Raiders’ Meunier finding early hot stride in second season

Prince Albert sinks Rebels 4-1 to improve to 4-0-1

Ty Meunier had one goal and one assist for the Raiders on Saturday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Things just seem to be that much more comfortable for Ty Meunier the second time around.

Last season as a 16-year-old rookie in the WHL, Meunier, who was selected by the Raiders in the first round and seventh overall in the 2023 WHL Prospect Draft, had a fairly solid campaign as a first-year player. The speedy left-winger suited up for all of the Raiders 68 regular season games posting 14 goals and 15 assists to go with a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

After five games as a 17-year-old sophomore, Menuier has recorded three goals, one assist and a plus-one rating. Those offensive numbers included the St. Albert, Alta., product providing the Raiders with one goal, one assist and a plus-two performance in a 4-1 regular season victory over the visiting Red Deer Rebels before 2,843 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.

Ty Meunier has four points in five games this season.

Meunier said he feels the flow of things on the ice comes with a lot more familiarity than it did a year ago as a rookie.

“You feel more comfortable,” said Meunier. “That is the biggest thing.

“You feel like you can be a big asset out there and make plays and be confident. That is how I feel right now, so I’ll continue to do that.

“It has been awesome.”

Meunier got things going early in the first period. Breaking into the centre ice zone on a two-on-two rush, Meunier passed the puck to 17-year-old rookie right-winger Jonah Sivertson right before crossing the Red Deer blue line.

Ty Meunier had 29 points in 68 games as a WHL rookie last season.

Upon entering the Red Deer end, Sivertson slipped a lead pass past the Rebels defence to spring Meunier in alone on the Red Deer goal. Meunier roofed a shot to the top right corner of the Red Deer net to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

“It was just a great play by (Jonah) Sivertson,” said Meunier, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 162 pounds. “We kind of got going up ice.

“I gave it to him. He made a great play getting it back, and I got lucky enough I picked a corner and it went in.”

With 6:10 remaining in the first, Meunier had the puck low to the left side of the Red Deer net below the icing line. He put a pass across the front of the goal to the right side boards to veteran 19-year-old defenceman Linden Burrett.

Jonah Sivertson (#28) celebrates his first career WHL goal.

Burrett proceeded to quickly put a backdoor pass across the front of the Red Deer net to Sivertson at the left side of the goal. Sivertson promptly buried a shot into an empty cage for his first career WHL regular season goal to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0.

Meunier said in the early going of the current campaign he really feels he can size up plays a lot better than he did a year ago. Visually, he believes the game is starting to slow down for him.

“There are obviously new players in the league, but there are still guys that are from last year,” said Meunier. “It definitely feels a little slower.

“You feel like you can kind of be more dominant out there in different areas.”

Matthew Gard had the Rebels lone goal on Saturday.

Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald believed that Meunier had an outstanding outing for the entirety of Saturday’s contest.

“I thought Ty’s play away from the puck was phenomenal,” said McDonald. “Inside the dots, he made some great, great defensive reads that led to some great offensive chances for him.

“When Ty has the ability to get the puck and roll through the dots offensively and get his looks, Ty doesn’t need too many of those to make them count.”

The performance of Meunier, Sivertson and Burrett, who picked up assists on both first period goals for the Raiders, helped cap a dominant opening frame for the Prince Albert side. That included holding a 13-3 edge in shots on goal. The Raiders could have had a bigger advantage if it wasn’t for the performance of Rebels star 19-year-old netminder Chase Wutzke making a number of big saves.

Chase Wutzke makes one of his 24 saves in goal for the Rebels.

The Rebels proceeded to grab some momentum early in the second period on a stretch of four-versus-four play. Just 29 second into the stanza, Rebels 18-year-old centre Matthew Gard ripped home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle in the Prince Albert zone to cut the Raiders lead to 2-1.

Prince Albert proceeded to change the complexion of the contest scoring twice late in the second period to push their advantage out to 4-1. With 2:18 remaining in the frame, Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube broke into the Red Deer zone with rookie 16-year-old right-winger Ben Harvey on two-on-the-goalie break with Rebels 17-year-old defenceman Luke Vlooswyk in hot pursuit on the backcheck.

Ben Harvey had the Raiders third goal on Saturday.

Dube went to the left side of the Red Deer net and put a backhand pass across the face of the goal that deflected off Vlooswyk’s stick to Harvey by the right post. Harvey potted the puck into an empty cage to give the Raiders a 3-1 edge.

With 63 seconds remaining in the second and the Raiders working on the power play, Raiders 17-year-old right-winger Riley Boychuk had the puck at the right side of the Red Deer net and fired a pass across the front of the goal backdoor to Dube. Dube received the puck just beside the left faceoff circle and wired home his fourth of the campaign to give the Raiders their 4-1 lead.

“Dupes (Dube) possesses tremendous speed,” said McDonald. “Again, we have to make sure that we can utilize his pace.

Dimitri Fortin made 18 saves in goal for the Raiders.

“He has got a great shot. You saw it on the power play where he gets the one through the seam there and makes a great shot with it. Again, we have to make sure we can find that open ice for him to utilize his speed.”

The Rebels came with a push in the third period holding a 12-7 edge in shots on goal in the frame. Raiders 19-year-old netminder Dimitri Fortin slammed the door shut in front of the Prince Albert net to ensure the 4-1 lead in favour of the Raiders held up as the game’s final outcome.

During the third period, McDonald and the Raiders coaching staff showed great faith in all their players by rolling all four of the team’s forward lines and the three defensive pairings in finishing off the game defensively.

Brayden Dube had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

“That was the game plan,” said Meunier. “We said in the second intermission let’s finish this game off good.

“That is what the coach wanted to do is roll all four lines, and we did that. Props to our team for doing that, and I think the coaches are happy with it.”

Fortin stopped 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (4-0-1). Wutzke turned away 24 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels (1-4).

Saturday’s contest marked the first time Rebels head coach Marc Habscheid coached a game in Prince Albert since the 2021-22 campaign, which was his final season as head coach of the Raiders. Habscheid became the Raiders head coach on November 1, 2014 and held that post to the end of the 2021-22 campaign. He guided the Raiders to their second WHL championship win during a magical 2018-19 season.

Marc Habscheid works the Rebels bench as head coach.

For the current Raiders and their current head coach, McDonald said the focus will be on continually working to get better.

“For us, we just continue to take things day by day (and) continue to build our game,” said McDonald. “We had a fantastic week of practice this week, and we had a lot of learning.

“As a coach, what you’re looking for is guys applying the stuff that we’re learning in practice out on the ice and in games. For us, we saw a lot of that stuff come to the forefront today. For us, it is just continue to keep building our game and keep taking it one game at a time.”

The Rebels return to action on Tuesday when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes (7 p.m., Marchant Crane Centrium)

The Raiders get back at it on Wednesday when they host the Vancouver Giants (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Raiders salute their fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

Meunier said he is really looking forward to the rest of his 17-year-old sophomore campaign.

“It is a great start for our team, and we just have to keep building,” said Meunier. “I’m super proud of the guys, and we’ll just keep moving on from here.”

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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I am out of here outside of cameo on Wednesday

Break time has come again which will seem short

A picture of myself outside The Arena in Medicine Hat.

That time has come again where I take time away from creating content for this blog for an extended stretch.

The break will be interrupted for one story on Wednesday. The Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame is announcing its class for 2025 in the main hall of the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds that day. I will write about that announcement here, and then I don’t plan to be in this space until the CJFL season starts for the Saskatoon Hilltops.

Even for me, that season is going to come way too fast when I see their Alumni Game is set for July 31 at 7 p.m. at Ron Atchison Field.

Over the past couple of years, the pressure has been mounting on my shoulders to be present at home more from my family. There was a time I felt family was “all in” when it came to my involvement in covering sports.

The real truth is that when someone is involved in sports it creates an unfair situation with their relationships in their blood family. Basically, the family members that are not involved with sports have to shoulder extra responsibilities in the home and the family. In a lot of cases, that unfair relationship gets challenged where it does need to evolve.

I’ve been more involved in planning fun family things, but even those fun things have their stress. There are other things that take up time.

During winter, I am hands on with snow clearing in my household as well as trying to get out to clear the snow from the homes of the seniors in the family. Last winter was a hard one on that front in Saskatoon, and I estimate I spent 106 total hours involved in snow clearing. When that happens, it pushes off and cancels other things.

The list of things I need to do around the home keeps getting larger. I have things on the hobby side I want to get to as well, but it seems impossible to get to those things.

These breaks I take from this blog coincide with the hockey off-season. The past two hockey off-seasons before this one I spent a tonne of time archiving photos from the games I worked in the WHL Playoffs and that ate away time at trying to focus on other things.

All the photos on that front this year have been looked after, so I am hoping that helps with the home life and maybe getting a break.

The Tigers run to winning the WHL title was big in Medicine Hat.

Last season, I basically cut out working University of Saskatchewan Huskies live events. The only one I worked was when the Huskies Men’s Hockey Team won the Canada West Conference title on March 9 at Merlis Belsher Place. The Huskies blanked the Mount Royal University Cougars 3-0 in a series deciding Game 3 of the Canada West final.

For the WHL Playoffs, I was going to fall off that road once both the Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders were eliminated. I stayed on that trail as the Medicine Hat Tigers, who I have a lot of links to, marched on to win their sixth WHL championship.

The Tigers made it to the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion. In that title clash played last Sunday at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec, the Tigers fell 4-1 to the OHL champion London Knights.

I do admit my trips to Medicine Hat were super valuable on numerous levels. I don’t even think I know how many levels of my life the trips to Medicine Hat positively affected me on the personal and work fronts.

I was thinking about following the Saskatoon Valkyries 2025 campaign to a conclusion on this blog. I shot photos today of their 16-12 regular season victory over the Manitoba Fearless for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex social media lines. I also did interviews for their teams’ videos to be used on their various platforms.

The Valkyries finished the WWCFL regular season with a 4-0 record and will host a WWCFL semifinal at a date and time to be announced. I decided I needed to use the time I would put into the Valkyries on this blog into other things.  

With that said, the Valkyries are one of my favourite teams in the whole city of Saskatoon. Best part is the Valkyries players, coaches and staffers are very understanding when other things come up that take you away from the team.

The other thing I want to get back into is regular workouts. I got my regular workouts done for a week in the last week of May. Before that week, I hadn’t worked out since March.

My body physically feels like it is in the worst shape it has ever been in since I became an adult. With that said, I think I am still doing better than 80 per cent of the population.

Also, it is on my mind that the sports media industry is cut as bad as it has ever been, and there are tonnes of sports organizations that don’t get the coverage they deserve including a number of CFL teams. I also accept I can’t fill that void, and I do have to be mindful of looking out for myself.

The Valkyries do a cheer after their victory on Sunday.

Along with that, I don’t mind getting a break from all the fallout of what it will look like this off-season as players from the three CHL leagues can join hockey teams in the NCAA this coming season if that is the path they want to pursue. I’ve already seen freak outs in cases where it appeared potential returning WHL players are leaving for the NCAA for the start of the 2025-25 campaign.

Anyways, it is time to go, but I will be back. I will be involved in the sports world, but that involvement will depend upon what the cards are that life deals my way.

Elliott is forever a CHL championship goalie

Austin Elliott with the Memorial Cup. (Photo by Vincent Ethier/CHL)

With my past links to the Medicine Hat Tigers, it would come as no surprise that I really wanted to see them win the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions.

The WHL champion Tigers made the final of the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion and fell 4-1 to the OHL champion London Knights last Sunday at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec. While the Tigers didn’t win that title game, I was happy that the Knights winning goalie was overager Austin Elliott.

When the 2024-25 campaign began, I didn’t think Austin Elliott would be a WHL castoff having played two complete seasons from 2022 to 2024 for the Saskatoon Blades. In the 2024 WHL Playoffs, he lost the job as the Blades starting netminder to Evan Gardner, who would be selected in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets and would later sign an entry-level contract with that club.

If Elliott wasn’t starting for the Blades as an overager, I thought he would be a starting goalie in the WHL in the 2024-25 campaign. I believed you could argue that only about six other goalies were better than Elliott, and I likely should have pushed that point during the 2024 off-season.

I did have a couple of WHL observers come to me and say that Elliott was done as far as major junior hockey goes.

At the start of the 2024-25 regular season, Elliott made three starts with the Blades collecting wins in all three outings posting a 2.33 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. When Gardner returned from camp activities with the Blue Jackets organization, Elliott became a victim to the numbers game. He was released by the Blades and cleared WHL waivers.

In most cases when that happens to a player in the WHL, that player ultimately ends up playing junior A.

The Knights, who have been the top franchise in the CHL for the last 21 years, had other ideas. They were about to show why they are arguably the smartest organization in the CHL, which results in their continued winning ways resulting in dismay for their ever growing number of haters. The Knights haters are there, because the Knights always win.

Elliott was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but that didn’t deter the powerhouse Knights. On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott. The puck stopper never played a game for the Colts.

Elliott, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 180 pounds, played in 33 regular season games for the Knights posting a 32-1 record, a 2.10 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and three shutouts. Thanks to Elliott’s work, the Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25.

He started all of the 17 games the Knights played in the OHL Playoffs posting a 16-1 record, a 2.46 goals against average and one shutout as London claimed a second straight league title.

Elliott’s roll continued at the Memorial Cup tournament. During London’s five games at the Memorial Cup tournament, Elliott posted a 4-1 record, a 1.59 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. He went 55-3 including play in the WHL regular season, the OHL regular season and post-season and the Memorial Cup tournament.

When he was with the Blades, Elliott, who is from Strathmore, Alta., was an extremely likeable person. He was someone you wanted to see succeed.

It was cool to see him post a dream conclusion to his CHL career. When Elliott became an OHL and Memorial Cup champion, it showed there are times that good things do indeed come to good people.

Habscheid back in WHL with Rebels, other notes

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

Marc Habscheid is back in the WHL.

On Thursday, Red Deer Rebels general manager, president and owner Brent Sutter announced that Marc Habscheid had been hired as the team’s new head coach. Habscheid, 62, replaces Dave Struch, 54, who stepped down on May 9 for personal family reasons.

Habscheid last coached in the WHL as the head coach for the Prince Albert Raiders from November 1, 2014 to July 14, 2022. He guided the Raiders to first overall in the WHL’s regular season standings in 2018-19 and WHL championship in the 2019 post-season.

He proceeded to coach two seasons of professional hockey in Austria. Last season, Habscheid had surgery on both hips, travelled a lot and bought a house in Spain.

From 1997 to 2022, Habscheid served as a head coach in the WHL for 18 seasons with the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets, Chilliwack Bruins, Victoria Royals and Raiders. He piled up 582 career wins in 1,166 regular season games coached. Habscheid’s wins and games coached total in the regular season rank as the sixth most in both departments in the history of the WHL.

In the WHL Playoffs, Habscheid posted 75 wins in 139 games coached. He guided the Rockets to a WHL championship in the 2002-03 season and a Memorial Cup title as the tournament’s host team in 2004.

Habscheid was named the WHL coach of the year twice in the 2002-03 and 2018-19 campaigns. He claimed honours as the CHL’s coach of the year for the 2002-03 season.

In 2024-25, the Rebels posted a 26-34-6-2 mark finishing ninth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and 13 points back of the Swift Current Broncos (35-30-1-2) for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the conference.

Bringing Habscheid aboard was a huge addition for the Rebels. During his introductory press conference on Friday in Red Deer, Habscheid already started setting the steps to rally the people in the city and area around the team he is coaching, which is a characteristic he successfully accomplished in his past WHL stops.

“To win in the end, it doesn’t take just one player, one line, one coach, one trainer, one owner, it takes everybody, and that includes the city,” said Habscheid. “Everybody in Red Deer and area is important, if we’re going to win in the end and be successful.

“I want the city and the fans to know that they’re going to be a part of it, and we need their support.”

Sutter was pleased that Habscheid decided to join the Rebels.

“We coached against each other,” said Sutter. “We’ve both had success as coaches, and one thing that always stuck out with me that I kept going back to was I knew when I had to coach against him that his team was going to be very well prepared.

“I’m thrilled that ‘Habby’ wanted to be in Red Deer and wanted to coach the Red Deer Rebels. There’s an identity that we have here, and his teams played with the same identity.”

• During the Medicine Hat Tigers run to winning the WHL championship and falling in the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament, I loved the work that was put in covering that run by Tigers play-by-play voice Will Bryant and Medicine Hat News sportswriter James Tubb. Just to note, I listed them by last names in alphabetical order. Anyways, both did an outstanding job. I am also proud of the fact that in the 11 years since I left the Medicine Hat News and relocated to Saskatoon that the coverage and storytelling of the sports scene in “The Gas City” is in good hands.
• On Wednesday, it was announced the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades will open the 2025-26 campaign playing a home-and-home series against each other. The two sides go at it on Friday, September 19 at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert and on Saturday, September 20 at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
• On Wednesday, it was announced the defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers will open their 2025-26 regular season hosting the Regina Pats on Saturday, September 20, at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.
• On Thursday, 22-year-old forward Conner Roulette committed to playing for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey Team starting with the 2025-26 campaign. Last season, Roulette played for the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL, and he posted 17 goals, 17 assists and a plus-14 rating in the plus-minus department in 59 regular season games. From 2019 to 2024, Roulette played in 259 career WHL regular season contests with the Seattle Thunderbirds, Saskatoon Blades and Spokane Chiefs posting 118 goals, 170 assists and a plus-69 rating.

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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WHL Playoffs all about the favourites in 2023

Post-season lacked drama for most part on major junior circuit

Seattle C Jared Davidson is pursued by two Ice players.

Outside of a pair of series involving the Saskatoon Blades, the WHL Playoffs were pretty “ho hum” in 2023.

In the 15 best-of-seven series that made up the WHL’s post-season bracket, the team that posted the better record in the regular season won 14 of those sets. The only time a team with the weaker regular season record took a series came in the WHL final, when the Seattle Thunderbirds took out the Winnipeg Ice in five games.

That series wasn’t that much of an upset at all.

The Ice topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

The Thunderbirds topped the Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record. The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records.

Looking back, you could have made a case that the Thunderbirds should have been favoured over the Ice in the WHL Championship Series.

Connor Bedard almost singlehandedly won a playoff series.

Seattle’s roster contains 10 players who have been drafted by NHL teams and seven players who participated in the last world juniors. Winnipeg’s roster contained eight players who have been drafted by NHL teams and one player who participated in the last world juniors.

Still, the WHL Playoffs were all about the favourites in 2023. When the favourites got rolling, it often produced series that were short ones.

Out of the 15 series that made up the WHL’s post-season, seven of those series ended in sweeps and three of those sets concluded in five games. Only five out of the 15 series in the WHL Playoffs could be classified as long ones with three series ending in six games and just two series needing a series deciding Game 7 to reach a conclusion.

The Blades were involved in both series that needed a deciding Game 7 in the 2023 post-season. They were involved in the playoffs most compelling series taking on Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in the first round.

Bedard did his best to singlehandedly win that set recording 10 goals, 10 assists and a plus-eight rating in the plus-minus department in those seven contests. The Pats won the first two games, the Blades claimed Games 3 to 5, Regina was victorious in Game 6 and Saskatoon closed things off with a 4-1 victory in Game 7.

Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue (#26) became “Mr. Game 7.”

That Game 7 was played before a sellout crowd of 14,768 spectators at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon and created an electric atmosphere in the Blades home rink.

The Blades were involved with the best story when they took on the Red Deer Rebels in an Eastern Conference semifinal Series. The Rebels won the first three games of the set, and were up 2-0 after 20 minutes and 2-1 going into the third period of Game 4 at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer.

A three-goal surge in the third period lifted the Blades to a 4-2 victory. That marked the first of four straight wins for the Saskatoon side allowing the Blades to become the third team in WHL history to rally back and win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games of the set.

The Blades joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the only clubs in the history of the WHL to pull off that type of series comeback. Saskatoon took Game 7 of their series with the Rebels by a 5-2 score in front of an energized crowd of 9,489 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue earned the nickname of “Mr. Game 7.” He had a goal and an assist in the Game 7 win over the Pats and two tallies in the Game 7 win over the Rebels.

Fatigue took its toll on Shugrue and the Blades gutty stars in Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Aidan De La Gorgendiere, Brandon Lisowsky and the rest of the Saskatoon roster. The Blades were swept away by the Ice in the Eastern Conference Championships Series.

Ice C Matthew Savoie (#93) corners past Blades C Trevor Wong.

The Ice managed to get off the ropes in their Eastern Conference semifinal with the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Warriors led the series 2-1 and Game 4 in Moose Jaw went to overtime. Ice star centre Zack Ostapchuk scored in extra time to allow Winnipeg to take that contest 3-2 to even the series at 2-2.

Following that Game 4 win, the Ice pulled out a gritty 5-2 victory in Game 5 in Winnipeg and rolled to an 8-2 victory in Game 6 in Moose Jaw.

The Thunderbirds claimed a physical six-game set in the Western Conference Championship Series against the Kamloops Blazers. The Blazers are the host squad for the CHL’s championship tournament – the Memorial Cup. With that noted, they went full out to try and get to that event as WHL champions.

While the WHL Championship Series ended in five games, it was tightly contested. The Ice won the first contest, and the Thunderbirds rolled off four straight wins from there to claim their second league title in team history.

Game 4 of that series proved to be pivotal. The two sides entered the third period locked in a 2-2 tie, and the Thunderbirds scored twice in third to pull out a 4-2 victory at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash.

Had the Ice won that contest, the series would have been tied 2-2 and was guaranteed to go six games. That could have produced a different ending to the WHL final.

Thomas Milic was the MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

In Game 5 at the Accesso ShoWare Center, it seemed like it became a mental block came over the Ice players when it came to trying to shoot on Thunderbirds star netminder Thomas Milic. The Winnipeg players passed up many shooting opportunities in that contest.

The Thunderbirds skated away with a 3-1 win to claim the Ed Chynoweth Cup before a sellout crowd of 6,202 spectators and Milic was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

Overall, the WHL Playoffs were predictable in 2023, and that kind of dulled the interest in the post-season outside of the Blades two series wins in Game 7 and a couple of other spots here and there.

The WHL Playoffs in 2023 just happened to be one of those years where there was a lack of drama in the post-season.

Habscheid joins Vienna Capitals as head coach

Marc Habscheid raises the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2019.

Marc Habscheid had elected to remain in Austria to coach for the upcoming 2023-24 campaign.

Habscheid, who is 60-years-old, was named the new head coach of the Vienna Capitals located in Vienna, Austria, of the ICE Hockey League in April shortly after the club’s former head coach in Dave Barr, who is 62-years-old, stepped down after two seasons. The Capitals posted a 24-17-7 record last season to finish sixth in the 13-team circuit.

Habscheid’s move to the Capitals came shortly after he resigned as head coach of Bemer Pioneers Vorarlberg located in Feldkirch, Austria. The Swift Current, Sask., product was the Pioneers first head coach and play on the same circuit as the Capitals. The Pioneers finished last on the 13-team circuit with an 11-34-3 mark.

Before heading over to Austria, Habscheid served as the head coach for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders from November 1, 2014 to July 14, 2022. He guided the Raiders to their second WHL championship in team history in the 2018-19 campaign.

Habscheid was a long time star coach in the WHL having spent time behind the bench of the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets and the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals franchise before joining the Raiders. He guided the Rockets to a WHL championship in the 2002-03 campaign and a Memorial Cup title in 2003-04.

In 18 seasons as a WHL head coach, Habscheid has coached in 1,166 regular season games posting 582 wins, 456 losses and 128 games where his team earned standings points in ties and extra time setbacks. His 582 victories places him fifth on the WHL’s all-time career regular season wins list.

During his time as a head coach in the WHL, Habscheid’s teams made the post-season on 14 occasions and he coached in 139 games in the WHL Playoffs posting 75 wins and 64 losses. His 75 career victories in the WHL Playoffs are the seventh most in the history of the circuit.

Before becoming a coach, Habscheid had a lengthy playing career as a skilled centre skating in 345 NHL regular season games spread over 11 seasons from 1981 to 1992 with the Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota North Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames where he recorded 72 goals and 91 assists.

He starred for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades from 1979 to 1982 before concluding his time on the major junior circuit playing six games with the Kamloops Junior Oilers in the 1982-83 campaign. In 148 career regular season WHL contests, Habscheid recorded 107 goals and 169 assists for 276 points. He was a member of Canada’s first gold medal at world juniors in the 1981-82 campaign.

Remparts, Petes round out Memorial Cup field, other notes

The Quebec Remparts and the Peterborough Petes will round out the field at the four-team Memorial Cup tournament.

The field already included the host Kamloops Blazers and the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds for the annual event that crowns a CHL champion. On Sunday, the Remparts captured the QMJHL title and the Petes claimed the OHL crown. The Memorial Cup starts this coming Friday and runs through to Sunday, June 4 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.

The Remparts took the best-of-seven QMJHL final in six games against the Halifax Mooseheads. In Game 6 on Sunday, the Remparts trailed the Mooseheads 4-3 with less than three minutes remaining in the third period but rallied for a 5-4 victory before 10,300 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.

The Remparts finished first overall in the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-12-1-2 record and were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Mooseheads finished second overall in the QMJHL regular season with a 50-11-4-3 mark and were rated seventh in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Petes claimed the best-of-seven OHL final in six games against the London Knights. In Game 6 on Sunday, the Petes slipped past the Knights 2-1 before a supportive home crowd of 4,101 spectators at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

The Knights finished fifth overall in the OHL regular season standings with a 45-21-2 mark, while the Petes were 10^th overall with a 35-29-2-2 record.

The Memorial Cup opens on Friday with the host Blazers taking on the Remparts at 6 p.m. local time. The Thunderbirds face the Petes on Saturday at 3 p.m. local time. The championship final is slated for Sunday, June 4 at 4 p.m. local time.

• Last Thursday, Steve Konowalchuk stepped down as head coach of the Red Deer Rebels for family reasons. His family resides in Seattle, Wash. The 50-year-old Konowalchuk served as the Rebels head coach for the past two campaigns posting an 86-36-3-3 record in regular season action. The Rebels topped the WHL’s Central Division in 2022-23 with a 43-19-3-3 mark and were eliminated in the post-season in an Eastern Conference semifinal series by the Saskatoon Blades in seven games. Ryan Colville, who is 40-years-old, also resigned as a Rebels assistant coach last Thursday in order to look for a coaching position closer to his home in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Last Friday, Kamloops Blazers left-winger Daylan Kuefler signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the New York Islanders. In 54 regular season games with the Blazers this season, Kuefler, who turned 21-years-old in February, recorded 31 goals, 30 assists and a plus-32 rating in the plus-minus category. Kuefler’s assists, points and plus-minus totals were all career highs.
• The AJHL’s Brooks Bandits are building a junior A dynasty. On Sunday, the AJHL champion Bandits blanked the SJHL champion Battlefords North Stars 4-0 in the championship game of the Centennial Cup tournament held in Portage la Prairie, Man. The Bandits allowed just four goals in six games. They have won the Centennial Cup the last three times it has been awarded and four times total in team history.
• On May 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a piece on Evan Johnson, who is the starting right guard with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders. Johnson likes giving back to the sport of football by coaching young players at the grassroots level of the game representing the Roughriders at community events. The piece on Johnson can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that shows the spring season at the Complex finally hitting high speed. That post can be found by clicking right here.

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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Raiders take big step playing full campaign in 2021-22

The Raiders get pumped up before their playoff game last Wednesday.

The Prince Albert Raiders’ biggest victory in the 2021-22 campaign might have been the fact everything felt normal by season’s end.

When the Raiders began the 2021-22 campaign, they were still traveling down an unknown highway that had some images of familiarity. After playing through a four-game pre-season schedule in September of 2021, the Raiders hosted the Regina Pats on October 1, 2021 at the Art Hauser Centre in the regular opener for both sides.

For the Raiders, they would be hosting their first regular season game since March 6, 2020, when they dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic would proceed to get its grips on North America to go along with the rest of the world. The 2019-20 WHL campaign was officially brought to an end on March 12, 2020.

No WHL playoffs were held in 2020 or 2021, and the Memorial Cup tournament to crown a CHL champion was nixed in both of those years too.

Reece Vitelli led the Raiders with 51 points.

Teams in the WHL had an abbreviated 2020-21 campaign. The Raiders took part in 24 regular season games in 2020-21 playing in a bubble environment in Regina against the league’s other four teams located in Saskatchewan and two clubs from Manitoba.

When the Raiders stepped on the ice to play the Pats on October 1, 2021, no one was certain the 2021-22 campaign would be played to a conclusion. The Raiders raised a banner for finishing first in the WHL’s East Division before falling 3-1 to the Pats in that contest played before 2,578 spectators at the Raiders storied 2,580-seat home rink.

As far as first impressions went, fans in “Hockey Town North” had to note this wasn’t the same Raiders team they last saw in person hit the ice in 2019-20 that topped the East Division with a 36-18-6-4 record. This was definitely not the same Raiders that finished first in the WHL’s regular season standings in 2018-19 with a dominant 54-10-2-2 record and went on to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions in the post-season.

It was obvious the Raiders roster was in a transition type reload state. With that said, fans were just happy to have the chance to watch Raiders hockey at the Art Hauser Centre that night during the loss to the Pats.

There were no guarantees the Raiders would get in all their regular season games.

Ozzy Wiesblatt was a holdover from the 2018-19 WHL title winner.

Since March 12, 2020, it has been hard to almost impossible in some cases to grade how any team in the WHL has performed due to all the twists and turns and adjustments that had to be made due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For a two-week period at the start of this past January, positive COVID-19 tests caused major disruptions causing rescheduling that saw games go on for two weeks after the original April 3 end date of the regular season. The Winnipeg Ice and Brandon Wheat Kings also postponed a number of home games originally schedule in January and the first half of February due to capacity restrictions that were brought into Manitoba to combat COVID-19.

Still, the Raiders and the WHL were able to navigate all those hurdles to date. The Raiders played a completed 68 game regular season posting a 28-35-4-1 regular season record to finish eighth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and capture the conference’s final playoff berth.

Prince Albert proceeded to fall 4-1 in a best-of-seven first round series to the Winnipeg Ice, who finished first overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 53-10-3-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. The Raiders campaign ended with an 8-2 loss to the Ice in Game 5 of their series on Friday in Winnipeg.

Nolan Allan anchored the Raiders back end.

Credit goes to general manager Curtis Hunt and head coach Marc Habscheid and his coaching staff for their efforts ensured the Raiders remained a team that could make the post-season. In the process, Habscheid moved into fifth place on the WHL’s career head coaching regular season wins list current sitting with 582 victories.

Credit goes to business manager Michael Scissons and the office staff for fact the Raiders averaged 2,334 spectators over their 34 home regular season games and 2,605 spectators for the team’s two home playoff dates.

During the ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Raiders office staffers took on unforeseen roles at various times to ensure there was a product on the ice and game days did happen.

At lot of good things happened on the ice for the team as well. The Raiders closed the regular season winning two straight must win games in order to qualify for the WHL Playoffs.

After star defenceman Kaiden Guhle was traded to the Edmonton Oil Kings on December 1, 2021, Nolan Allan, who was selected in the first round and 32^nd overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, assumed the role as the main force in the back end for the Raiders.

Landon Kosior, who is a 19-year-old veteran, broke out as an offensive defenceman collecting 45 points on 18 goals and 27 assists appearing in all the Raiders 68 regular season games.

Tikhon Chaika emerged as a legit solid starter.

Overage centre Reece Vitelli, who became the Raiders captain after Guhle was traded, had his most memorable season in the WHL. Vitelli topped the Raiders in scoring with 51 points coming off 25 goals and 26 assists, and all those statistical totals were career highs.

Overage defenceman Remy Aquilon provided a steady presence on the back end and posted career highs in goals (three), assists (24) and points (27).

Left-winger Evan Herman, who was playing through his 19-year-old campaign, showed he had a nose for the net leading the Raiders with 28 goals to go along with 19 assists appearing in all the Raiders 68 regular season games.

Rookie 18-year-old import netminder Tikhon Chaika, who is from Minsk, Belarus, emerged as a solid legit WHL starter. In 51 regular season appearances, Chaika posted a 22-21-4 record, a 2.79 goals against average, a .904 save percentage and three shutouts.

The Raiders do have a number of younger players that have the potential to take big steps in the future.

Do they have the roster that can win a WHL Championship or a Memorial Cup at the moment?

That answer to that is “no” for now. At the moment, those titles were still last awarded in 2019, and since March 12, 2020, no one could realistically determine when they would be awarded again.

The Raiders salute their fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

The immediate goal was to get on the ice and plan a complete campaign like the Raiders did.

Assuming world events don’t throw in any more curveballs, the steps to building a team capable of capturing the WHL and CHL titles can now start in a more honest fashion.

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 stay alive with gutty 3-1 win over Ice

Winnipeg still leads WHL first round series 3-1

The Raiders celebrate Eric Johnston’s third period goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Is the dream alive like in 1979?

On Wednesday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Prince Albert Raiders staved off elimination in the WHL Playoffs pulling out a gutty 3-1 victory at the Art Hauser Centre in Game 4 of their best-of-seven first round series against the Winnipeg Ice. Prince Albert’s victory trims the Ice’s lead in the series to 3-1.

Due to the Prince Albert win, the series now shifts back to Winnipeg for Game 5 on Friday set for 7 p.m. local time at the Wayne Fleming Arena.

With their triumph on Wednesday, the Raiders took the first step in trying to rally back from a 3-0 series deficit, which is something they have done once in team history back in their junior A days.

In the 1979 SJHL Playoffs, the Raiders trailed the junior A version of the Swift Current Broncos that existed at the time 3-0 in a best-of-seven second round series. The Raiders stormed back to take that series 4-3 and moved on to win the Centennial Cup as national junior A champions.

Eric Johnston scored the winning goal for the Raiders in Game 4.

Current Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid gave a smile when told about the historic note but pointed out that was a great chapter in team history written in a different time.

“That is ancient history for us,” said Habscheid, whose team received a warm standing ovation salute from the 2,568 spectators in attendance as the contest’s final seconds ticked away. “We’re just trying to win a game, and we’re just trying to win a shift and worry about that.

“We’re not going to Winnipeg to participate, so they get another home date. We’re going there to win. We have a little bit of momentum and believability, and when you have that, that is pretty powerful.”

Raiders RW Harrison Lodewyk, left, battles Ice RW Evan Friesen.

Habscheid’s Raiders face a loftier challenge than the junior A version of the club took on in 1979. Heading into the 1979 post-season, the Raiders topped the SJHL standings with a record of 44 wins, 13 losses and 3 ties.

Swift Current had the circuit’s second best record in that campaign with a 40-19-1 mark. Due to the fact the Raiders and the Broncos were both in the then North Division of the SJHL, the latest they could meet in the post-season was the second round of the SJHL Playoffs.

The current day major junior Raiders are massive underdogs in their series against the Ice. The Ice topped the WHL regular season standings with a 53-10-3-2 record, and they were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

Matthew Savoie sets to fire a shot on goal for the Ice. 

The Raiders squeaked into the WHL post-season taking eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with a 28-35-4-1 mark. One night earlier in Game 3 at the Hauser, the Ice romped to a 10-1 blowout victory over the host Raiders.

Habscheid was proud that his team put in the effort they did in Wednesday’s win to rebound from the drubbing they took one night earlier.

“It is the Raider way (you) find a way, character all the way,” said Habscheid, who sits fifth all-time on the WHL’s career regular season wins list. “We got shellacked last night, and guys came back and laid it on the line.

“We deserved to win.”

Tikhon Chaika made 26 saves for the Raiders in Game 4.

In Wednesday’s clash, both teams jumped out of the gate with an intense start that saw them play through a scoreless opening 20 minutes with the Ice holding a slim 9-8 edge in shots on goal.

Just over three minutes into the first, Raiders winger Sloan Stanick broke into the Winnipeg zone on a breakaway, but he was stoned by Ice star netminder Daniel Hauser.

Raiders rookie import netminder Tikhon Chaika came up big too for the Raiders in the opening frame. He stoned Ice star centre Matthew Savoie and star left-winger Mikey Milne on close in chances.

Daniel Hauser makes one of his 20 saves in goal for the Ice.

Savoie returned to the Ice lineup after being injured blocking a shot in the third period of his team’s 3-1 victory in Game 1 of the series last Friday in Winnipeg.

Along with those two saves, Chaika came up with a big glove robbery on a slot shot from Ice star 16-year-old centre Zachary Benson.

The Raiders opened the game’s scoring at the 1:53 mark of the second period, when overage defenceman Remy Aquilon blasted home a point shot through a screen for a 1-0 lead. Aquilon’s goal marked the first time in the series the Raiders held a lead.

Ozzy Wiesblatt sets to fire a shot on goal for the Raiders.

As the Ice pressed for the equalizer as the second frame moved on, both teams started trading firewagon chances over the final five minutes of the period. 

Chaika had to turn away Ice star centre Conor Geekie on a rush down the right-wing and stoned veteran Ice star right-winger Connor McClennon on a shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal off a three-on-one rush.

“I’m always trying to stay under control,” said Chaika. “I’m always focusing on the game and the puck, and I just don’t think about it. 

“After yesterday’s game, we just talk with everybody and decided to be ready today.”

Just 66 seconds into the second, Raiders defenceman Eric Johnston received a gift at the right wing boards in the Winnipeg zone as Ice defenceman Tanner Brown, who was behind his own goal, blindly passed the puck to the Prince Albert rearguard. 

Remy Aquilon had the Raiders first goal in Game 4.

Brown immediately tried to take up a defensive position in front of the Winnipeg net after the giveaway.

Johnston quickly fired the gift off Brown into the Winnipeg goal to push the host’s lead to 2-0.

“Going into the dressing room second intermission there, we just said we have to win a period here,” said Johnston. “Luckily, that one (his goal) went off their D-man, so a lucky goal there.

“The fans were definitely electric there and got the team a lot of momentum.”

After going up two goals, the Raiders really ground down the game defensively as the Ice held a slim 5-4 shots on goal advantage in the third period. 

The Ice celebrate a goal from Mikey Milne (#24).

Still, there were dramatics at the end of the frame.

The Ice received a power play with 2:58 remaining in the frame as Stanick was called for slashing. 

With Hauser pulled for an extra attacker, the Ice cashed in with a power-play goal with 69 seconds remaining in the third.

Geekie had the puck on the right wing, and he found Milne with a backdoor feed, and Milne potted his fourth goal of the post-season to cut the Raiders lead to 2-1.

With 49.3 seconds remaining in the third, Stanick iced the victory with an empty-net goal that rounded out the 3-1 final in favour of the Raiders. 

The fans at the Art Hauser Centre salute the Raiders.

Stanick’s tally went to a video review to determine if Raiders right-winger Evan Herman was offside, but the replay officials ruled that the tally was good.

Chaika stopped 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Hauser turned away 20-of-22 shots to take the setback in net for the Ice.

If the Raiders find a way to pull out Game 5 in Winnipeg, the series will return to the Art Hauser Centre for Game 6 on Sunday for a 6 p.m. start.

After the salute the Raiders received their Game 4 win wound down and after the time elapsed on the clock, Habscheid believes his players received an extra incentive to try and get another home post-season game.

The Raiders celebrate their Game 4 win on Wednesday.

“I think what is important for our guys is with 20 seconds left the whole building got up, and you could feel the energy of the crowd and the appreciation of the crowd for what these guys are doing and the effort that they are showing,” said Habscheid. “That gives them a lot of motivation to comeback for Game 6.”

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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