Raiders’ Dube gets confidence boost as regular season ends

Prince Albert blanks Saskatoon 4-0 heading into WHL Playoffs 

The Raiders celebrate the first of two goals from Brayden Dube (#15).

Brayden Dube got the goal-scoring tune up he was looking for heading into his final foray into the WHL Playoffs.

On Saturday, the 20-year-old star right-winger fired home a pair of goals to power his Prince Albert Raiders to a 4-0 victory over the host Saskatoon Blades before 10,861 spectators at the SaskTel Centre. Dube accounted for the Raiders final two markers, and they both came in the second period.

At the 3:45 mark of the second, the Raiders rushed into the Saskatoon zone and defenceman Linden Burrett had the puck just inside the top of the right faceoff circle. He passed the puck down to Dube at the doorstep of the left side of the Saskatoon net, and the Roblin, Man., product one-timed home his first tally of the night to give the Raiders a 3-0 advantage.

Brayden Dube had 24 goals and 27 assists in 55 regular season games.

Dube proceeded to pick up his second goal at the 10:14 mark of the second with his squad working on the power play. Raiders star left-winger Brandon Gorzynski had the puck just coming off the right side boards in the Saskatoon zone and passed the puck to Dube, who was positioned at the top of the left faceoff circle.

Dube one-timed home a laser beam to the top right corner of the Saskatoon net. That tally put the Raiders up by the game’s final score of 4-0.

“It felt really nice, especially before playoffs to get that confidence up,” said Dube, who finished the regular season with 24 goals, 27 assists and plus-20 rating in the plus-minus department in 55 regular season contests. “Hopefully, it leads into playoffs coming up.”

Brayden Dube will make his final foray into the WHL Playoffs.

The win allowed the Raiders to finish with a 52-10-5-1 record. They were locked into finishing first in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings entering play on Saturday.

The 52 victories allowed the current Raiders, who are rated fourth in the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings, to match their 1985-86 team for posting the third highest regular season win total in the club’s history in the WHL. The 1985-86 Raiders posted a record of 52 wins, 17 losses and three ties.

The Blades fell to 34-27-5-2 with the setback. They entered play on Saturday locked into finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Hubert Clarke (#8) fights Triston Mitchell-McElhone (#25).

Having joined the Raiders in a trade with the Seattle Thunderbirds early into his rookie season in the WHL in 2022-23, Dube said the current campaign has been his most memorable major junior season. He has enjoyed being on a Raiders side this season where he has been one of nine players who has scored 20-or-more goals. The last time the Raiders had nine players score 20-or-more goals was back in the 1985-86 season.

“It is obviously nice,” said Dube, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 184 pounds. “We can just roll lines.

“Every line is just really, really good. Having lots of goal scorers, it is a good mixture. Every game someone else is having a game, and the next game someone else gets a couple.

Alisher Sarkenov had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

“It just works out perfect.”

While Dube has been part of a large mix of Raiders players who have had good seasons in 2025-26, Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald does not downplay how big of a part the veteran forward has been for the team.

“He has been huge,” said McDonald. “I mean his pace, the way he skates, the way he can drive the puck inside the dots with his skating and his release is tremendous.

“He is very effective on the hunt and gets under sticks and is able to close on guys quickly on the forecheck. He can also take away time and space on the track and really push the track as well. He does a tremendous job with his battle and is just a big piece of our puzzle.”

Daxon Rudolph had a slick assist for the Raiders.

McDonald said it was great to see Dube find the back of the net twice right before the Raiders embark on their journey through the WHL Playoffs.

“It is about confidence,” said McDonald. “He missed a little bit of time there.

“(It is) really nice to stack up some games for him here towards the end. It is really nice to see him get rewarded.”

In Saturday’s game, the rivalry between the Raiders and Blades hit high-level intensity shortly after the opening puck drop.

Just 19 seconds into the contest, a fight broke out between Raiders 18-year-old rookie defenceman Hubert Clarke and Blades 17-year-old rookie centre Triston Mitchell-McElhone. The two players were tied up for much of the lengthy bout with Mitchell-McElhone getting in the majority of hard punches.

Jonah Sivertson had the Raiders second goal on Saturday.

The Blades came out with some good early jump holding a 6-3 edge in shots on goal early in the opening frame. The momentum changed at the 8:33 mark of the stanza.

Raiders starting netminder Steele Bass passed the puck to rookie defenceman Benett Kelly to start a rush up ice. Kelly drove into the Saskatoon zone and fired a shot on net that was turned away with a blocker stop from Blades star netminder Evan Gardner.

Raiders rookie import 18-year-old left-winger Alisher Sarkenov picked up the rebound in the left faceoff circle and drove home his 21^st goal of the campaign to put the Raiders in front 1-0.

With 5:18 remaining in the opening frame and working on the power play, the Raiders would score again on another offensive zone rush. Raiders star defenceman Daxon Rudolph made a backhanded pass in his own zone to Sarkenov to spring the import forward up ice on a rush.

Steele Bass made 30 saves to pick up the shutout win.

Sarkenov jetted down the left wing into the Saskatoon zone and passed the puck to the front of the Blades net to 17-year-old rookie right-winger Jonah Sivertson. Sivertson promptly fired home his 24^th goal of the season to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0.

When the first period ended, a scrum developed. While no big fights came out of the scrum, Bass and Gardner started skating towards centre ice to potentially have a goalie fight. Both netminders were intercepted by the officials and sent to their respective dressing rooms for the intermission.

“It is definitely a big rivalry,” said Dube. “Every time we play, it gets a little rough as you could tell.

“(There are) a couple of fights every game. Both sides want to win every time you play each other.”

Brandon Gorzynski had an assist on the Raiders fourth goal.

After Dube scored his second goal of the night in the second period, the Blades pulled Gardner. He stopped 20-of-24 shots to take the setback in net for Saskatoon. Riley Budd played the rest of the way in the Blades net in relief stopping all nine shots sent his way.

In the third, the two sides engaged in a major scrum with 1:44 remaining in the frame. Out of that scrum, a main event fight developed between Sivertson and Blades veteran defenceman Jack Kachkowski. Sivertson got the better of Kachkowski in that tilt and ended the bout with a takedown.

The two clubs proceeded to play a peaceful final 1:44 to end the contest.

Bass stopped 30 shots he faced to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Raiders. The shutout was the third of the season for Bass.

The Raiders and Blades scrum it up with 1:44 left in the third.

Kelly finished with two assists and a plus-one rating for the Raiders.

As the Raiders and Blades closed their respective regular season schedules on Saturday and couldn’t make any movements in the standings, they both scratched veterans and played younger lineups. McDonald was pleased with the effort of the players who took the ice for his side on Saturday.

“I thought the group did a great job,” said McDonald. “They pushed right off the start, and again, we answered.

“We continued to play fast. We continued to play north and got to our pace and got to our forecheck, which led to some offensive zone time and some chances for us. The guys did a great job capitalizing and just continued to stick with it and played a real simple road game.”

Jonah Sivertson (#28) fights Jack Kachkowski (#37).

Now both clubs turn their attention to the WHL Playoffs.

The Blades play a first round series against the Edmonton Oil Kings, who are locked into a third place finish in the Eastern Conference going into their final regular season contest hosting the Calgary Hitmen on Sunday. Game 1 of the best-of-seven first round series between the Blades and Oil Kings is slated for Friday at 7 p.m. local time at Rogers Place.

The Raiders will battle the Red Deer Rebels in a best-of-seven first round series. The Rebels finished eighth in the Eastern Conference with a 26-36-4-2 mark. Game 1 of that series is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

Reflecting on the upcoming post-season, Dube said he is looking forward to having a final playoff run with the Raiders and especially with fellow 20-year-olds and longtime teammates in star centre Aiden Oiring and captain Justice Christensen.

The Raiders celebrate their win on Saturday.

“I’ve been with them my whole career, and it has been an honour playing with them,” said Dube. “We’ve got a lot of games left, so it is going to be fun.”

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