victory for the Oil Kings.

In Game 4, Lazar had the insurance goal in a 2-0 victory that allowed Edmonton to tie the series 2-2. The Oil Kings added a 3-2 win in Portland in Game 5, before getting knocked to the ropes again.

Looking to win the series in Game 6 in Edmonton, the Oil Kings led 5-2 heading into the third, but the Winterhawks roared back with four straight goals to claim a 6-5 overtime victory. The two clubs were going back to Portland for a winner-take-all Game 7, and the Winterhawks had all the momentum.

Lazar provided the final turning point of the series in the deciding game. Locked in a 1-1 tie in the second, he scored a short-handed goal to put the Oil Kings up 2-1. The lead bulged to 4-1, before finishing up as a 4-2 Edmonton win.

When Canada starts opening round play on Friday night against Slovakia at the Bell Centre in Montreal, other storylines will be at the forefront. As far as the Canadian roster goes, there is a high interest level to see how 17-year-old phenom Connor McDavid of the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters will do. There are high expectations he will be selected first overall in the next NHL Entry Draft, and the shifty forward is one of Canada’s two alternate captains.

Up front, Canada is loaded with offensive talent with the likes of Max Domi (London Knights, OHL), Anthony Duclair (New York Rangers, NHL) and alternate captain Sam Reinhart (Kootenay Ice, WHL). It also feels a disservice to the forward group to not mention everyone.

The back end will be anchored by Josh Morrissey, who is a prospect of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets and was recently traded in the WHL to the Kelowna Rockets. Zachary Fucale (Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL) and Eric Comrie (Tri-City Americans, WHL) will be the tandem in goal.

While watching world juniors is a Christmas time tradition in Canada, the automatic feeling that the Canadian team will win gold like from 2005 to 2009 is not there. Canada has finished fourth at the last two world juniors and hasn’t appeared in the gold medal game since 2011, when Russia skated away with a 5-3 victory in Buffalo, N.Y.

In order for the gold medal drought to not stretch through a sixth tournament, Canada will eventually need someone to step up in clutch and character situations. The pressure of playing in the extreme fishbowl hockey markets of Toronto and Montreal only adds to the intrigue.

In Lazar, Canada has a player that delivered in the clutch to help a league break a drought. It would only be natural for him to help a country break a drought, while smiling all the way.

If you have any feedback on this blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.