Saturday, 3 August 2019

Raiders’ summer highlighted by Ed Chynoweth Cup tour

The Raiders raise the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions on May 13.
    The Ed Chynoweth Cup has seen a lot of places in the summer of 2019.
    On May 13, the Ed Chynoweth Cup, which is presented annually to the championship team of the Western Hockey League, was captured by the Prince Albert Raiders.
    In what will go down as one of the iconic games in the history of the WHL, the Raiders downed the Vancouver Giants 3-2 in overtime in a series deciding Game 7 of the WHL final.
    Overage centre Dante Hannoun tapped home a backdoor feed from overage linemate Noah Gregor with 1:35 remaining in the extra session to deliver the Raiders the title before a sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The Hauser became a madhouse as the Raiders fans revelled in the team’s second league championship.
    The win gave the Raiders a berth to the Memorial Cup tournament in Halifax, N.S., but Prince Albert went 0-3 trying to battle for the Canadian Hockey League crowd.
Raiders fans have enjoyed the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
    The disappointment at the Memorial Cup didn’t last long.
    As soon as the Raiders returned to “Hockey Town North” on May 22, they set out to celebrate how special their 2018-19 campaign was. The Raiders topped the WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 before embarking on their remarkable championship run in the WHL playoffs.
    They wanted to extend the celebration to as many people as possible who helped support the squad along the way.
    For almost three weeks after arriving back from the Memorial Cup, the Raiders seemed to pop up everywhere in Prince Albert and area with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
    Pictures of the trophy began to appear on social media at stores, inside the big wheel of a tractor, various residences and the Clunie-Cooper Memorial Professional Bull Riders tour stop.
    It seemed like the majority of the Raiders players hung around Prince Albert in the three weeks following the team’s return from the Memorial Cup.
    The players were often the ones accompanying the Ed Chynoweth Cup to various stops. When the players departed for their hometowns, the Ed Chynoweth Cup hit the road.
    The Raiders decided to bring the WHL championship trophy to the homes of as many of the team’s players as possible. Like what happens in the NHL where players from the Stanley Cup winning team get a day with the trophy, the Raiders worked diligently to give each of their players a day with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

    Kim Jackson, who is the Raiders manager of team services, has mostly been the one driving the Ed Chynoweth Cup to various stops across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
    Jackson, who is the great utility man in the Raiders organization helping with the team on the ice and staff in the business office, has been accompanied by a rotating crew of volunteers and Raiders staffers on most of these trips.
    The Ed Chynoweth Cup has visited Cross Lake, Man., Camrose, Alta., Estevan, Sask., and all points in between.
    This week, the Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt and Mike Dumelie, who is one of the team’s Saskatchewan scouts, brought the Ed Chynoweth Cup to the family farm of the late Adam Herold near Montmartre, Sask.

    Herold was one of the 16 players who passed away in the tragic Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6, 2018. The defenceman was wrapping up his 16-year-old season playing for the junior A squad that was in the semifinal round of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs.
    The Raiders selected Herold in the second round and 35th overall in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft. He skated in four regular season games with the Raiders, and during his time with the club, he made a lot of strong friendships.
    He was slated to be a full-time player with the Raiders as a 17-year-old for this past season had he not passed away. The Raiders made sure Herold was remembered as the club journeyed through a successful and extraordinary 2018-19 campaign.

    The WHL Championship trophy is named after the late Ed Chynoweth, who had a huge hand in building the WHL and major junior hockey to what it is today. Chynoweth, who passed away from cancer in 2008, would have loved to see the Raiders celebrate their WHL championship win in the manner they have done.
    The previous winning teams of the Ed Chynoweth Cup have gotten the trophy out to various events in their respective centres, but it is safe to say the Raiders have outdone all of those previous winners this summer.

    The Raiders have celebrated winning the WHL title in the right way, and they have created a great summer for so many that will never be forgotten.
    The summer of 2019 will go down as “The Summer of the Raiders.”

Guhle, Wiesblatt off to Hlinka Gretzky Cup

Kaiden Guhle is an assistant captain for Canada’s summer under-18 team.
    Two of the Prince Albert Raiders biggest young stars will aim to shine on the international stage wearing the colours of Team Canada.
    Last Tuesday, defenceman Kaiden Guhle and right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt were among the 22 players named to Canada’s national men’s summer under-18 team for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. The Hlinka Gretzky Cup starts this coming Monday and runs through Saturday, Aug. 10, in Breclav in the Czech Republic and Piestany in Slovakia.
    Guhle was also named one of the assistant captains for the Canadian squad.
    Canada has won gold at the last two straight Hlinka Gretzky Cups and captured the tournament title 22 times in the previous 28 editions of the event.
    Guhle and Wiesblatt were part of a trio of outstanding 16-year-old rookies the Raiders had last season along with right-winger Jacob Brook. They helped the Raiders finish first overall in WHL regular season standings with a 54-10-2-2 record and win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions.
    Brook took part in the selection camp for Canada’s under-18 summer team along with Saskatoon Blades left-winger Kyle Crnkovic, but both didn’t make the cut for the final roster.
    Last season, Guhle, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 186 pounds, appeared in 65 regular season games with the Raiders posting three goals, 14 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department.
Ozzy Wiesblatt will play for Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
    Wiesblatt, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 187 pounds, skated in 64 regular season games with the Raiders posting 15 goals, 24 assists and a plus-30 rating.
    Guhle and Wiesblatt participated in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge held last November in Quispamsis and Saint John, N.B.
    Guhle was captain of Canada Red and posted three assists in six overall games. Wiesblatt was an assistant captain for Canada Black and collected one goal and two assists in five overall games.
    On Saturday, Canada’s under-18 summer team faced Slovakia in an exhibition game at the Easton Arena in Piestany and posted a 4-1 victory.
    Guhle scored Canada’s third marker of the contest to conclude a three-goal surge in the first period. Jeremie Poirier, Jean-Luc Foudy and Seth Jarvis had singles for Canada.
    Oliver Fatul replied with a single for Slovakia.
    Tristan Lennox started the game in goal for Canada and turned away all five shots sent his way. Dylan Garand entered the contest at the 10:31 mark of the second period and turned away eight-of-nine shots fired his way.
    Simon Latkoczy stopped 22 shots going the distance in goal for Slovakia.
    Canada begins play at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup this coming Monday against Finland.

    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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