Raiders’ core group enjoyed journey to WHL’s peak

Raiders LW Parker Kelly, right, always makes time for the fans.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Parker Kelly is in his element, when he is amongst the fans.

    The Prince Albert Raiders power forward, who recently turned 20-years-old, soaked in every moment of a rally held for the team on Thursday night at the Art Hauser Centre. The rally concluded with the Raiders players signing autographs for a lengthy stretch after the formal part of the program for the fans.

    Kelly was smiling away and being his jovial self, while greeting the team’s supporters. The Camrose, Alta., product was intent on signing every autograph request and satisfying every picture query.

Parker Kelly in action for the Raiders in the WHL final.

    Thursday’s rally attracted about 600 fans, but sometimes it was hard to pin down the estimate. It was obvious some of the team’s faithful came fresh from games at the neighbouring softball fields as young players were still wearing the uniforms of their local minor ball teams.

    Some came from the neighbouring track facility and were wearing their track and field gear.

    Kelly was happy to see all the supporters, who came down to celebrate what was a special and remarkable season for the Raiders.

    After going through a 13-year stretch where they missed the playoffs seven times and were eliminated in the first round six times starting in 2006, the Raiders had their season in the sun 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.

The Raiders faithful give their team a standing ovation on Thursday.

    They won the WHL final in a 3-2 victory in overtime in Game 7 against the Vancouver Giants with overage centre Dante Hannoun scoring the winner. With that win, the Raiders captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    Prince Albert advanced to the Memorial Cup tournament in Halifax, N.S. and bowed out after posting an 0-3 record. The Raiders closed play at the Memorial Cup on Tuesday falling 5-2 to the OHL champions Guelph Storm.

    Kelly was pumped to see the turnout on the final night the 2018-19 Raiders would get together as some members of the team were slated to start returning home on Friday.

Raiders fans had their picture taken with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    “It is unbelievable,” said Kelly. “It is kind of starting to sink in now.

    “You see all the people here after a long work day coming to support us, a little celebration we had tonight, it is really cool to see all the support we have and how many people love coming to watch us play. We appreciate it so much.

    “It is such an underrated town. It has to be one of the best places to play, when it is packed. We really appreciate these guys.”

    Kelly was part of a core group of eight players that were with the Raiders in 2016-17, when the club finished third last in the WHL with a 21-44-5-2 record. The other members from that group included Brayden Pachal, who became the team’s captain this season, Zack Hayes, Max Martin, Spencer Moe, Cole Fonstad, Sean Montgomery and netminder Ian Scott.

    Together, they pushed the Raiders into the playoffs with a 32-27-9-4 regular season record in 2017-18, where they fell in a heartbreaking seven game first round series to the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Raiders centre Sean Montgomery, right, satisfies a fan request.

    That set the stage for the magical campaign in 2018-19, where the Raiders topped the WHL standings and won the WHL title for the first time since the 1984-85 campaign. The 1984-85 Raiders were able to capture the Memorial Cup as CHL champions.

    Kelly was part of the team’s WHL Bantam Draft class in 2014 with Scott and Hayes and was proud the core group from the 2016-17 campaign could grow and persevere.

    “I go back to what Habby (Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid) said in his interview about us getting sand kicked in our faces and us being made fun of,” said Kelly. “All I can just say is look at us now - we’re champs.

    “We’re going to have rings on our figures. I’ve been through thick and thin with those guys, and you know what, we’re going to be brothers for life.”

Sean Montgomery was a heart and soul career Raiders player.

    Montgomery is the elder statesman of the entire Raiders team. The Calgary, Alta., product was selected in the sixth round and 114^th overall in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft.

    He would go on to play a team record 345 career regular season games for the Raiders collecting 72 goals and 72 assists. Montgomery enjoyed sharing the ride with the core group of eight that has been together since the 2016-17 season.

    “That has been awesome,” said Montgomery. “We’ve had a few tough years, but we learned from those years and grew from them and now we won.”

    The Raiders acquired Pachal in a trade with the Victoria Royals on Jan. 9, 2017. Pachal remembered the taunts he first endured with the Raiders after joining them for the second half of the 2016-17 campaign.

    “We didn’t forget that, and now we are at the top,” said Pachal. “We lost with class, and now we’ve won with class.

Captain Brayden Pachal addresses the team’s faithful on Thursday.

    “It is an amazing feeling. Obviously, becoming close with all those core guys is amazing, but at the same time it is tough. There are a lot of us that won’t be back next year.

    “We played our last game as a group together. It is a tough one. It is bittersweet.”

    Habscheid has gotten emotional talking about his team since the club concluded play at the Memorial Cup. He has a big sense of pride for his players and what they accomplished this season.

    The veteran bench boss said it has been fun seeing the journey the core group of eight has been on together since the 2016-17 season.

    “We just stayed with it,” said Habscheid. “We just kept believing and kept working.

    “You know hard work pays off, and it showed. These guys are league champions, and they resurrected a franchise that needed a little shot in the arm. They provided that for the franchise and for the city.”
    Kelly admitted there were stretches this season where he was really locked in and focused on the task at hand.

A scene that will be remembered forever in Prince Albert.

    During those stretches where the team is working hard day after day, Kelly said he might have not taken enough time to reflect how fun the ride has been.

    The prospect of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators said events like the rally that was held for the Raiders on Thursday more than made up for the times he might have been too locked in.

    “You kind of miss how fun a whole season is with your brothers and playing with them every night, going to war with them,” said Kelly. “When you finally get to raise a trophy and have a celebration like this, it is unbelievable.

    “There are really no words to put it other than it is just so surreal right now. Like we always say, we’ll be brothers forever and we’ll walk together for the rest of our lives.”

Huskies punch ticket to all-QMJHL Memorial Cup title game

    The Memorial Cup’s title game will be a rematch of the QMJHL championship series.

    On Friday, the QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies slipped past the OHL champion Guelph Storm 6-4 in a Memorial Cup semifinal game before a sellout crowd of 10,595 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.

    The Huskies and Storm entered the third period locked in a 3-3 tie.

    Huskies centre Felix Bibeau scored the first two goals of the third to put Rouyn-Noranda up 5-3.

    With 73 seconds remaining in the third period, Storm captain Isaac Ratcliffe scored his second of two goals on the night to cut the Huskies lead to 5-4.

    Huskies captain Rafael Harvey-Pinard sealed victory for his side scoring into an empty net with 2.9 seconds remaining in the third. Harvey-Pinard had two assists to go with his goal.

    Alex Beaucage, Joel Teasdale and Tyler Hinam had singles for the Huskies. Jack Hanley and Cedric Ralph replied with singles for the Storm.

    Samuel Harvey stopped 34 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Huskies. Anthony Popovich turned away 33-of-38 shots to take the loss in goal for the Storm.

    Huskies offensive defenceman Noah Dobson was stopped on a penalty shot.

    With the win, the Huskies will play for the CHL championship advancing to the Memorial Cup title game on Sunday to play the host Halifax Mooseheads (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet).
    The only other time there was an all-QMJHL title game at the Memorial Cup came back in 2006, when the QMJHL finalists Quebec Remparts downed the host and QMJHL champion Moncton Wildcats 6-2 in 2006.

    The Huskies beat the Mooseheads 4-2 in the best-of-seven QMJHL final. The Huskies downed the Mooseheads 4-3 in a round robin game on Wednesday.

    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.

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

    Friday’s game brought an end to a remarkable run for Guelph. The Storm finished eighth overall in the OHL’s regular season with a 40-18-6-4 mark.

    Guelph 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 2-0 to the Ottawa 67’s before rallying for four straight wins to take the series 4-2.

    At the Memorial Cup tournament, the Mooseheads, Huskies and Storm all had 2-1 records in the round robin portion of the tournament.

    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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All pressure off Raiders after opening loss at Memorial Cup

Noah Gregor had the Raiders only goal on Friday.

    The Prince Albert Raiders have nothing to lose and everything to gain going forward at the Memorial Cup tournament.

    On Friday before 9,926 spectators at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, the Raiders fell 4-1 to the host Mooseheads in the opening game of the tournament that determines the CHL champion.

    With the loss, the WHL champion has fallen in 11 straight games at the Memorial Cup. 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 WHL team has only succeeded in winning one of the last 10 Memorial Cup titles.

    With that loss, the fact the Raiders topped the WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings will be a faded recollection.

    At the Memorial Cup tournament level, the expectation for the Raiders going forward will be that they end up like the other WHL entries that participated at the last 10 Memorial Cups excluding the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014. When they return to Prince Albert, the expectation is the Raiders will not have the Memorial Cup in hand.

    Any thoughts of winning the Memorial Cup have to be put on the back burner until they break the losing streak the WHL champion has at this event.
    At the moment, the notion that WHL teams taking part in the Memorial Cup tournament will not be as strong as their counterparts in the OHL and QMJHL has just been reinforced. That notion won’t be lifted until the WHL champion finally wins a game again at this event.

Ian Scott made 33 saves in goal for the Raiders on Friday.

    The Mooseheads weren’t your ordinary host team that experienced a long wait after an early exit from their league playoffs.

    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 Mooseheads fell in the QMJHL final to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 4-2 in a best-of-seven series.

    The toughest part for the Raiders on Friday was the fact they started the game with three first period power plays and came away empty handed. They also had some momentum from an early hit offensive defenceman Max Martin dished out on Mooseheads centre Keith Getson.

    After the first two penalties were killed, the Mooseheads went ahead 1-0 when right-winger Raphael Lavoie centred a pass to centre Samuel Asselin fired home the go-ahead goal at the 10:46 of the opening frame. Raiders defenceman Zack Hayes was trying to check Lavoie but was accidentally picked on the play by referee Mario Maillet.
    The pick allowed Lavoie a clear lane to pass the puck to Asselin.

    Following the kill of the third Raiders power play, Asselin, who was a member of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s Memorial Cup winning team last season, sent a backdoor feed to linemate Xavier Parent, who tapped in a goal to give Halifax a 2-0 lead at the 18:44 mark of the opening frame.

    In the second, the Raiders got into penalty trouble including starting the frame with two delay of game penalties for clearing the puck over the glass.

    After killing off a third period, Prince Albert got on the boards when star overage centre Noah Gregor tipped home a point shot from Martin to cut the Mooseheads lead to 2-1.

Max Martin had an assist for the Raiders on Friday.

    Halifax regained momentum going on its fourth power play of the second period. Mooseheads defenceman Jake Ryczek one-timed home a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle on a beauty feed from left-winger Maxim Trepanier to give the host side a 3-1 edge.

    Trepanier picked up assists on all three of Halifax’s goals to that point in the contest.

    Late in the second, Raiders overage centre Dante Hannoun tried to tuck home a backhander into what appeared to be an open right side of the Halifax net, but he was robbed on a diving stick save from Mooseheads goalie Alexis Gravel.

    Halifax controlled played in the third holding a 15-4 edge in shots on goal, and centre Antoine Morand, who is an NHL Entry Draft selection of the Anaheim Ducks, rounded out the final score with an empty-net goal with 1:53 remaining in the frame.

    Ian Scott turned away 33-of-36 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders. Gravel stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Mooseheads.

    The Raiders failed to score on four power-play chances, while the Mooseheads were 1-for-6 with the man advantage.

    The Memorial Cup continues Saturday as the QMJHL champion Huskies face the OHL champion Guelph Storm.

    The Raiders are off until Monday, when they face another daunting task taking on the Huskies (5 p.m. Saskatchewan time, Sportsnet).

    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.

Dante Hannoun was robbed on a late second period scoring chance.

    While the Huskies will be a tough foe, expect the Raiders to be better in that contest.

    The Prince Albert squad arrived in Halifax on Wednesday. When Monday’s game rolls around, the Raiders will have spent four full days in the Nova Scotia capital city, which should help them be fully adjusted to the three-hour time change.

    The Raiders will have had a couple of practices, and head coach Marc Habscheid and his coaching staff will have been able to scout the other three teams in the field over two games before the Monday contest with the Huskies rolls around.

    The Raiders might not be able to overcome the woes the WHL champion has incurred at the last 10 Memorial Cups, but they will have an optimal shot to overcome those woes.

    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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Absence makes Giants head coach cherish WHL final return

Michael Dyck is back in the WHL final as the Giants head coach.

    For Michael Dyck, the days of Zach Boychuk, Dwight King, Ben Wright, Luca Sbisa and Mitch Fadden seem like both yesterday and another lifetime ago.

    Back in 2008, Dyck, who was 39-years-old at the time, was guiding his hometown Lethbridge Hurricanes to a berth in the WHL final. The Hurricanes put up the fifth best record in the WHL regular standings in 2007-08 with a 45-21-2-4 record.

    The Hurricanes advanced to the WHL Championship series and were swept away in the best-of-seven set 4-0 by the Spokane Chiefs, who finished with the second best record in the WHL regular season at 50-15-1-6. The Chiefs advanced on to win the Memorial Cup.

    Currently, Dyck is guiding the Vancouver Giants as head coach in this year’s WHL final. He is overseeing a team that boasts the likes of Bowen Byram, Davis Koch, Justin Sourdif, Milos Roman and Dylan Plouffe.

    This season marks the first time Dyck has been back in the WHL Championship series since guiding the Hurricanes there 11 years ago.
    The Giants are tied 1-1 in this year’s best-of-seven WHL final with the Prince Albert Raiders.

Game 3 is slated for Tuesday at 7 p.m. local time at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.

    “After you get an opportunity like we had in Lethbridge, the message is these don’t come around very often,” said Dyck, who is now 50 years old. “You certainly have to take advantage of it, when it comes.”

Head coach Michael Dyck addresses his Giants during a media timeout.

    Dyck and the Hurricanes parted ways at the end of the 2008-09 campaign. He wouldn’t take on another head coaching position in the WHL until joining the Giants in late June of 2018.

    In most of the years between WHL head coaching positions, Dyck could be found guiding the minor hockey teams his son, Carson, played on in Lethbridge. When Carson joined the Okotoks Oilers in the junior A ranks, Michael decided the time was right to join the Giants as head coach.

    He is pleased he has been able to help the Giants make their first appearance in the WHL final since 2007, but still cherishes the special time he had between WHL head coach gigs.

    “It was nice to get away,” said Dyck. “It was nice to spend some time with my family.

    “It was nice to work with my own son instead of everybody else’s kids. It was time to come back.

    “I wouldn’t have come back, if it wasn’t the right opportunity. There were lots of opportunities to come back, but this was the right one.”
    With both the Hurricanes and the Giants, Dyck guided each team to a WHL final appearance in a short span of time. In Lethbridge, Dyck joined the Hurricanes in early November of 2005 and had them in the WHL Championship series in his third season with the club.

    In Vancouver, Dyck has the Giants in the WHL final in his first campaign as the team’s head coach.

    In both spots, Dyck said a culture chance was needed but remembers being in for a bigger challenge on that front in Lethbridge.

    “We had to change the culture here, but there was much more a transformation there,” said Dyck. “The building blocks were already in place when we got here.

Bowen Byram is one of the talented players Michael Dyck gets to coach.

    “What we want to do is bring a winning attitude here and winning habits.”
    Looking back in 2008, Dyck thought rest would be the biggest advantage for his Hurricanes. The Hurricanes swept the Calgary Hitmen 4-0 in that year’s WHL Eastern Conference final.

    The Chiefs went through a seven-game war with the Tri-City Americans win witn the WHL’s Western Conference title and five of those clashes went to overtime. Out of those five overtime clashes, three went to double overtime.

    Lethbridge had eight days off between eliminating Calgary and hitting the ice to face Spokane. Spokane had two days off between eliminating Tri-City and returning to action against Lethbridge.

    “We thought we would catch them (the Chiefs) tired,” said Dyck. “I remember (Chiefs head coach) Billy Peters saying he was going to take rhythm over rest, and it worked for him.”

    Dyck said that experience provided lessons he used to prepare the Giants for the WHL final encounter they are currently engaged in with the Raiders.

    The Raiders finished first overall in the WHL regular season at 54-10-2-2, and the Giants were second overall at 48-15-3-2.

    “This series, I think both Prince Albert and ourselves have had about the same amount of games,” said Dyck. “We maybe had a couple of more days (of rest).

    “In learning from that (the 2008 WHL final), we really wanted to simulate as much as we could the intensity of playoff hockey in our practices, so I thought we were well prepared coming in.”

Head coach Michael Dyck wants to guide the Giants to a WHL title win. 

    Going into his final season guiding the Hurricanes, Dyck believed his team was better equipped to win the WHL title in 2008-09 than the squad that made the WHL final in 2007-08.

    The Hurricanes had a respectable 35-32-3-2 record in 2008-09, eliminated the Saskatoon Blades in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs and fell in a four-game sweep to the Hitmen in the second round.

    That experience reinforced to Dyck how difficult it is to return to a league final.

    “You learn very quickly that these opportunities don’t come around very often,” said Dyck. “You see it in the National Hockey League level.

    “There are a lot of good teams that have been bounced out of the playoffs that everybody probably would think would be going to the third and fourth round. When these opportunities come, you have to take advantage of them.”

Nerves got better of Raiders in Game 1

Raiders C Spencer Moe (#11) is stopped by Giants G David Tendeck.

    Even powerhouse teams can get a case of the nerves at the most inopportune times.

    That was likely a factor in why the Prince Albert Raiders fell 5-4 to the Vancouver Giants in Game 1 of the WHL final played on Friday in Prince Albert.

    Both teams are evenly matched. The Raiders topped the WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    The Giants placed second overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-3-2 record and are rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    While the Raiders were backed by a sellout crowd of 3,289 fans at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre, the early excited feelings quickly faded as the Giants jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the 6:06 mark of the opening frame.

    The Raiders were on their heels in the opening frame, but they played strong second and third periods of that contest ultimately falling 5-4. Raiders star netminder Ian Scott let in a couple of goal on softer scoring chances, and that could be chalked up to nerves too.

Captain Brayden Pachal (#8) and the Raiders posted a big Game 2 win.

    Prince Albert is making its first appearance in the WHL final since 1985 and is the consensus top club in the WHL to boot.

    In Game 2 on Saturday played before another sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders skated to a 4-0 victory holding a 34-15 edge in shots on goal.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said his club was battled the nerves in the first period of Game 1 in the post-game presser. After the Raiders won Game 2, Habscheid felt his view of Game 1 was further confirmed.

    “We were nervous (on Friday),” said Habscheid. “It is great to have home ice advantage, but Game 1 sometimes it is almost easier to start on the road, especially when you don’t play the other team a lot.

    “It is the way it is. We have our game. Our game is good right now.

    “That is what is most important.”

    In Game 1, it felt like the Giants played a lot more free and easy than the Raiders did, which allowed the Vancouver side to come out on top.

    The Raiders rebounded with a solid all-out effort in winning Game 2 in convincing fashion.

    With the next three games of the WHL title series set for Langley, B.C., it will be interesting to see where the momentum swings between these two clubs goes from here.

Martin watch on for Raiders

Max Martin left Saturday’s game with an injury.

    The Max Martin watch will be on for the Prince Albert Raiders heading into Game 3 of the WHL final.

    The Raiders 19-year-old offensive defenceman left the second period of his team’s 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Giants in Game 2 of the WHL Championship series on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

    Martin blew a tire and fell awkwardly on his own into the boards. He left the game, and in the post-game presser, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said Martin will be re-evaluated on Sunday.

    The Winnipeg, Man., product left with the Raiders holding a 3-0 lead. Martin picked up an assist on the Raiders third goal of the contest scored by star overage centre Noah Gregor on the power play.

    The rearguard was a plus-two in the plus-minus department as well.

    Martin, who stands 6-feet and weighs 178 pounds, has appeared in all of the Raiders 18 post-season games to date collecting seven assists and a plus-14 rating. In 59 regular season games, he recorded six goals, 35 assists and a plus-45 rating.

    Besides his scoring prowess, Martin is known for his ability to play through injury.

Max Martin has put up a lot points on the back end for the Raiders.

    The only time he sits is if his injury really hampers his ability to play on the ice that he become detrimental to the team.
    When the Raiders and Giants go at it in Game 3 of the WHL final on Tuesday at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C., all eyes will look at the beginning of the game to see if Martin plays.

    If he doesn’t play, that will likely shake up the Raiders normally locked in defensive pairings of Martin with Sergei Sapego, captain Brayden Pachal with Zack Hayes and Jeremy Masella with Kaiden Guhle.

    If Martin can’t go, Loeden Schaufler will likely be placed in the lineup to play defence for the Raiders. Schaufler has seen action in four of the Raiders post-season games.

    After Martin went down, the Raiders defensive unit continued to play strong, so that will likely continue to add confidence to the Prince Albert side.

Miracle at the i-Plex remembered

Giorgio Estephan celebrates his OT winner last year in Swift Current.

    It is crazy to think a year ago today one of the all-time classic games in the history of the WHL playoffs went down in Swift Current.

    On May 5, 2018, the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex played host to the “Miracle at the i-Plex.”

    In this encounter, the host Swift Current Broncos were taking on the visiting Everett Silvertips in Game 2 of the WHL Championship series. Everett took Game 1 of the best-of-seven set one night earlier by a 2-1 final.

    In the 2017-18 campaign, the Broncos finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings at 48-17-5-2, and the Silvertips were third overall at 47-20-2-3.

    The Silvertips seemed poised to take control of the series. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period in Game 2.

The fans in Swift Current cheer on the Broncos.

    Swift Current scored in the second period to cut the gap to 3-1, but Everett still seemed to be in total control. The Silvertips had numerous opportunities to land the knockout blow with high quality scoring chances.
    The Broncos came out for the third period before a warm standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 2,890 spectators.

    Swift Current battle back scoring twice in the third to tie the contest up at 3-3 and force overtime. Tyler Steenbergen scored the equalizer with 1:37 to play in the third with netminder Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker.

    Giorgio Estephan netted the winner at the 9:27 mark of overtime to deliver the Broncos to a 4-3 victory.

    The rally occurred against Silvertips star goaltender Carter Hart, who had back stopped Canada to goal at that season’s world juniors.

    The series switched to Everett for three straight games, and Swift Current won Games 3 and 4. The Broncos captured the WHL title on home ice with a 3-0 victory in Game 6.

    After covering the Game 2 comeback, I realized more the next day what I actually got to watch and cover.

Tyler Steenbergen, left, celebrates scoring the equalizer for the Broncos.

    I had seen one of the all-time great games played in the history of the WHL final and as well as the WHL playoffs.

    It was one of those games where you asked yourself, “Did I just see that?”

    I still can’t believe that game happened a year ago.

    The “Miracle at the i-Plex” will live forever in Broncos lore.
    You can read the game story about that contest from a year ago 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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Raiders deliver energized home faithful big win over rival Blades

The Raiders celebrate an empty-net goal from Cole Fonstad, centre.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The Prince Albert Raiders delivered an ending their supporters will never get tired of.

    On Friday before a season high 3,130 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders rallied back from a 2-1 deficit to down their archrivals the Saskatoon Blades 4-2. With 9.1 seconds remaining in the third period, star left-winger Cole Fonstad took a pass from linemate Noah Gregor and fired home an empty-net goal to seal the win.

    After Fonstad’s tally, the packed crowd did their best to raise the roof off the building as the Guess Who’s “Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon” echoed through the Art Hauser Centre’s rafters.

    “The building was alive,” said Raiders netminder Donovan Buskey, who team won their fifth straight game. “Both teams competed so hard.

Netminder Donovan Buskey makes one of his 34 stops for the Raiders.

    “It was a great atmosphere in there and two good rivals for sure. It feels good to come in and hopefully do a bit better for these guys. They work really hard for me every night, so I need work hard for them.”

    With star goalie Ian Scott playing for Canada’s world junior team in Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., Buskey took on the temporary role as the Raiders starter before the Christmas break. He had some rough outings and was pulled after allowing four goals in the Raiders final game before the Christmas break on Dec. 15, which they eventually won 7-5 over the Swift Current Broncos at the Art Hauser Centre.

    The 18-year-old Calgary product had a strong performance on Friday making 34 saves to help the Raiders improve their WHL leading record to 33-2-0-1 and improving their undefeated record at home to 17-0.

Noah Gregor fires home his second period equalizer.

    Prince Albert is rated first in the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings.

    With the Blades holding a 2-1 lead, Buskey came up with a huge save with under 30 seconds to play in the second period. Blades star 17-year-old centre Kirby Dach gathered a loose puck and got in alone in front of the Raiders net looking to score a highlight reel goal, but Buskey came out of his crease and made the pad stop.

    Raiders defenceman Zack Hayes got a hold of the puck and sprung Gregor on a breakaway. The star overage centre roofed home his second goal of the game and 23^rd of the year with 20.3 seconds remaining in the second to square things up at 2-2.

    “It was pretty crazy,” said Gregor. “I had a break before, and then they went back and Bus (Buskey) makes a huge save.

    “I go back the other way and tie it up. That was huge save for Bus.”

    In the third, import centre Aliaksei Protas took a pass from offensive defenceman Max Martin on a rush and wired a mid-height shot past Blades netminder Dorrin Luding with 9:27 remaining in the frame.

Aliaksei Protas had the winning goal for the Raiders.

    That set the stage for Fonstad to cement the win with his empty-netter.

    While the Raiders finished off the win, the third period was fairly evenly played with the hosts holding a 10-8 edge in shots on goal in the stanza.

    Blades left-winger Gary Haden thought his team responded well after Gregor tied the contest late in the second period following Buskey’s big save.

    “There are turning points throughout every game,” said Haden. “If Kirby (Dach) scores that highlight goal, it is probably on plays of the year, and we are up 3-1 going into the third.

    “You have to give him (Buskey) credit, he made a big save. (Noah) Gregor has an NHL shot. It is just the way the game goes.
    “I thought we responded pretty well from it. We didn’t get too down on ourselves. We came out and played a hard third.”

    The Blades also played a hard opening frame too. They went ahead 1-0 at the 5:25 mark of the first period, when Haden knocked home a power-play goal at the right side of the Prince Albert net.

    The Raiders drew even at 1-1 just 20 seconds into a five minute major penalty assessed to Blades defenceman Brandon Schuldhaus. Gregor got the puck in the left slot and wired home his 22^nd goal of the season.

Raiders C Brayden Pachal (#8) and Blades D Dawson Davidson scrum it up.

    Schuldhaus was given a kneeing major and a game misconduct after colliding with Martin. Martin left for the remainder of the opening frame but returned after the first intermission and set up the Raiders winning goal in the third period.

    Schuldhaus’s hit will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

Before the opening 20 minutes ended, the Blades went back in front 2-1, when Norwegian import left-winger Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen potted his ninth of the year from in front of the Raiders net.

    The big hits, scrums and some rough stuff continued in the second period. Raiders centre Kody McDonald received a double minor for high sticking Blades defenceman Seth Bafaro and drawing blood in the second frame.

Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen (#24) celebrates scoring for the Blades.

    McDonald’s infraction will also be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    Haden, who came to the Blades in a trade with the Medicine Hat Tigers earlier this season, was impressed the intensity that exists in the rivalry between Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

    “Everybody kind of warned me when you go to P.A. it is a war, and I got the first taste of that,” said Haden. “If things work out, hopefully, we get them in the playoffs, and it would be quite the series to be a part of.”

    Luding turned away 32 of 35 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades, who fell to 21-11-5.

Spencer Moe looks to make a centering pass for the Raiders.

    With his two goals and one assist on Friday night, Gregor has points in his last five straight games recording nine goals and four assists over that stretch. Fonstad finished with a goal and an assist on Friday to allow him to also have points in five consecutive games. He has two goals and 10 assists over that stretch.

    With star right-winger Brett Leason playing for Canada at world juniors, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was pleased with the offensive production those two veterans have had playing on a line with rookie 16-year-old right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt.

    “I think that line on its own has a little bit of synergy,” said Habscheid. “Fonstad has really come back after Christmas with an extra step.

    “That line has just played well. We’ve needed them. We’re out two pretty good players.

    “We just keep trying to find a way to win.”

The Raiders celebrate their win on Friday over the Blades.

    The Raiders return to action on Sunday, when they host the Regina Pats at 6 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. The Blades return to action on Sunday, when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos at 4 p.m. at the Credit Union i-Plex.

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

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