Raiders wise to focus on Game 5 of WHL Championship Series

Questionable third period calls in Game 4 left in past

An officials’ conference takes place in Game 4 of the WHL final.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Prince Albert Raiders turned the page as soon as their post-game presser on Wednesday night.

That feeling was reinforced in media interviews during an off day on Thursday.

No matter how you cut it, the Raiders are in the classic cliché “do or die” situation in their best-of-seven WHL Championship Series with the Everett Silvertips. With a 5-2 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre, the Silvertips took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series having won the last three straight contests in the set. Everett has also scored first in every game of the series.

Game 5 is slated for Friday at 7:30 p.m. local time at the Hauser. At the moment, the Raiders can only look towards the game Friday.

They can go into the contest with a key motivating factor. They do not want that game to come to a conclusion where the Silvertips are being presented the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions. If that situation materializes, the Raiders will find out one of the hardest things they will experience in sports is seeing an opponent celebrate a league championship in their own home rink and home city.

In the older era of the WHL and even into the early 2010s, teams that made the WHL final did not want to see an opponent enjoy a championship celebration on their home rink. If the Raiders prevail on Friday, they will force the series to head back to Everett for Game 6 on Sunday at 7 p.m. local time at the Angel of the Winds Arena. The last WHL final to go to a Game 6 came in 2022, when the Edmonton Oil Kings beat the Seattle Thunderbirds in six games.

In Game 4 of this year’s WHL final, frustration ensued for the Raiders and their fans as an official’s mistake snowballed on the host side. Raiders fans might not believe this, but there was a game in this year’s WHL Playoffs that snowballed worse due to an official’s mistake. That contest will be brought up a little later, but first the focus goes to the third period in Game 4 of the WHL final.

The fans first got upset when Silvertips star right-winger Carter Bear scored on the power play at the 4:24 mark of the third to put the visitors up 3-1. A replay shown in the building after the goal was scored showing the play was close to being offside on a zone entry. Before the 2023-24 campaign started, the WHL made a rule change eliminating offside plays from a coach’s challenge.

A short time later, Raiders captain Justice Christensen scored to cut the Silvertips lead to 3-2. That set the stage for the biggest controversial play of the contest.

With 11:33 remaining in the third, Raiders star centre Aiden Oiring tried to wrap the puck home at the right side of the Silvertips net. Silvertips star netminder Anders Miller made the stop, but a mad scramble ensued at the right side of the goal.

The puck bounced around a maze of skates and sticks and shot out to Raiders rookie defenceman Benett Kelly in front of the Everett net. Kelly appeared to blast home the equalizer causing the crowd at the Hauser to momentarily erupt.

The officials blew the play dead having lost sight of the puck. They disallowed the goal due to the quick whistle causing the crowd to turn irate. About two or three people ended up throwing debris on the ice.

The officials did a short video review and still held up the no goal call.

That quick whistle was a mistake, and the Raiders should have been in a tie game at that point. What fans often forget in the WHL is that the circuit is a development league for the officials as well as the players. You do run into a handful of fans in every WHL market thinking everything should be executed at an NHL level, which is great to hope for but unrealistic to expect.

On seemingly the next shift with 10:40 remaining in the third, Raiders standout sophomore Riley Boychuk appeared to fire home another equalizer. That goal was waved off as the officials correctly ruled a Raiders player had knocked a Silvertips player into Miller causing inadvertent contact that prevented the netminder from making a save.

The officials got that call right. Still, there were Raiders fans that were mad that goal didn’t count.

The snowball effect carried on.

With 9:40 remaining in the third, the Raiders suffered a bad break that didn’t have anything to do with the officials. While attempting to break out of their zone, Raiders star 20-year-old centre Aiden Oiring and Christensen both blew tires causing the puck to be turned over to Silvertips 20-year-old centre Zackary Shantz along the right boards in the Prince Albert zone.

Shantz passed the puck across the front of the Prince Albert net to linemate in 18-year-old left-winger Shea Busch. Busch popped the puck home to push the Silvertips lead out to 4-2. Matias Vanhanen proceeded to add an empty-net goal to round out the 5-2 final score in favour of the Silvertips.

This wasn’t the only game that went off the rails due to an official’s mistake. An even worse one took place earlier in the current WHL Playoffs on April 15 at the CN Centre in Prince George, B.C.

On that night, the host Prince George Cougars went into Game 4 of a Western Conference Semifinal Series against the Penticton Vees holding a 2-1 lead in that best-of-seven set. The two sides were locked in a 2-2 tie in a very entertaining contest heading into the final six minutes of the third period.

With 5:50 remaining in the third, Cougars defenceman Corbin Vaughan nailed Vees centre Ryden Evers with a shoulder to the chest bodycheck in the centre ice zone. Evers fell face first to the ice and was cut by his visor.

The officials in that game gave Vaughan a major penalty for head checking and a game misconduct. It was clear reviewing the video that no head check occurred on the play.

All of a sudden, the snowball happened. A short time later, Cougars defenceman Arsenii Anisimov cleared the puck over the glass from his own zone resulting in a delay of game penalty.

Vees captain Nolan Stevenson scored on that two-man advantage with 4:16 remaining in the third to put Penticton up 3-2. A handful of Cougars fans were so upset they threw debris on the ice.

After play resumed, a couple of other Cougars fans threw debris on the ice while play was in progress. That caused the officials to blow the play dead with 3:40 remaining in the third and give the Cougars bench a penalty due to the actions of the fans. That is a rule that rarely gets put into action, but that was the right time to call that penalty.

Vees defenceman Ethan Weber scored on that two-man advantage with 2:29 remaining in the third to push the Vees lead out to 4-2. The Cougars penalty box parade continued resulting in Vees left-winger Brady Birnie scoring third power-play goal on a two-man advantage with 51 seconds remaining in the third to round out the 5-2 final score in favour of Penticton.

That ultimately was the contest that saw the Cougars get fined $1,500 on April 17 by the WHL for inadequate security. Vaughan did not receive any further discipline for his hit on Evers. Cougars left-winger Aiden Foster was given a two-game suspension for receiving a head checking major and a game misconduct in the second period of that contest.

In both the Raiders Game 4 situation in the WHL final and the Cougars Game 4 development in their Western Conference semifinal, the fans speak from Raiders and Cougars supporters online was fairly standard regarding how bad the officials were. The men wearing the referee armbands in both games got singled out heat from some fans.

There were some Raiders fans that did not like referees Jeff Ingram and Ward Pateman who worked Game 4 of the WHL final. There were some Cougars fans that did not like referees Bryan Bourdon and Bobby Jo Love who worked Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinal in Prince George.

You also had fans going the conspiracy theory route saying the league was trying to set up some sort of match up or help certain teams win. Every team in the WHL has at least a couple of fans like that, and they’ve kind of said those lines for at least three decades. Those types of fans have a passion in a place where you can’t change their mind.

Switching sports to the world of the NFL, there are still fans out there who believe that league did everything they could to ensure the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, because Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was the boyfriend of icon of all music icons in Taylor Swift. There are fans that believe the NFL went out of their way to make sure “Goddess Taylor” was happy because of all the fans she brought to the viewership of the game helping the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ERS 25-22 in overtime.

None of those fans said anything when the Chiefs lost Super Bowl LIX the very next year 40-22 in an absolute drubbing handed out by the Philadelphia Eagles. That contest also happened to be attended by the President of the United States of America in Donald Trump, which marked the first time a sitting U.S. President attended the Super Bowl.

Back to the WHL, the Cougars would ultimately lose their Western Conference Semifinal Series to the Vees in six games. Going into Game 5 in Penticton, both teams left what happened in Game 4 of that series in the past and moved forward focusing on controlling what they can control.

When the puck drops for Game 5 of the WHL final on Friday at the Hauser, you can bet both the Raiders and Silvertips will have left what happened in Game 4 of their series in the past. Teams won’t always agree with what the officials call, but there is a realization they are developing and gaining experience too.

For myself, I have actually been fine for the most part with the officiating in the WHL Playoffs outside of a handful of hiccups here and there.

As for the Raiders, they are facing their biggest adversity of the campaign, and their test will be to see how they respond to that adversity. They have taken the first step on that path in focusing on the future.

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

-------

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.

“Wild” West Wednesday at the Hauser rocks Raiders

Silvertips one win away from WHL championship

Daxon Rudolph, left, battles with Carter Bear.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – If the Prince Albert Raiders didn’t have bad luck with officials’ calls, they would have no luck at all.

That seemed particularly true when they took the ice for Game 4 of the WHL Championship Series against the visiting Everett Silvertips at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre. After a fairly well played first 40 minutes, the Raiders entered the third period trailing the Silvertips 2-1.

When the third period finished, the Raiders found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-2 final score in favour of the Silvertips thanks to a series of tough luck calls. The sellout crowd of 3,299 spectators at the 2,580 seat facility voiced their displeasure. A sizable portion of the crowd bolted for the exits after Silvertips star import left-winger Matias Vanhanen scored into an empty net with 2:25 remaining in the third to round out the 5-2 final in favour of the Everett side.

Anders Miller covers up a puck during a scrum.

With the win, the Silvertips take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, and they are one win away from capturing their first WHL title in team history. They will try to close things out in Game 5 on Friday at 7:30 p.m. local time at the Hauser.

Despite all the tough breaks on Wednesday, Raiders captain Justice Christensen said he expects his team to keep pushing. In the first round of the 2025 WHL Playoffs, the Raiders overcame a 3-1 series deficit against the Edmonton Oil Kings to rally back and take that set 4-3. Christensen believes this year’s Raiders team is capable of a similar comeback.

“We’re a very resilient team,” said Christensen. “We never quit.

Alisher Sarkenov, left, battles Matias Vanhanen.

“You can talk to anyone in that room, and this series isn’t over, not even close to over. Drawing from the experience last year, it was the same thing. There was no quitting in that group, and that is the way the Raiders play.

“That is the culture that has been built here and how we like to play. We’re just going to keep pushing, and there will be no quit in our group.”

Entering the third period holding a 2-1 lead, the Silvertips pushed their advantage out to 3-1 at the 4:24 mark of the third, when star right-winger Carter Bear fired home a mid-range shot through a screen from the front of the Prince Albert net. A replay shown in the building after the goal was scored showing the play was close to being offside on a zone entry. Before the 2023-24 campaign started, the WHL made a rule change eliminating offside plays from a coach’s challenge.

The Raiders responded just 2:19 later when Christensen fired home a shot from the right side boards to trim the Silvertips lead to 3-2.

Julias Miettinen scored 32 seconds into Game 4.

That set the stage for the play the Raiders faithful really got worked up over. With 11:33 remaining in the third, Raiders star centre Aiden Oiring tried to wrap the puck home at the right side of the Silvertips net. Silvertips star netminder Anders Miller made the stop, but a mad scramble ensued at the right side of the goal.

The puck bounced around a maze of skates and sticks and shot out to Raiders rookie defenceman Benett Kelly in front of the Everett net. Kelly appeared to blast home the equalizer causing the crowd at the Hauser to momentarily erupt.

The officials blew the play dead having lost sight of the puck. They disallowed the goal due to the quick whistle causing the crowd to turn irate. About two or three people ended up throwing debris on the ice.

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Brandon Gorzynski (#29).

The officials did a short video review and still held up the no goal call. Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald thought his players continued to battle after that bad break.

“I really like their response,” said McDonald. “I thought we came out, we were direct, we were hard, got lots of pucks to the paint and bodies to the paint.

“For us, you have to control what you can control. Ultimately, I have really no comment on what he (the referee) might have seen from behind the net, and it was unfortunate that the whistle went as quick as it did. The puck was on our stick again.

“Again, that is hockey. You have to move on from it and look for your next opportunity.”

On seemingly the next shift with 10:40 remaining in the third, Raiders standout sophomore Riley Boychuk appeared to fire home another equalizer. That goal was waved off as the officials correctly ruled a Raiders player had knocked a Silvertips player into Miller causing inadvertent contact that prevented the netminder from making a save.

Brandon Gorzynski returned from injury to rejoin the Raiders.

Silvertips head coach Steve Hamilton liked how his players stayed even during those crazy moments.

“Everybody wants what is best for the team, but anxiety and stress is part of sports,” said Hamilton. “I don’t care what anyone says.

“At the highest levels of any sport, that is something you have to conquer and deal with. It is just a fact. When you feel those moments, we talk a lot about talking, so you’re out of your own head and breathing so your heart rate comes down.

“Those are the two things that we constantly come back to on the bench is talk and breathe and be in a good place and commit to what we’re doing.”

With 9:40 remaining in the third, the Raiders suffered a bad break that didn’t have anything to do with the officials. While attempting to break out of their zone, Oiring and Christensen both blew tires causing the puck to be turned over to Silvertips 20-year-old centre Zackary Shantz along the right boards in the Prince Albert zone.

Rylan Gould scored a key power-play goal for the Silvertips.

Shantz passed the puck across the front of the Prince Albert net to linemate in 18-year-old left-winger Shea Busch. Busch popped the puck home to push the Silvertips lead out to 4-2. That set the stage for Vanhanen’s empty-net tally to close out the stanza.

Busch was pleased he was able to contribute offensively.

“I just have to credit my linemate Shantzy (Zackary Shantz) there,” said Busch. “He makes a good play, and I was lucky enough that I got it to go in the back of the net.

“I have to do what the team needs.”

The Raiders entered the contest with lots of excitement as they had star defenceman Daxon Rudolph back after a one-game suspension and star right-winger Brandon Gorzynski returned from an undisclosed injury. Gorzynski was injured in Game 2 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series that the Raiders dropped 5-0 to the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers at the Hauser.

Carter Bear scored a power-play goal at the 4:24 mark of the third.

The Silvertips came out and immediately buzz killed the home crowd. Just 32 seconds into the opening frame, the Silvertips entered the Prince Albert zone on a rush.

Vanhanen took a shot from the right wing that rebounded off Raiders star rookie netminder Michal Orsulak to the front of the net. Everett star import centre Julius Miettinen got to the rebound and popped the puck into the Prince Albert net to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

With that tally, the Silvertips have scored first in all four games of the series so far.

The game’s momentum changed in the second. Early in the frame, star centre Braeden Cootes and Christensen both had shots that deflected off posts of the Everett net.

Justice Christensen scored the Raiders second goal in Game 4.

At the 9:53 mark of the second, Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett took a shot from the point that deflected off a couple of bodies and landed beside Gorzynski at the left side of the Everett net. Gorzynski popped home the equalizer to force a 1-1 tie score. The Scottsdale, Arizona, product was pumped to come back and score.

“Obviously, it is a championship (series),” said Gorzynski. “Everybody wants to play in games like this, so it was special for that goal to go in.”

The Raiders would outshoot the Silvertips 17-8 in the second period, but the Silvertips would find a traction moment before going into the second intermission. While working on the power play, Miettinen had the puck by the right post of the Prince Albert net, and he passed the puck across the face of the goal to 20-year-old left-winger Rylan Gould. Gould tapped the puck home to put the Silvertips in front 2-1 with 1:17 remaining in the second with his sixth goal of the post-season and all those tallies have come on the power play.

Part of the Art Hauser Centre faithful cheer on the Raiders.

“He (Gould) is a hard-nosed player,” said Silvertips star defenceman Landon DuPont, who had two assists in his team’s win. “Obviously, we have some really skilled guys on the unit.

“He (Gould) drives the net, and he is never scared to get in there. He’ll take a few cross-checks. He has got a good hand to eye around the net tipping.

“It seems like he is always in the right spots. I am happy for him that he got one tonight that was big for us, and I’m sure it will keep going.”

Orsulak turned away 30-of-34 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders. Miller made 31 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Silvertips.

Shea Busch scored the Silvertips fourth goal.

Going into the WHL final, there was no clear cut favourite.

Everett topped the WHL regular season standings, the Western Conference and the U.S. Division with a 57-8-2-1 record and was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Silvertips 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records.

Prince Albert topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. The Raiders were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Raiders and Silvertips went head-to-head once in the regular season, where Prince Albert posted a 4-1 victory on November 11, 2025 at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

Michal Orsulak stopped 30-of-34 shots for the Raiders.

On the key injury front, the Silvertips were without star defenceman and captain Tarin Smith with an undisclosed injury. 

He was injured in Game 4 of a 6-3 victory over the Winterhawks in Portland as Everett closed out the first round series between the two clubs at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Now, the Silvertips will try to make good on the first of three chances to win their first WHL title as the Ed Chynoweth Cup will be in the Hauser for Game 5 on Friday.

“I think it is the opportunity you play for,” said Hamilton. “We talked about not playing like we have a parachute or a cushion.

The Silvertips celebrate a Matias Vanhanen (#37) empty-net goal.

“Our job is to play the game that is right in front of us. I think that is what has made us a really good, consistent team throughout the season. Home or away, we show up, we find a way, and that is a big part of our identity.

“It is our next chance. It is our next opportunity. It is our next game.”

As for the Raiders, they will try to work their way to a series comeback like they did in the first round against the Oil Kings in the 2025 post-season.

“You always look to your experience, and you always draw from it,” said McDonald. “For us, it is taking it one shift at a time, one period at a time (and) one day at a time.

The Silvertips celebrate their Game 4 win on Wednesday.

“The next most important thing is getting our best recovery in and having a good day of preparation tomorrow and then be ready to go for Friday.”

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

-------

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.

Silvertips cash in on Raiders bend in 3-2 Game 3 win

Everett takes 2-1 lead in WHL Championship Series

Julius Miettnen (#17) does a fly by after his game-winning goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Michal Orsulak couldn’t stop everything.

That was the belief the Everett Silvertips had as they fired piles and piles of pucks at the rookie import star netminder of the Prince Albert Raiders in Game 3 of the WHL Championship Series on Tuesday night at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre. Entering the third period locked in a 2-2 tie, it appeared Orsulak was going to force the contest to go to overtime as the visiting Silvertips held a 21-8 edge in shots on goal.

Everett broke through with 4:28 remaining in the third. Silvertips standout sophomore defenceman Brek Liske took a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle and the puck rebounded off Orsulak’s left pad to the right side of the Prince Albert net.

Julius Miettinen scored the winning goal for the Silvertips.

The rebound landed right on the stick of Silvertips star import centre Julius Miettinen. Miettinen put a backhand shot into the open right side of the Prince Albert net to give the Silvertips a 3-2 lead.

The Silvertips then had to close out the third by surviving a buzzer-beating shot attempt by Raiders standout sophomore right-winger Riley Boychuk. With the final seconds ticking away in the third, Boychuk found himself in position for a mid-range shot off to the left of the Everett net. Boychuk’s drive just missed going into an open top right corner of the Everett net allowing the Silvertips to hold on to a 3-2 victory to the disappointment of almost all the sellout crowd of 3,299 spectators at the 2,580 seat facility.

“The puck just kind of came out to my stick, and I had an empty net,” said Miettinen, who leads the current WHL Playoffs with 13 goals. “I can’t really miss those when I get a chance.”

Matias Vanhanen had the Silvertips first goal on Tuesday.

The win by the Silvertips gives them a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven set. Game 4 is set for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. local time back at the Hauser.

Miettinen centres the Silvertips top line that includes star right-winger Carter Bear and star import rookie left-winger Matias Vanhanen. They accounted for two of Everett’s three goals as Vanhanen opened the game’s scoring at the 11:45 mark of the first period by jetting into the Prince Albert zone on a solo effort and wiring a shot from just above the left faceoff circle past Orsulak.

Bear had assists on both Miettinen’s and Vanhanen’s markers. In the three games of the WHL final, Miettinen had three goals and four assists, Bear had three goals and two assists, and Vanhanen had one goal and two assists.

Michal Orsulak turned away 41 shots in net for the Raiders.

“I think we just outworked the lines we were playing against,” said Miettinen. “We crashed the net, and we have a lot of rebounds.

“We have three great players on the same line, and I feel like you can’t really match that line.”

After Vanhanen gave the Silvertips a 1-0 lead, the Raiders pulled even while working on the power play. With 1:41 remaining in the first, Raiders star centre Braeden Cootes passed the puck to star centre Max Heise at the top of the left faceoff circle, and Heise one-timed home his fourth tally of the post-season to even the score at 1-1.

Just 1:59 into the second frame, the Raiders jumped ahead 2-1 as Ben Harvey from the front of the Everett net tipped home a mid-range shot from Raiders captain Justice Christensen. At that point in the contest, the action was fairly tight checking as the shots on goal were even at 8-8.

Braeden Cootes had an assist for the Raiders.

Harvey was pleased to be able to help manufacture a goal at that point in the contest to put his team ahead.

“Obviously, it was a big moment in the game,” said Harvey. “We just have to continue to stick with it, and finish off the full 60.”

From that point in the contest, the Silvertips really started to pepper Orsulak. Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said you could feel the game turn at the midway point of the second.

“I thought we played a really good first 30 minutes,” said McDonald. “We were quick, (and) we were direct.

“We got pucks behind and got to work. Then, they were able to tilt the ice on us. Discipline has to be a big key for us, and you’ve got to stay out of the penalty box and not give them some opportunities on the power play.

Max Heise had the Raiders first goal on Tuesday.

“I thought our penalty kill did a great job when they were out there, but again, those are hard minutes that you’ve got to play. For us on the power play, we just got to look to capitalize on our opportunities and continue to keep inching that shot clock up. Again, we have an opportunity for us to reset, refocus and get ready for tomorrow.”

For a moment, it looked like the Raiders were going to escape the second period with the lead. That all changed with 1:53 remaining in the second, when Silvertips defenceman Luke Vlooswyk, who turned 19-years-old in January, fired a point shot through a screen to the top right corner of the Prince Albert net to even the score at 2-2. That goal was Vlooswyk’s first career tally in WHL post-season action.

“It was pretty exciting to get that monkey off the back,” said Vlooswyk. “It felt unbelievable.

Ben Harvey (#20) gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead early in the second.

“(It was a) big goal, and I think we got a lot of energy off of it.”

At the start of the third, the Raiders killed off two Silvertips power plays, which included playing 68 seconds where Everett held a five-on-three advantage. The Raiders proceeded to get back-to-back power plays, but they were unable to take the lead. That set the stage for Miettinen’s winner and the dramatics in the final seconds of the third.

Silvertips head coach Steve Hamilton said the two penalty kills his team got in the third were big for his side and gave credit to Silvertips star netminder Anders Miller for ensuring those penalty kills were successful.

“It was pivotal in the game,” said Hamilton. “I’d prefer we didn’t have to see it at that time in the game, but the guy’s bench talk was good.

Justice Christensen (#7) had an assist for the Raiders.

“There was a sense of confidence and a sense of purpose, when you’re going into those moments. Let’s be honest. The game hangs in the balance in those types of moments.

“Guys dug in and got key blocks. Your best penalty killer is always going to be your goaltender. I thought Anders (Miller) was excellent tonight.”

Orsulak turned away 41 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders. Miller stopped 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Silvertips.

Liske finished with two assists for Everett.

The Raiders were 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Silvertips were 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

The Raiders were without star defenceman Daxon Rudolph on Tuesday, because he was sitting out a one-game WHL league imposed suspension for receiving a cross-checking major and a game misconduct near the end of Silvertips’ 6-2 victory in Game 2 on Saturday in Everett. Rudolph was in a battle with Bear and would end up cross-checking the Silvertips forward in the head.

Luke Vlooswyk reactions to getting the equalizer for the Silvertips.

Prince Albert’s coaches placed Linden Burrett on the top defensive pairing with Christensen to take the spot Rudolph normally occupied. Hubert Clarke, who is an 18-year-old rookie, dressed for his first career game in the WHL Playoffs playing on the Raiders blue-line. Clarke played with Brock Cripps, while 19-year-old import rookie Matyas Man was paired with Benett Kelly.

Burrett thought the juggling on the back end went well for his squad, and he felt ready to shoulder extra responsibilities on the Raiders top defensive pairing.

“Obviously, I’m willing to take the role,” said Burrett. “It is something I honour.

Carter Bear had a pair of assists for the Silvertips.

“I’m just trying to go out there and play my game as best I can. “Juice” (Christensen) is obviously a good player, so that is not very hard to adapt to.”

Going into the WHL final, there was no clear cut favourite.

Everett topped the WHL regular season standings, the Western Conference and the U.S. Division with a 57-8-2-1 record and was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Silvertips 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records.

Prince Albert topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. The Raiders were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Raiders and Silvertips went head-to-head once in the regular season, where Prince Albert posted a 4-1 victory on November 11, 2025 at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

Anders Miller makes one of his 18 saves in goal for the Silvertips.

On the key injury front, the Raiders were without star left-winger Brandon Gorzynski with an undisclosed injury. 

He was injured in Game 2 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series that the Raiders dropped 5-0 to the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers at the Hauser.

The Silvertips were without star defenceman and captain Tarin Smith with an undisclosed injury. 

He was injured in Game 4 of a 6-3 victory over the Winterhawks in Portland as Everett closed out the first round series between the two clubs at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Brek Liske had a pair of assists for the Silvertips.

After the dust settled from Game 3 on Tuesday, Hamilton was pleased his squad took the series lead.

“We got it done,” said Hamilton. “Sometimes, how you want it scripted and how it gets scripted are two different things.

“We took the hand we were dealt there, and we really got it over the line. I was proud of our group in that third. (We are) one step further down the road.”

McDonald is looking forward to his team battling back. The Raiders trailed the Eastern Conference Championship Series 2-1 against the Medicine Hat Tigers before rallying to take that set in six games.

“It is never easy here in the finals,” said McDonald. “No games are ever easy.

The Silvertips celebrate their Game 3 win on Tuesday night.

“You just have to keep fighting. You have to keep striving for that consistent 60-minute effort and keep making sure that our details and our habits are tight and keep inching forward.”

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

-------

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.

Expected battle materializing in WHL final between Raiders and Silvertips

Braeden Cootes has three points in the first two games of the WHL final.

You didn’t think it was going to be easy?

After two games of the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series, the Prince Albert Raiders and Everett Silvertips find themselves locked in a 1-1 tie. The first two games were held at the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett with the Raiders taking Game 1 last Friday 4-2 and the Silvertips rebounding with a 6-2 triumph in Game 2 one night later.

Both teams likely believe they could have exited the first two games holding a 2-0 series lead after reviewing video of the first two contests. A split was likely the fair outcome to start the set.

Going into the WHL final, there was no clear cut favourite.

Everett topped the WHL regular season standings, the Western Conference and the U.S. Division with a 57-8-2-1 record and was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Silvertips 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records.

Prince Albert topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. The Raiders were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

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

Silvertips rebound with 6-2 win over Raiders in Game 2

WHL Championship Series tied 1-1 heading to P.A.

The Everett Silvertips got the bounce back and bounces they were looking for.

Business is also picking up in the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series too between the Silvertips and Prince Albert Raiders. Signs of rivalry are starting to spring up between the two clubs that only play each other once in the regular season due to being in separate conferences.

On Saturday, the host Silvertips downed the Raiders 6-2 to the delight of 7,987 spectators at the Angel of the Winds Arena. The win was a big one for the Silvertips as they even the series 1-1 and avoid falling behind 2-0 in the set with the next three games slated for the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. local time, and Game 4 follows on Wednesday also at 7:30 p.m. local time. Game 5 will be on Friday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. local time.

Game 2 was a little more competitive than the final score would indicate. The Silvertips were holding a 4-2 lead when star import centre Julius Miettinen scored into an empty net with 62 seconds remaining in the third and standout right-winger Jesse Heslop scored on a five-on-three power play with less than one second to play.

Frustration also came out during the final moments of the contest too. After Miettinen’s empty-net goal, Raiders star defenceman Daxon Rudolph, who had assists on both Prince Albert goals, was in a battle with Silvertips star right-winger Carter Bear.

Rudolph hit Bear with a cross check and was given a major penalty for cross-checking by the officials for his actions. The major penalty to Rudolph will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

After Heslop’s power-play goal with less than a second to play, the officials decided to have one more faceoff at centre ice. Raiders centre Evan Smith tried to charge at opposite Silvertips centre Lukas Kaplan and was quickly grabbed by the officials and ushered off to the dressing room. Smith did pick up a minor penalty for roughing.

Under WHL rules, officials can elect to run out the clock in cases where there are five or fewer seconds left in a game and the contest is decided on the scoreboard, if they believe tensions are high enough an altercation can ensue. In this case, they likely didn’t need to have one more faceoff.

Saturday’s game was likely decided by the fact the Silvertips had an explosive first period jumping out to a 3-0 lead as puck luck seemingly went their way on every tally. Just 3:20 into the first, Bear picked up a puck that deflected to him at the left side of the Prince Albert net after a Raiders player blocked a shot from Miettinen. Bear wired a shot past Raiders star 18-year-old rookie import netminder Michal Orsulak to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Brock Cripps had the Raiders first goal on Saturday.

Just 2:11 later, Silvertips 18-year-old defenceman Kayd Ruedig collected a loose puck after a faceoff just inside the top of the right faceoff circle in the Prince Albert zone. He wired a shot past a screen to the top right corner of the Prince Albert net to push Everett’s edge out to 2-0.

Everett completed the three-goal first getting a beneficial board bounce similar to the ones the Edmonton Oilers used to get in the 1980s playing out of the Northlands Coliseum. While working on the power play, Miettinen took a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that missed the net but deflected off the boards behind the Raiders goal to star 20-year-old left-winger Rylan Gould at the left side of the net. Gould popped the puck from the positive bounce into an empty cage with 42.3 seconds remaining in the first to give the Silvertips their 3-0 advantage.

The host side held a 15-11 edge in shots on goal over the opening 20 minutes. The Raiders had great chances to score in the opening frame too, but they couldn’t Silvertips star 19-year-old netminder Anders Miller.

The Raiders came with a push back in the second period. While working on the power play at the 4:24 mark of the second, Rudolph had the puck low in the right corner of the Everett zone, and he put a pass out to rising star 16-year-old rearguard Brock Cripps at the top of the left faceoff circle. Cripps blew home a shot to the top right corner of the Everett net for a power-play goal that cut the Silvertips lead to 3-1.

Prince Albert continued to push after that tally. Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett hit the crossbar of the Everett net at about the midway point of the second. Following that missed chance, Raiders standout 19-year-old left-winger Maddix McCagherty was later stopped in close to the Everett net by Miller.

After those opportunities, the Silvertips came up with a killer tally. Working in the Prince Albert zone on a delayed penalty call, Miettinen fired a shot on goal from the left side boards that rebounded out to Bear all alone at the right side of the Raiders net. Bear fired his second of the contest into an empty cage to push the Silvertips advantage out to 4-1 with 22.2 seconds remaining in the second.

Prince Albert held a 15-9 advantage in shots on goal for the frame, but Everett still went into the second intermission holding a three-goal lead.

Bear’s second tally proved to be very important. At the 9:46 mark of the third, Raiders captain Justice Christensen fired home one of his “Juice Bombs” from the point to trim the Silvertips lead to 4-2.

Justice Christensen had the Raiders second goal on Saturday.

When the Raiders pulled Orsulak for an extra skater with three minutes remaining in the third, star centres Max Heise and Braeden Cootes along with Christensen all had prime scoring chances and were denied by Miller.

That set the stage for the Silvertips to score twice in the final 62 seconds of the third and all the extracurricular activities that occurred as the end of the contest played out.

Orsulak turned away 32-of-37 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders. Miller stopped 37 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Silvertips.

Miettinen finished the contest with four points coming off one goal and three assists. Ruedig had a pair of assists to go with his goal, and Silvertips star 16-year-old defenceman Landon DuPont had a pair of helpers in the win.

One day earlier, the Raiders posted a 4-2 victory in Game 1 of the series at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

Going into the WHL final, there was no clear cut favourite.

Everett topped the WHL regular season standings, the Western Conference and the U.S. Division with a 57-8-2-1 record and was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Silvertips 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records.

Prince Albert topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. The Raiders were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Raiders and Silvertips went head-to-head once in the regular season, where Prince Albert posted a 4-1 victory on November 11, 2025 at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

In the WHL Playoffs, Rudolph leads the post-season scoring race with 26 points coming off nine goals and 17 assists to go with a plus-12 rating in the plus-minus department. Miettinen sits second in the post-season scoring race with 24 points coming off 12 goals and 12 assists to go with a plus-17 rating. His 12 goals are tops in this year’s WHL Playoffs.

Daxon Rudolph had two assists for the Raiders on Saturday.

Now, all the attention in the series turns to Game 3 in Prince Albert on Tuesday, where one team will try to knock the other into the ropes by taking the series lead. Even with that immediate focus in mind, this series feels like it ultimately can venture into deep waters in going long.

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

-------

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.

Raiders ride Orsulak to Game 1 win in WHL final

Netminder makes 39 saves in 4-2 victory over Silvertips

Michal Orsulak made 39 saves in goal for the Raiders.

The more shots Michal Orsulak sees the better he plays.

In Game 1 of the WHL Championship Series, the star 18-year-old import rookie netminder of the Prince Albert Raiders had a sensational outing. Orsulak, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 220 pounds, stopped 39 shots to backstop the visiting Raiders to a 4-2 victory over the host Everett Silvertips before 7,697 spectators at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

The opener of the WHL final lived up to the hype of what would be expected of a championship series between two powerhouse teams.   

Everett topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-8-2-1 record and was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Silvertips 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records.

Prince Albert topped the Eastern Conference, claimed the East Division title and finished second overall in the WHL with a 52-10-5-1 mark. The Raiders were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Raiders and Silvertips went head-to-head once in the regular season, where Prince Albert posted a 4-1 victory on November 11, 2025 at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

Game 1 started with both teams bringing physical play that continued throughout the whole contest.

The Silvertips got on the board first at the 6:07 mark of the first period. Silvertips star rookie import left-winger Matias Vanhanen passed the puck from left side behind the Prince Albert net to the front of the goal to linemate and star right-winger Carter Bear. Bear fired home a shot to the top right corner of the Prince Albert net to put the host side up 1-0.

The officials checked out Bear’s goal with a lengthy video review looking for a puck being knocked down by a high stick at some point in the play. Once the review concluded, the goal was ruled as good.

Everett held a 12-8 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes and had a territorial edge in play in the opening frame.

The Silvertips came out of the game flying trying to build on their lead. Early in the frame, star 16-year-old defenceman Landon DuPont wired a shot off the crossbar while working on the power play.

A short time later at even strength, Silvertips right-winger Jaxsin Vaughan, who turned 20 in January, was sprung in on a breakaway into the Prince Albert zone. Vaughan tried to go five-hole on Orsulak only to be denied by the Prince Albert netminder.

Braeden Cootes had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

The host side then had a third golden opportunity a short time after that. Star import centre Julius Miettinen had an opportunity to score at the left side of the Prince Albert net only to be stoned by Orsulak.

Then at the 5:12 mark of the second, the Raiders evened the score at 1-1. Raiders star centre Braeden Cootes had the puck behind the Silvertips net and made a backhanded centring pass coming out of the right side of the goal. The puck came out to standout rookie right-winger Jonah Sivertson, who quickly potted the equalizer for the visitors.

Both teams played physically in Game 1, and some work in the physical department would lead to the Raiders second goal of the contest. With 5:56 remaining in the second, Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett nailed Bear with a big hit.

Silvertips standout defenceman Brek Liske, who turned 18-years-old in January, took exception to the hit, and he cross-checked Burrett. Liske was given a minor penalty for cross-checking.

On the ensuing power play, Cootes fired a seeing-eye shot through a screen along the ice for a tally that put the Raiders up 2-1 with 4:53 remaining in the second.

At this point, the Raiders offence was on a roll. Playing a spot of four-versus-four hockey due to off-setting penalties, the Raiders found themselves working the puck in the offensive zone.

Raiders star defenceman Daxon Rudolph passed the puck to captain and his defensive partner Justice Christensen in the left faceoff circle. Christensen wired home one of his “Juice Bombs” to push the Raiders advantage out to 3-1 with 2:10 remaining in the second.

The Silvertips came with a huge push in the third outshooting the Raiders 13-5 in the frame. Still, Orsulak stood tall keeping the host side at bay.

Silvertips star 20-year-old left winger Rylan Gould tried to resort to a pest measure to get Orsulak off his game. With about four minutes remaining in the third, Gould snuck in and got away with a slash to the back of the netminder’s leg. Orsulak was down on the ice for a moment before continuing in the contest.

With 2:23 remaining in the third, the Silvertips went to their fourth power play of the contest as standout 19-year-old rookie import defenceman Matyas Man was given a tripping minor.

Everett had star 19-year-old sophomore netminder Anders Miller pulled for an extra skater with the chance with the man-advantage. Just seconds into the ensuing power play, Miettinen jetted into the Prince Albert zone down the right wing and put home a backhand shot from the right faceoff circle with 2:09 remaining in the third for a power-play goal that cut the Raiders lead to 3-2.

Aiden Oiring had a long distance empty-net goal for the Raiders.

Now training by one goal, the Silvertips had Miller pulled again as they pressed in the Prince Albert zone. It appeared the Silvertips were going to have a glorious scoring chance as they moved the puck toward 20-year-old star centre Zackary Shantz at the left side of the Prince Albert net. Shantz wasn’t able to do anything as his stick was tied up by a backchecking Rudolph.

Raiders star 20-year-old centre Aiden Oiring got the puck and fired the puck down the ice for a long distance empty-net goal with 65 seconds remaining in the frame to round out the 4-2 final score in favour of the Raiders.

With 7.5 seconds remaining in the third, Man apparently didn’t forget about Gould’s slash to Orsulak about four minute earlier. As Orsulak froze the puck during a scramble around the Prince Albert net, Man took the opportunity to cross-check Gould down to the ice keeping him away from the Prince Albert puck stopper.

Miller turned away 22-of-25 shots to take the setback in net for the Silvertips.

Cootes finished the contest with one goal, one assist and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. He also had a key blocked shot early in the third period. Miettinen finished with one goal and one assist for the Silvertips.

The Raiders were 1-for-1 on the power play, while the Silvertips were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Raiders were without star left-winger Brandon Gorzynski with an undisclosed injury. He was injured in Game 2 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series that the Raiders dropped 5-0 to the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.

The Silvertips were without star defenceman and captain Tarin Smith with an undisclosed injury. He was injured in Game 4 of a 6-3 victory over the Winterhawks in Portland as Everett closed out the first round series between the two clubs at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Game 2 is set for Saturday at the Angel of the Winds Arena at 6 p.m. local time or 7 p.m. Saskatchewan time for those looking to catch the contest on TSN of Victory+ in “The Wheat Province.”

The pressure will be on the Silvertips to get a win in Game 2 to force a split in the first two contests of the series. If the Raiders win Game 2, they will hold a 2-0 series lead as the series shifts to Prince Albert for Games 3 and 4 and potentially Game 5 at the Hauser.

Game 3 is slated for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. local time and Game 4 follows on Wednesday also at 7:30 p.m. local time. If necessary, Game 5 will be on Friday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. local time.

Justice Christensen had the winning goal for the Raiders.

If the Silvertips aren’t able to win Game 2, they might find themselves in a hole that they can’t get out of. If Orsulak has a second straight stellar game, that might end up being the case.

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

-------

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.

Raiders rise and pass Tigers challenge, face stiff Silvertips test in WHL final

The Raiders celebrate a goal by Daxon Rudolph (#10) on April 29.

The Prince Albert Raiders rose up and passed the test of the Medicine Hat Tigers, and they will now face a new stiff test in the Everett Silvertips in the WHL final.

The Raiders and Silvertips open the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series with Games 1 and 2 set for Friday and Saturday respectively at the Angel of the Winds Arena. The series will switch back to the Art Hauser Centre for Game 3 on Tuesday, May 12. The start time for all games of the series will depend on the TSN broadcast schedule and could change the longer the series goes.

When it comes to the WHL final, the Raiders have made two trips to the league championships series in their history coming up with title wins in 1985 and 2019. Prince Albert went on to win the Memorial Cup as CHL champions in 1985.

The Silvertips have gone to the league final twice in their history. They got there as an expansion team in 2004 and again in 2018 and weren’t able to come up with a WHL title on either occasion.

For the Raiders, they will be helped by the fact they made it to the WHL final after eliminating the defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers in six games in the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series. While the Tigers were battling a flu bug for the entire series, they showed a heart of a champion, including a never give up battle, when the Raiders closed out the series with a 7-6 victory in Game 6 at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat this past Sunday.

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