Raiders in command of Eastern Conference Semifinal

Prince Albert takes 2-0 lead in series with rival Blades

The Raiders celebrate a winning goal from Owen Corkish (#32).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The Prince Albert Raiders are in the driver’s seat.

On Saturday playing before a raucous sellout crowd of 3,299 spectators at the 2,580 seat storied and historic Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders blanked their archrivals the Saskatoon Blades 3-0 in Game 2 of a WHL Eastern Conference Semifinal Series while also holding a 37-15 edge in shots on goal. Combined with their convincing 6-1 victory in Game 1 on Friday before another sellout crowd at the Hauser, the Raiders hold a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven set.

The series now switches over to Saskatoon. Games 3 and 4 will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at the SaskTel Centre for a 7 p.m. start time on both nights.

Owen Corkish does a flyby after scoring for the Raiders.

Going into those two upcoming contests in Saskatoon, the Raiders are feeling good about where they are at.

“It feels amazing,” said Raider 18-year-old rookie right-winger Owen Corkish. “It feels really good.

“We’re not going to get too overwhelmed. We’re going to stay simple and keep doing the things we need to do, and that is what is going to lead us to success.”

In Saturday’s clash, the two sides played through a scoreless first period, where the Raiders held an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal. Prince Albert’s shots were put up via a more gradual pace due to the Blades doing a little better job of getting to pucks in their own zone and transitioning up ice.

Evan Gardner mades one of his 34 saves in goal for the Blades.

The Blades looked like they were going to get the biggest first break of the contest when Raiders star 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube was given a double minor for high sticking. That infraction will be automatically reviewed by the WHL Office for a possible suspension, which is a standard practice by the circuit.

The visitors weren’t able to create any dangerous scoring chances on those two power-play chances due to the Raiders stellar work on the penalty kill.

With 10:05 remaining in the second period, a fight developed between two unlikely combatants in Raiders standout 16-year-old rookie defenceman Brock Cripps and Blades 17-year-old rookie centre Ben Bowtell. The two combined for 48 penalty minutes during the regular season. Both players got a couple of good shots in before the two players ended up wrapped up together after the short bout.

A Raiders fan has sympathy for Blades goalie Evan Gardner.

That set the stage for the Raiders to break onto the scoreboard. With about 6:30 remaining in the second, the Blades broke into the Prince Albert zone and Blades sophomore star centre Cooper Williams appeared in prime shooting position with the puck in front of the Raiders net.

Raiders star centre Max Heise stole the puck from Williams and passed the puck to Raiders star defenceman Daxon Rudolph to start a rush up ice. Rudolph passed the puck up to Raiders standout left-winger Maddix McCagherty, who entered the Saskatoon zone jetting down the left wing.

McCagherty dropped the puck back to Rudolph at the top of the left faceoff circle. Rudolph fired a drive on goal that deflected off Blades star netminder Evan Gardner, bounced off Corkish and went into the Saskatoon net to give the host side a 1-0 lead.

Brock Cripps (#12) tangles with Ben Bowtell (#71).

“I saw Rudolph about to shoot the puck there on the net,” said Corkish. “I thought I should stand in front of the net and see what happens, see if there is a rebound.

“Luckily, it went off me and then in the net, so it was nice.”

With 2:04 remaining in the second, the Raiders pushed their lead out to 2-0. Blades defenceman Jack Kachkowski was trying to hold the puck in the Prince Albert zone at the left point, when he had the puck taken away from him by Raiders standout import rookie left-winger Alisher Sarkenov.

Sarkenow passed the puck to Raiders standout 17-year-old rookie right-winger Jonah Sivertson to start a two-on-one break into the Saskatoon zone. Sivertson ripped his first of the post-season to the top left corner of the Saskatoon net to give the Raiders their two-goal advantage.

Michal Orsulak made 15 saves to pick up a shutout win.

Just 61 seconds into the second, Sivertson was working with the puck along the left boards of the Saskatoon zone. He passed the puck to 19-year-old import shutdown defenceman Matyas Man, who one-timed home his first of the post-season to give the Raiders their 3-0 edge.

“I was pretty confident not that I am going to score, but that I am going to hit the net,” said Man. “I was like a little bit surprised that I scored.

“I am not there to score the goals. We have a lot of other players to score too.”

The Raiders proceeded to cruise to victory from that point.

Michal Orsulak stopped all 15 shots he faced to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Raiders. It was the second shutout of the post-season for Orsulak. Gardner turned away 34 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades.

Daxon Rudolph had an assist for the Raiders.

“I thought it was a better effort from our group for sure,” said Blades head coach Dan DaSilva. “We asked them to simplify our game, play a little bit harder, a little faster and a little more north-south.

“I thought that we did that for the most part. We were right there over halfway through the second period 0-0. We take a chance on a rush, a four-on-three, we don’t execute, and they come back and put it in the back of our net.

“It was a better effort from our group for sure. It is going to be a tall task. We know that, but I think it was a step in the right direction.”

During the first two games of the series in Prince Albert, Gardner has been the target of heckles from the Raiders faithful. DaSilva has no complaints about how his puck stopper, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, has played.

The faithful in the Art Hauser Centre cheer on the Raiders.

“Evan (Gardner) has been great,” said DaSilva. “He has given us everything he has back there.

“He has made some huge saves, especially early in the second period there. He stopped a couple of net front scrambles, made a couple of good pad saves and gave us an opportunity to keep on fighting. That is all you can ask of your goalie.

“I thought he has handled himself really well so far in this series.”

Going into this rivalry series, the Raiders were the favourites.

They finished first in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and second overall in the league with a 52-10-5-1 record during the regular season. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the first round of the playoffs, Prince Albert eliminated the Red Deer Rebels, who were eighth in the Eastern Conference, in five games.

Jonah Sivertson (#28) celebrates scoring for the Raiders.

The Blades were sixth in the Eastern Conference and placed 10^th in the overall regular season standings with a 34-27-5-2 mark. In the first round of the playoffs, they upset the Edmonton Oil Kings, who were third in the Eastern Conference and fifth overall in the WHL, in seven games taking Game 7 by a 3-2 score in overtime. In the seven games against the Oil Kings, the Blades played their best hockey of the 2025-26 campaign.

Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald has been pleased with how his club has played in their first two games of their post-season series with the Blades and how his squad battled in Game 2.

“I thought our guys did a tremendous job,” said McDonald. “We stuck with it.

Matyas Man was named a named the game’s second star.

“It took a period and a bit to get the first one. They (the Blades) came out hard. They pushed.

“We pushed back and continued to play fast, continued to play up the ice and play north and got our opportunities. The P.K. did a great job with a big kill at the end of the first and the second. We just continued to create our push from there.”

Now the series switches over to the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, and Man believes the Blades will come out with their best effort of the series in those contests.

“I think it is going to be harder,” said Man, who was a plus-three in the plus-minus department on Saturday. “They are going to have their fans, so as players, I think we just need to stick with what we are good in.

The Raiders salute their fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

“We just need to stick to our game.”

NOTE – The Raiders 50/50 jackpot drew a ticket where a team record $100,025 goes to the winner. As of the time this post went life, the jackpot had not been claimed. The winning number is C-115039.

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