Hodgson will always feel home sweet home in Prince Albert

Raiders retire #16 of iconic high-scoring centre

Dan Hodgson, right, holds up a wall mount he was presented with.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Dan Hodgson lives the mantra “Once a Raider always a Raider.”

On Saturday night before 2,504 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre, the Prince Albert Raiders retired Hodgson’s #16 in a pre-game ceremony before their WHL regular season clash with the Moose Jaw Warriors. The skilled centre played for the Raiders in their first three seasons in the WHL from 1982 to 1985, and he set numerous club records that still stand to this day including most career goals (188), assists (305) and points (493) that were collected playing 202 career regular season contests.

He was the WHL rookie of the year in 1982-83 and finished off as the CHL player of the year and MVP of the Memorial Cup tournament, when the Raiders won the CHL’s biggest prize in 1984-85. In 1984-85 with Hodgson as captain, the Raiders swept the Kamloops Blazers 4-0 in the best-of-seven WHL championship series.

Dan Hodgson’s #16 is raised to the roof of the Art Hauser Centre.

On May 18, 1985, the Raiders won the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions downing the host Shawinigan Cataracts 6-1 in the title game of the CHL championship tournament that was completed in Drummondville, Que.

When Hodgson spoke to the Raiders faithful at the Art Hauser Centre after his #16 was hoisted to the building’s rafters, he closed with a comment that drew huge roars from the crowd.

“I just want to leave you with one thing – I am a Raider, and I will always be a Raider,” said Hodgson.

Hodgson joined the Raiders after they left the junior A ranks closing out their time at that level of hockey winning the Centennial Cup in the 1981-82 campaign becoming national champions for a fourth time.

Dan Hodgson address the crowd at the Art Hauser Centre.

While Hodgson had personal success in 1982-83, the Raiders posting a record of 16 wins, 55 losses and one tie. They improved to 41-29-2 in 1983-84 and 58-11-2 in their WHL and CHL championship season in 1984-85.

Hodgson played on Canada’s world junior team in his final two seasons with the Raiders, and that included winning gold in 1984-85, when Raiders iconic head coach and general manager Terry Simpson was head coach of the Canadian squad. Hodgson credited Simpson for being a huge influence on him in hockey and life during his address to all who were present in the Raiders storied home rink on Saturday.

“When I first got here, little did I know that I would play for one of the greatest mentors that I would ever have in my life,” said Hodgson, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 179 pounds. “(Raiders assistant coach) Rick (Wilson) and Simpso (Simpson) would shape me on and off the ice into the man I am today with how they were and how they treated me with respect and dignity and a lot of positive energy.

The video scoreboard shows newspaper clipping of Dan Hodgson.

“But more specifically with Simpso, I can’t express enough Simpso what you meant to me those three years we spent together and all the memories and thoughts you left me with for many years. Right up to this day, words can’t express Simpso what you mean to me. I held you in my heart all these years.

“I held you as a father figure. Simpso, I just want to really thank you for everything that you gave me, and let you know that you still mean the world to me, and Simpso, I love you very much. Thank you for everything.”

Terry Simpson walks to the ice at the Art Hauser Centre.

During Hodgson’s number retirement ceremony, a number of video messages were played in the building from Hodgson’s family members, former teammates and coaches. Simpson, who was at ice level for the number retirement ceremony, gave one of the video messages.

While Simpson did joke about the shenanigans that Hodgson got into off the ice or that he sometimes needed to be reintroduced to the squad’s defenceman and goalies due to being a mainly offensive focused player, the bench boss listed a number of Hodgson’s major accomplishments in junior before closing with a crowd-pleasing comment.

Curtis Hunt address the crowd at the Art Hauser Centre.

“Hodgy had a tremendous career in Prince Albert, and in my opinion, he was one of the best players to ever play in the Western Hockey League,” said Simpson.

Current Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt was a rookie defenceman with the club during the Memorial Cup winning season. Hunt said Hodgson was an outstanding person along with being and outstanding player.

“You invested in the young players to make us better,” said Hunt. “When the stakes were highest, you performed at your best.

“Whether it was one week between when I saw you or a decade, every time we met it was, ‘Hello brother.’ There was the same infectious smile, and in an instant, we were laughing about the times that were.”

Dan Hodgson, centre, sets to drop the ceremonial faceoff puck.

Unfortunately, the current Raiders, who wore special Hodgson tribute jerseys during warm-ups, couldn’t cap the night’s festivities by pulling out a win on the ice. The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and would go on to post a 6-3 victory.

The Raiders cut the Warriors lead to 3-2 early in the third and were down 4-3 with 9:48 remaining in the third before the visitors sealed the win.

Import left-winger Martin Rysavy netted a hat trick for Moose Jaw potting his third goal into an empty net with 45.8 seconds remaining in the third to round out the scoring in the contest. Rysavy had an assist to go along with his four goals, and he was a plus-four in the plus-minus department.

Ryder Ritchie wears a Dan Hodgson tribute jersey in warm-ups.

Ethan Semeniuk, Lynden Lakovic and Atley Calvert netted singles for the Warriors. Jacob Hoffrogge, Cole Peardon and Krzysztof Macias replied with singles for the Raiders.

Max Hildebrand turned away 25-of-30 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders (13-11-0-2). Jackson Unger stopped 52 shots to pick up the win in net for the Warriors (14-10-0-1).

The Raiders return to action on Sunday when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings (10-11-4-1) at 6 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Warriors return to action on Tuesday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (12-10-1) at 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

While the current Raiders weren’t able to get the win on the ice, Saturday night still belonged to Hodgson. Following his time with the Raiders, Hodgson would play parts of four seasons in the NHL from 1985 to 1989 with the Toronto Maple Leafs for one campaign and the Vancouver Canucks for three seasons.

A look at the backside of the Dan Hodgson tribute jerseys.

In total, Hodgson suited up for 114 career regular season games collecting 29 goals and 45 assists including playing 40 regular season games as a rookie with the Maple Leafs in 1985-85 posting 13 goals and 12 assists. Following the 1988-89 season, Hodgson would go on to play 16 more seasons professionally in Europe with most of that time being spent in Switzerland.

In January, Hodgson was one of eight players featured on an Indigenous hockey card set put out by Upper Deck dubbed, “First Peoples Rookie Cards.”

The now 58-year-old, who is Cree, resides in Fort McMurray, Alta. His return to the Art Hauser Centre to have his number retired was a triumphant homecoming to “Hockey Town North.”

During the second intermission of Saturday’s game, Hodgson signed autographs in meeting a lengthy line of well wishers. That moment showed how junior hockey heroes can live forever and never be forgotten in junior hockey towns.

Martin Rysavy (#19) had a hat trick for the Warriors.

Hodgson is a larger than life figure in the history of the Raiders. When you take into account what players were able to accomplish in Prince Albert, Hodgson is the greatest Raiders player of all-time.

It just felt right to see his #16 hanging in the rafters of the Art Hauser Centre between the #4 of Dave Manson and the #9 of Mike Modano.

The Raiders organization did an outstanding job making a special night in honouring Hodgson on Saturday. When giving his address, Hodgson spoke about how great the support from the fans was during his years with the Raiders as the team grew into the WHL and Memorial Cup championship winner in 1984-85.

He said the team in 1984-85 was the epitome of what it was to be a Raider for him.

Dan Hodgson, left, poses for a picture with a young fan.

“We handled ourselves on the ice, and I believe off the ice the way Raiders should be,” said Hodgson. “We were respectful.

“We were proud, and we always were proud to walk the streets of Prince Albert and be known as Raiders.”

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