Corkish hatty puts Raiders one win away from WHL final

Tigers fall 6-3 in Game 5 of Eastern Conference final

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

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Owen Corkish capitalized on his moment to be the x-factor for the Prince Albert Raiders.

On Friday night playing before a raucous sellout crowd of 3,299 spectators at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre, Corkish, who is an 18-year-old rookie left-winger, delivered his first WHL hat trick in either regular season or post-season play. The Cottage Grove, Minnesota, product’s three-goal night powered the host Raiders to a 6-3 victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers in Game 5 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series.

With the Raiders clinging to a 4-3 lead late in the third period, Corkish fired home a shot from his own zone into an empty Tigers net with 2:31 remaining in the third period to complete his hat trick. Following that tally, hats rained down from the Raiders faithful at the Hauser in celebration of that goal.

Owen Corkish (#32) breaks away from Noah Davidson (#39).

“I just put one and one together and tried to go for it and see what happens,” said Corkish. “Fortunately, it went in.”

If there was going to be any other drama, Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube wrapped home an empty-net tally with 1:29 remaining in the third to round out the 6-3 final score in favour of the Prince Albert side.

With the win, the Raiders take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven set with the Tigers. They will try to close the series out in Game 6 on Sunday at 6 p.m. local time at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.

Before looking forward to Game 6, Corkish said his hat trick performance in Game 5 ranks up there with the biggest hockey games he has ever had.

Owen Corkish sets to score his long distance empty-net goal.

“It is definitely one of them,” said Corkish. “I’m fortunate enough to have the night I had with the guys around me.

“I couldn’t have done it without those guys. We have such a tight group and such an amazing group that it could have been any one of those guys tonight. I’m just proud to be a part of this group.”

The Raiders came storming out of the gate. At the five-minute mark of the opening frame, standout 17-year-old right-winger Jonah Sivertson had the puck in the left corner of the Medicine Hat and passed it to linemate Alisher Sarkenov in front of the goal. Sarkenov quickly blasted the puck home to put the host side up 1-0.

Prince Albert outshot Medicine Hat 16-3 in the opening 20 minutes, but the Tigers were able to force a 1-1 tie before the stanza came to a close. With 2:50 remaining in the first, Tigers star 19-year-old defenceman Jonas Woo popped home a puck close in at the left side of the Prince Albert net for the equalizer.

Jonas Woo scored the Tigers first goal on Friday.

“We let them get off to a great start, which we can’t do in their building,” said Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins. “We were so lucky to come out 1-1.”

While 18-year-old rookie netminder Carter Casey came up big in the opening frame, he couldn’t keep the Raiders at bay forever.

Just 22 seconds into the second period, Corkish tipped home a point shot from Raiders captain Justice Christensen to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. Raiders 16-year-old rookie right-winger Ben Harvey then tapped home a puck at the right side of Medicine Hat net to push Prince Albert’s advantage to 3-1 at the 8:57 mark of the frame. Harvey converted a beauty setup pass from linemate Maddix McCagherty from the left side boards in the Medicine Hat zone.

Alisher Sarkenov scored the Raiders first goal on Friday.

With 6:24 remaining in the second, Corkish picked up his second goal of the contest banging home the rebound of his own shot in front of the Medicine Hat net. Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald was pleased with the play of the line of Corkish, 20-year-old star centre Aiden Oiring and Dube calling them dynamic. Dube finished with an assist to go with his goal, while Oiring had one helper.

“I thought their line did a great job tonight,” said McDonald. “They were on the right side of pucks.

“They checked really well. They got their offensive chances, and they capitalized on them and really used their speed tonight.”

The Tigers proceeded to battle back in the third. 

Just 1:55 into the frame, a shot from Tigers 19-year-old left-winger Cam Parr deflected off the skate of 20-year-old right-winger Ethan Neutens into the Prince Albert net to cut the Raiders lead to 4-2.

Ethan Neutens scored for the Tigers on Friday.

At the 9:19 mark of the third, Tigers right-winger Carter Cunningham put a shot on goal from the left side of the Raiders net that was stopped by Raiders star import netminder Michal Orsulak. The puck rebounded to the right side of the net to Tigers 20-year-old rearguard Josh Van Mulligen. Van Mulligen fired home the rebound to trim the Raiders advantage down to 4-3.

While the Tigers have posted their share of comeback victories this season, they weren’t able to rally back any further on this night. The tallies by Neutens and Van Mulligen set the stage for the Raiders two empty-net markers to close the contest out.

Desjardins was pleased to see his squad battle back to make the contest a one-goal game again in the third.

“We got the first one,” said Desjardins. “You knew you had a chance.

Ben Harvey had a goal for the Raiders on Friday.

“Then, we got the second. We had some looks to get the third as well. We just didn’t get it.

“They bent a little bit, but they didn’t break. They stayed with their game plan, and they were able to pull it out.”

McDonald was happy to see there was no panic coming from his Raiders side after the Tigers pulled to within 4-3.

“They’re a good team,” said McDonald. “You can’t give them chances.

“They have the ability to put them in the back of the net. I really liked our guys’ calmness tonight. They got those two in the third, and guys were even keel.

“We just continued to go about our business and continued to win our battles and lock it down.”

Brayden Dube had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

Orsulak stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Casey turned away 41-of-45 shots to take the setback in net for the Tigers.

Prince Albert also held a 49-21 advantage in the faceoff circle.

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

The Tigers, who are the defending WHL champions, finished second in the Eastern Conference, captured the Central Division title and finished third overall in the WHL during the regular season with a 50-10-5-3 mark. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Tigers enjoy a goal from Josh Van Mulligen (#22).

The Raiders and Tigers met four times in the 2025-26 regular season. Each side claimed two regulation time wins including one victory at home and one the road. Each side scored 16 goals in those four head-to-head contests.

The winner of the Eastern Conference final will face the Everett Silvertips in the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series. The Silvertips swept the Penticton Vees 4-0 in the Western Conference Championship Series. Everett was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Looking towards Game 6, Desjardins wants his team to be better in a couple of areas.

Fans at the Art Hauser Centre cheer on the Raiders.

“We’ve got to be more aggressive,” said Desjardins. “They’ve got lots of speed and the worst thing with speed is to back up.

“You’ve got to be aggressive on speed and gap up and handle it. We’ve got to be better in the faceoff circle too. They were really good in the faceoff circle.

“Give them credit, but they’ve got to win another one.”

The Raiders celebrate their win on Friday.

While the Raiders will try to clinch the series and the Eastern Conference title on Sunday, Corkish said his squad has to focus on business as usual on the ice.

“I think there is nothing we’ve got to overcomplicate,” said Corkish. “I think we’ve just got to simplify our game and keep doing what we’re doing, and it is going to turn out good.”

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The song in Saskatoon is “Go Raiders Go!”

Prince Albert set for sweep, sweep series victory over Blades

The Raiders enjoy the first of two goals from Braeden Cootes (#34).

It was fitting that “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers was playing at game’s end at the SaskTel Centre.

With how the host Saskatoon Blades had been fairing in their WHL Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders, the iconic country song might have been foreshadowing to the Saskatoon side that it was time to “know when to fold ’em.”

On Tuesday, the Raiders rolled to a 4-0 victory over the host Blades while also holding a 41-23 edge in shots on goal in Game 3 of the best-of-seven set played before 6,522 spectators. With the win, the Raiders take a 3-0 lead in the series where they have outscored the Blades 13-1 and held a 120-55 advantage in shots on goal. Prince Albert can close out the series in Game 4 on Wednesday, which is set for 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Braeden Cootes had a pair of goals and was a plus-two on Tuesday.

Dating back to the regular season, the Raiders have only given up one goal against the Blades in the last five head-to-head meetings between the two sides.

The last time the Blades scored an even-strength goal against the Raiders came back during a regular season clash on February 14 at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. 

In that contest, Blades captain Tyler Parr scored at the 7:42 mark of the second period to put the Blades up 4-2 in that game. The Raiders would rally back and take that contest 5-4 after a tiebreaking shootout.

The Raiders faithful influtrated the SaskTel Centre on Tuesday.

The Raiders have won seven straight head-to-head games against the Blades including action in both the regular season and post-season. The Blades last victory over the Raiders came back on January 31 with a 4-0 triumph at the Hauser, where Blades star netminder Evan Gardner made 36 saves to post the shutout.

In the three post-season meetings between these two clubs, Gardner, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, has easily been the Blades best player posting a .907 save percentage. However, he can’t go out and score goals for his squad, and it becomes impossible to win hockey games if the skaters in front of the goalie don’t score any goals.

Blades G Evan Gardner pins Raiders LW Ben Harvey.

Gardner was great again on Tuesday. He turned away 37-of-40 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades.

The Raiders final tally was an empty-net goal that was short-handed by 19-year-old centre Evan Smith with 30.3 seconds remaining in the third period.

The Blades came out to a good introduction and had some great support from their fans. They managed to get the first shot on goal of the contest.

Then at the 3:19 mark of the opening frame, Raiders star 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube directed a shot-pass from the right corner of the Saskatoon zone to the crease of the Saskatoon net. Star linemate Brandon Gorzynski deflected home the puck to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead off their first shot on net.

Evan Gardner makes one of his 37 saves for the Blades.

That tally seemed to suck the enthusiasm of the Blades faithful out of the building.

The sizable contingent that came down from Prince Albert to support the Raiders was just getting started when it came to rocking all night. They did their best to turn the SaskTel Center into a home away from home for the Raiders.

The Raiders carried play through the rest of the first holding a 14-6 edge in shots on goal. The visitors also had a pair of power plays after their goal in the first 20 minutes, but Gardner proceeded to keep his team in the game.

The opening six minutes of the second period became the Braeden Cootes show. Just 64 seconds into the second, Raiders standout import rookie left-winger Alisher Sarkenov sprung Cootes into the Saskatoon zone on a breakaway. Cootes snuck a shot sick side through the right arm of Gardner to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0.

Michal Orsulak makes one of his 23 saves in his shutout win.

Just 4:42 later, Raiders standout 19-year-old import rookie defenceman Matyas Man pushed the puck up to Cootes allowing the skilled centre to break into the Saskatoon zone down the right wing. The Sherwood Park, Alta., product, who turned 19-years-old in February, deked wide around a Blades defenceman and from a sharp angle to the right of the Saskatoon goal, he fired home a shot to the top right corner of the net to make the Raiders advantage sit at 3-0.

Actually, Cootes was so good for the entire night that fans of the Vancouver Canucks will be hoping the centre will start next season on the NHL club’s main roster. Cootes has a signed entry-level contract with the Canucks.

The Blades proceeded to get a pair of power plays, and Blades star import right-winger David Lewandowski rang a shot off the post of the Prince Albert net near the end of the second power play.

Brandon Gorzynski scored the Raiders first goal on Tuesday.

With less than two minutes to play in the frame, Lewandowski had another big chance to hit the scoreboard, but Raiders import star rookie netminder Michal Orsulak pulled out a sweet glove stop to rob the skilled Blades forward.

Early in the third, Orsulak robbed Blades import left-winger Elias Pul with a left pad stop on a backhand shot. After that, it felt like the Blades were trying to work their way through quicksand to get back into the contest.

They ended up with a power-play chance shortly after Pul was stoned on his scoring chance when Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett was given a kneeing minor for a hit on Blades 17-year-old centre Ben Bowtell. Bowtell left the contest and didn’t return.

Brayden Dube had an assist on the Raiders first goal on Tuesday.

The Blades power play continued to be ineffective when it came to getting on the scoreboard.

That set the stage for Smith’s short-handed empty-net goal to close the proceedings on Tuesday.

Orsulak stopped all 23 shots he faced for his third shutout win of the post-season and second against the Blades in the WHL Playoffs. In the post-season series against the Blades, Orsulak has a 0.33 goals against average and a .982 save percentage.

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. 

Evan Smith (#21) reacts to his empty-net short-handed goal.

In the first round of the playoffs, Prince Albert eliminated the Red Deer Rebels, who were eighth in the Eastern Conference, in five games.

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.

Before the playoffs started, expectations were high that the Raiders would face the defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers in a heavyweight showdown in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship Series. 

The Raiders and Blades still engaged in a handful of scrums.

The Tigers finished second overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and third in the league’s overall standings at 50-10-5-3. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

They lead the other best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal Series 3-0 against the Calgary Hitmen. Medicine Hat will try to close that series out in Game 4 on Wednesday in Calgary.

At the moment in the series between the Raiders and Blades, only the most optimistic of Blades fans would still hold belief that their team will keep their campaign alive at the conclusion of Game 4 on Wednesday. The thought process would be that the Raiders seven game winning streak in head-to-head contests between both sides including action in the regular season and post-season has to end at some time.

The Raiders begin celebrating their win on Tuesday.

For now, it is hard to imagine any outcome on Wednesday that doesn’t see a celebration amongst the Raiders faithful that will again be at the SaskTel Centre when Game 4 comes to a close.

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Raiders day – P.A. smashes Saskatoon 6-1 in Game 1

Prince Albert fans grill Blades goalie in series opener

Aiden Oiring (#19) celebrates scoring the Raiders first goal on Friday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – So do you really want to fire up the Prince Albert Raiders faithful at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre?

Saskatoon Blades star starting netminder Evan Gardner discovered that might not have been the best thing to do. In his defence, Gardner might not have thought the fans in “Hockey Town North” were going to rally up, when he elected to say something to sum up the rivalry between the Raiders and Blades before the two sides faced each other in a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Semifinal Series.

Daxon Rudolph enjoys scoring the Raiders second goal on Friday.

“I genuinely hate the Raiders,” said Gardner during a media conference on Thursday in Saskatoon. “I think everyone in that room feels the same.

“Every time we play them, we have this fire in us, and it feels real. You really do hate them. You want to beat them so bad.”

It was pretty safe to say almost everyone that was part of the sold out crowd of 3,299 spectators at the 2,580 seat fabled home rink of the Raiders were aware of Gardner’s comments, when the two sides played Game 1 of the series in Prince Albert.

Even before the game started, hex chants for Gardner were raining down from the stands. Just 3:41 into the contest, Raiders star centre Aiden Oiring got the puck in the right corner of the Saskatoon zone, skated in close to the Saskatoon net and put home a shot short side on Gardner to put the host side up 1-0 to a huge eruption of cheers amongst the fans in the building.

Alisher Sarkenov (#24) hugs Braeden Cootes after scoring a goal.

Gardner tried to silence them a short time later making a glove save on Raiders star centre Braeden Cootes. That just seemed to stall the avalanche that was to come.

At the 5:17 mark of the opening frame, Raider standout left-winger Jonah Sivertson made a backhand centring pass from the right side boards in the Saskatoon zone to star Raiders defenceman Daxon Rudolph. Rudolph fired home a shot through Gardner’s five-hole to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead to bring the cheering of the team’s faithful up to another level. The hosts were rolling and holding a 9-0 edge in shots on goal at the time of Rudolph’s goal.

From that point, it felt like the Blades were playing against a crusade in Game 1. The Raiders pushed their lead out to 3-0 by the end of the opening frame holding a 19-2 edge in shots on goal. The host’s would push their edge to 4-0 by the end of the second period and would roll to a 6-1 victory.

The fans at the Art Hauser Centre cheer the Raiders third goal.

Gardner continued to be the target of heckles from the Raiders faithful. One Prince Albert fan even brought a big sign that showed a picture of a Raiders player scoring a beach ball on the Blades netminder, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The veteran puck stopper was pulled by the Blades following the second period. He stopped 27-of-31 shots fired his way to take the setback in net for Saskatoon. Ryley Budd, who is a 17-year-old rookie, played the third period in relief and turned away 9-of-11 shots sent his way.

A Raiders fan has a sign heckling Blades G Evan Gardner.

The Raiders pushed their advantage out to 6-0 at one point in the third period, and the fans at that moment started a chant of, “We want Gardner.”

Blades feisty sophomore right-winger Zach Olsen scored on the power play for the Blades with 9:18 remaining in the third to ruin the shutout bid for Raiders star 18-year-old rookie netminder Michal Orsulak. Orsulak would stop 16 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders.

When the Raiders faithful are stirred up and engaged in a game right from the outset, the players on the Prince Albert side can feel it. All of sudden, the players are drawing energy from their supporters, and in those moments, the Hauser becomes seemingly an impossible place to play in for the opposition.

The Raiders fans were on their game against the Blades.

Friday’s Game 1 felt eerily similar to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series played between these two sides back on April 5, 2019. Going into that series, then Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid accused the Blades of embellishment and taking dives in order to draw penalties. Habscheid knew what he said would get the Raiders faithful fired up, and the theatrics worked for Game 1 of that series.

The Raiders fans placed signs on the glass in the Blades end during warm up that basically said diving wasn’t permitted in the Hauser. The faithful were all over the Blades with their taunts and the Raiders rolled on that night to a 6-1 victory. Of course, the Raiders in the WHL Playoffs of 2019 would go on to win the WHL title.

Brandon Gorzynski sets to fire home the Raiders fourth goal.

Ryan McDonald, who is the Raiders head coach in the current day, didn’t have to say anything to get his team’s fans fired up. Gardner unknowingly did that during the Blades presser on Thursday.

With 4:02 remaining in the first in Friday’s clash, Cootes broke into the Saskatoon zone on a rush down the right wing. He put a pass across the face of the Saskatoon goal to import linemate Alisher Sarkenov. Sarkenov tapped the puck by Gardner to give the Raiders a 3-0 advantage.

Raiders star left-winger Brandon Gorzynski, who turned 19-years-old in March, wired a mid range shot past Gardner at the 12:01 mark of the second to make the host side’s lead stand at 4-0.

Just 91 seconds into the third, Oiring wired his second of the night from the low right side of the Saskatoon net on the power play to push the Raiders advantage out to 5-0. The Raiders struck again on the power play 63 seconds later when star 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube roofed a shot from the front of the Saskatoon net into the top right corner of the goal to make the Raiders lead sit at 6-0.

A couple of young fans cheer Brandon Gorzynski’s goal.

Rudolph and Gorzynski each finished the contest recording one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. Raiders captain Justice Christensen recorded three assists and a plus-two rating just a day after signing a two-year AHL contract with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The hosts seemed to hit home runs everywhere on Friday. They had a 50/50 draw where the winner took home $84,200. Oiring, who was the game’s first star, made a young little girl’s night by giving her a souvenir stick.

Prince Albert entered the series with Saskatoon as the favourites.

The Raiders 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.

The Raiders salute their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.

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.

Game 2 of the series between the Raiders and Blades is slated for 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Blades have been resilient this season, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to expect the Saskatoon side will have a better effort in Game 2.

If the Raiders are able to continue to roll like they did in Game 1, they might sweep this best-of-seven series in three games.

A young fans is pumped to get a souvenir stick from Aiden Oiring.

At the moment, fans in “Hockey Town North” are celebrating a Friday that was the Raiders day.

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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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.”

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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Raiders in rare air with 20-goal men

Maddix McCagherty (#17) celebrates scoring his 20th goal last Friday.

Do you like 20-goal men?

While the Prince Albert Raiders have lots of 20-goal men – eight to be exact. Entering play on Tuesday, they include Daxon Rudolph (28), Aiden Oiring (28), Max Heise (28), Brandon Gorzynski (27), Braeden Cootes (22), Jonah Sivertson (22), Brayden Dube (21) and Maddix McCagherty (20). At the moment, 18-year-old import rookie left-winger Alisher Sarkenov is sitting on 19 goals. If he scores one more goal, that would give the Raiders nine 20-goals scorers.

The Raiders 2018-19 WHL title winning team didn’t even have eight 20-goal scorers. The five players who hit the 20-goal mark in that campaign included Noah Gregor (43), Brett Leason (36), Parker Kelly (35), Cole Fonstad (29) and Sean Montgomery (29).

The last time the Raiders had eight players who hit the 20-goal plateau was back in the 1991-92 campaign. The players that hit the 20-goal mark that season included Lee Leslie (52), Jeff Nelson (48), Dan Kesa (46), Dean McAmmond (37), Donevan Hextall (33), Curtis Regnier (30), David Neilson (25) and Jeff Gorman (23).

If Sarkenov scores one more goal to hit 20, it would give the Raiders nine players who hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time since the 1985-86 campaign. That season they included Pat Elynuik (53), Ryan Stewart (52), Dale McFee (47), Tony Grenier (42), Steve Gotaas (40), Kim Issel (29),Scott Kruger (26), Emanuel Viveiros (22) and Rod Dallman (20).

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

Raiders one win away from top spot in Eastern Conference

Prince Albert downs Regina 8-4 to reach 50^th victory  

The Raiders enjoy the 20th goal from Alisher Sarkenov (#24) this season.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – One down. One to go.

The Prince Albert Raiders are one win away from locking up first place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. On Tuesday playing before 2,511 spectators at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders downed the visiting Regina Pats 8-4 in a WHL regular season contest for a fourth straight victory.

With the win, the Raiders improve to 50-10-5-1 marking the first time they’ve won 50-or-more games in a season since going 54-10-2-2 back in the 2018-19 campaign when they last won the WHL title and also topped the WHL’s regular season standings.

Ben Harvey had two goals for the Raiders on Tuesday.

In the current day, the Raiders need to win one of their final two games in order to lock up top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time since that WHL championship season and ensure second place finish in the overall WHL standings. Standing in the Raiders way are their archrivals in the Saskatoon Blades.

Those two clubs close their respective regular season schedules playing a home-and-home series against each other. The Raiders will first attempt to take top spot at home on Friday, when they host the Blades at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. If Prince Albert isn’t able to take that contest, the Raiders get a second chance on Saturday when they meet the Blades at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

Keets Fawcett scored his 30th goal of the campaign for the Pats.

The Raiders currently sit two points up on the Medicine Hat Tigers (48-10-5-3). Prince Albert would lock up top spot in the conference with one more win due to being assured of claiming a standings tiebreaker of finishing with more wins than Medicine Hat in that scenario. The Raiders are rated fourth in the CHL Top 10 Rankings, while the Tigers are rated fifth in the ratings.

Prince Albert opened the scoring of Tuesday’s clash with Regina right after killing the first penalty of the contest in the first period.

Right when the kill came to an end, Raiders rookie defenceman Benett Kelly, who turned 18 in February, got a hold of the puck in his own zone a fired a pass up to centre ice to Raiders 16-year-old right-winger Ben Harvey, who just got out of the penalty box after serving a minor infraction. Harvey jetted into the Regina zone on a breakaway and fired home his 13^th marker of the year through the legs of Pats netminder Marek Schlenker to put the host side up 1-0 at the 5:49 mark of the frame.

Braeden Cootes had one goal and two assists for the Raiders.

Just 2:26 into the second, Raiders star centre Braeden Cootes popped home his 23^rd of the season from low in the left faceoff circle to push the host side’s lead out to 2-0. The Pats responded 59 seconds later when rookie left-winger Mathis Paull, who turned 17 in late January, snipped home his seventh of the campaign on a two-on-one break to cut the Raiders lead to 2-1.

Right before the midway point of the second, Raiders right-wingers Riley Boychuk and Jonah Sivertson netted singles to give the Raiders a 4-1 advantage. Prince Albert took that three-goal lead into the second intermission holding a 28-11 edge in shots on goal.

Mathis Paull had one goal for the Pats on Tuesday.

Just 71 seconds into the third, Pats left-winger Keets Fawcett netted his 30^th goal of the season, and star defenceman Reese Hamilton tallied on the power play at the 9:03 mark of the frame to cut Prince Albert’s lead to 4-3.

Raiders 18-year-old import left-winger Alisher Sarkenov proceeded to put home a backhander from the front of the Regina net for his 20^th goal of the season. Brayden Dube and Max Heise proceeded to add singles for Prince Albert to make the host’s lead sit at 7-3.

Pats 19-year-old centre Ellis Mieyette proceeded to score for Regina and Harvey picked up his second of the contest for the hosts to round out the 8-4 final in favour of the Raiders.

With Sarkenov hitting the 20-goal mark, the Raiders now have nine players on their team who have scored 20-or-more goals this season, which is the most for the club since the 1985-86 campaign.

Alisher Sarkenov is 20-goal man number nine for the Raiders.

For the current Raiders, their 20-goal scorers include Heise (29), Daxon Rudolph (28), Aiden Oiring (28), Brandon Gorzynski (27), Cootes (23), Sivertson (23), Dube (22), Maddix McCagherty (20) and Sarkenov (20).

The Raiders 20-goal scorers from the 1985-86 campaign included Pat Elynuik (53), Ryan Stewart (52), Dale McFee (47), Tony Grenier (42), Steve Gotaas (40), Kim Issel (29), Scott Kruger (26), Emanuel Viveiros (22) and Rod Dallman (20).

Michal Orsulak stopped 19 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Cootes had a pair of assists to go with his goal and finished with a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department.

Schlenker turned away 34-of-40 shots to take the setback in net for the Pats. He was pulled after the Raiders sixth goal at the 11:11 mark of the third period.

Jonah Sivertson scored for the Raiders on Tuesday.

Associate player call up in 16-year-old Drake Mooney played the rest of the way in relief turning away 7-of-9 shots sent his way. Mooney had been playing with the Prairie Hockey Academy U18 Prep team in Moose Jaw, Sask.

The Pats fall to 25-32-7-2 with the loss and are still holding on to seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They need one more standings point to clinch a berth in the WHL Playoffs.

The Pats close their regular season schedule with a home-and-home series with the Brandon Wheat Kings. The two sides play on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre in Regina on Friday, and they meet again on Saturday at Assiniboine Credit Union Place in Brandon at 6 p.m. local time.

The Raiders celebrate their 50th win of the season on Tuesday.

Now, the Raiders turn their attention to Friday’s home game against the Blades. If the Raiders take that clash to capture a first place finish in the Eastern Conference, the party is going to be on for their faithful in “Hockey Town North.”

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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