Raiders ride Orsulak to Game 1 win in WHL final

Netminder makes 39 saves in 4-2 victory over Silvertips

Michal Orsulak made 39 saves in goal for the Raiders.

The more shots Michal Orsulak sees the better he plays.

In Game 1 of the WHL Championship Series, the star 18-year-old import rookie netminder of the Prince Albert Raiders had a sensational outing. Orsulak, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 220 pounds, stopped 39 shots to backstop the visiting Raiders to a 4-2 victory over the host Everett Silvertips before 7,697 spectators at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

The opener of the WHL final lived up to the hype of what would be expected of a championship series between two powerhouse teams.   

Everett topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-8-2-1 record and was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Silvertips 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records.

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

The Raiders and Silvertips went head-to-head once in the regular season, where Prince Albert posted a 4-1 victory on November 11, 2025 at the Angel of the Winds Arena.

Game 1 started with both teams bringing physical play that continued throughout the whole contest.

The Silvertips got on the board first at the 6:07 mark of the first period. Silvertips star rookie import left-winger Matias Vanhanen passed the puck from left side behind the Prince Albert net to the front of the goal to linemate and star right-winger Carter Bear. Bear fired home a shot to the top right corner of the Prince Albert net to put the host side up 1-0.

The officials checked out Bear’s goal with a lengthy video review looking for a puck being knocked down by a high stick at some point in the play. Once the review concluded, the goal was ruled as good.

Everett held a 12-8 edge in shots on goal after 20 minutes and had a territorial edge in play in the opening frame.

The Silvertips came out of the game flying trying to build on their lead. Early in the frame, star 16-year-old defenceman Landon DuPont wired a shot off the crossbar while working on the power play.

A short time later at even strength, Silvertips right-winger Jaxsin Vaughan, who turned 20 in January, was sprung in on a breakaway into the Prince Albert zone. Vaughan tried to go five-hole on Orsulak only to be denied by the Prince Albert netminder.

Braeden Cootes had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

The host side then had a third golden opportunity a short time after that. Star import centre Julius Miettinen had an opportunity to score at the left side of the Prince Albert net only to be stoned by Orsulak.

Then at the 5:12 mark of the second, the Raiders evened the score at 1-1. Raiders star centre Braeden Cootes had the puck behind the Silvertips net and made a backhanded centring pass coming out of the right side of the goal. The puck came out to standout rookie right-winger Jonah Sivertson, who quickly potted the equalizer for the visitors.

Both teams played physically in Game 1, and some work in the physical department would lead to the Raiders second goal of the contest. With 5:56 remaining in the second, Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett nailed Bear with a big hit.

Silvertips standout defenceman Brek Liske, who turned 18-years-old in January, took exception to the hit, and he cross-checked Burrett. Liske was given a minor penalty for cross-checking.

On the ensuing power play, Cootes fired a seeing-eye shot through a screen along the ice for a tally that put the Raiders up 2-1 with 4:53 remaining in the second.

At this point, the Raiders offence was on a roll. Playing a spot of four-versus-four hockey due to off-setting penalties, the Raiders found themselves working the puck in the offensive zone.

Raiders star defenceman Daxon Rudolph passed the puck to captain and his defensive partner Justice Christensen in the left faceoff circle. Christensen wired home one of his “Juice Bombs” to push the Raiders advantage out to 3-1 with 2:10 remaining in the second.

The Silvertips came with a huge push in the third outshooting the Raiders 13-5 in the frame. Still, Orsulak stood tall keeping the host side at bay.

Silvertips star 20-year-old left winger Rylan Gould tried to resort to a pest measure to get Orsulak off his game. With about four minutes remaining in the third, Gould snuck in and got away with a slash to the back of the netminder’s leg. Orsulak was down on the ice for a moment before continuing in the contest.

With 2:23 remaining in the third, the Silvertips went to their fourth power play of the contest as standout 19-year-old rookie import defenceman Matyas Man was given a tripping minor.

Everett had star 19-year-old sophomore netminder Anders Miller pulled for an extra skater with the chance with the man-advantage. Just seconds into the ensuing power play, Miettinen jetted into the Prince Albert zone down the right wing and put home a backhand shot from the right faceoff circle with 2:09 remaining in the third for a power-play goal that cut the Raiders lead to 3-2.

Aiden Oiring had a long distance empty-net goal for the Raiders.

Now training by one goal, the Silvertips had Miller pulled again as they pressed in the Prince Albert zone. It appeared the Silvertips were going to have a glorious scoring chance as they moved the puck toward 20-year-old star centre Zackary Shantz at the left side of the Prince Albert net. Shantz wasn’t able to do anything as his stick was tied up by a backchecking Rudolph.

Raiders star 20-year-old centre Aiden Oiring got the puck and fired the puck down the ice for a long distance empty-net goal with 65 seconds remaining in the frame to round out the 4-2 final score in favour of the Raiders.

With 7.5 seconds remaining in the third, Man apparently didn’t forget about Gould’s slash to Orsulak about four minute earlier. As Orsulak froze the puck during a scramble around the Prince Albert net, Man took the opportunity to cross-check Gould down to the ice keeping him away from the Prince Albert puck stopper.

Miller turned away 22-of-25 shots to take the setback in net for the Silvertips.

Cootes finished the contest with one goal, one assist and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. He also had a key blocked shot early in the third period. Miettinen finished with one goal and one assist for the Silvertips.

The Raiders were 1-for-1 on the power play, while the Silvertips were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Raiders were without star left-winger Brandon Gorzynski with an undisclosed injury. He was injured in Game 2 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series that the Raiders dropped 5-0 to the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.

The Silvertips were without star defenceman and captain Tarin Smith with an undisclosed injury. He was injured in Game 4 of a 6-3 victory over the Winterhawks in Portland as Everett closed out the first round series between the two clubs at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Game 2 is set for Saturday at the Angel of the Winds Arena at 6 p.m. local time or 7 p.m. Saskatchewan time for those looking to catch the contest on TSN of Victory+ in “The Wheat Province.”

The pressure will be on the Silvertips to get a win in Game 2 to force a split in the first two contests of the series. If the Raiders win Game 2, they will hold a 2-0 series lead as the series shifts to Prince Albert for Games 3 and 4 and potentially Game 5 at the Hauser.

Game 3 is slated for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. local time and Game 4 follows on Wednesday also at 7:30 p.m. local time. If necessary, Game 5 will be on Friday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. local time.

Justice Christensen had the winning goal for the Raiders.

If the Silvertips aren’t able to win Game 2, they might find themselves in a hole that they can’t get out of. If Orsulak has a second straight stellar game, that might end up being the case.

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What a battle! What a finish!

Raiders take conference title, Tigers rally falls short

The story lines were plentiful as the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series closed out.

In a battle of two powerhouse teams, the Prince Albert Raiders were out to show their time is now. The defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers were not ready to give up their crown.

Going into Game 6 of the best-of-seven conference title tilt at Co-op Place on Sunday, the visiting Raiders were in position to advance with a win. The host Tigers were looking to force the series back to Prince Albert for a series deciding Game 7 back in Prince Albert set for Tuesday.

The Tigers brought in Oasiz Wiesblatt, who was the captain of last year’s WHL championship team, to fire up the 5,181 spectators at Co-op place with the “Whose House, Our House” chant pregame. Wiesblatt just finished his first season of professional hockey playing with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.

When the dust settled, the Raiders prevailed 7-6 to take the series 4-2. They advance to the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series to take on the Everett Silvertips. That marks the first time the Raiders will play in the WHL final since they last won it in 2019.

Riley Boychuk had a pair of goals for the Tigers on Sunday.

The valiant Tigers took part in one last salute from their hometown crowd. Their overagers in right-winger Ethan Neutens, centre Andrew Basha and hometown product Josh Van Mulligen took a final bow. Basha finished the night with four assists, while Van Mulligen had one goal and once assist.

Medicine Hat’s Christian players did one final prayer at centre ice before departing to allow the conference trophy presentation to the Raiders. The Raiders had a quick moment with the Eastern Conference Championship trophy taking a team picture before departing to their dressing room.

The Tigers opened the contest with a big push. Early in the contest, Tigers star left-winger Markus Ruck started the contest in an uncharacteristic fashion throwing a rare bodycheck on Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett.

The hosts opened the scoring with 6:31 remaining in the first as star defenceman Jonas Woo wired home a mid range shot from the front of the Prince Albert net to the top left corner of the goal. That marked just the second time in the post-season the Raiders gave up the first goal of a game and both occurrences came at the hand of the Tigers. At the time of Woo’s goal, the Tigers were holding a 9-4 edge in shots on goal.

Josh Van Mulligen had one goal and one assist for the Tigers.

One of the many momentum changes occurred with 4:17 remaining in the opening frame. During a net scramble around the Medicine Hat net, Raiders standout right-winger Riley Boychuk found a loose puck at the left side of the goal and popped the puck home to even the score at 1-1.

The 1980s shootout then commenced in earnest at the start of the second period. Centre Noah Davidson scored on the power play just 75 seconds into the stanza to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

Prince Albert answered back quickly. Star centre Braeden Cootes tallied at the 3:47 mark of the second on the power play, and star defenceman Daxon Rudolph scored at the 5:39 mark of the frame at even strength to give the visitors a 3-2 lead.

At that point, the Tigers elected to pull starting netminder Jordan Switzer after turning away 10-of-13 shots. Carter Casey turned back 14-of-18 shots playing the rest of the way in relief. He ultimately took the loss in goal for Medicine Hat.

Daxon Rudolph had one goal and two assists for the Tigers.

Casey became Medicine Hat’s goalie of record on the scoresheet a short time after entering the contest. At the 8:31 mark of the second, Tigers standout right-winger Luke Cozens potted his first of the post-season to even the score at 3-3.

Momentum proceeded to jump behind the Raiders in a huge way. They closed out the second scoring three straight goals to go ahead 6-3 coming off the sticks of star 20-year-old centre Aiden Oiring on the power play, star right-winger Brayden Dube and standout 17-year-old rookie right-winger Jonah Sivertson. Dube’s tally came with 2:01 remaining in the second, and Sivertson’s came with 33.5 seconds remaining in the stanza.

During that goal surge, the Tigers appeared they might have lost star captain Bryce Pickford for the contest. With 2:46 remaining in the second, he was hit on his left side by Raiders feisty 16-year-old left-winger Connor Howe, while Howe’s stick also connected across the visor of Pickford’s helmet. No penalties were called on the play.

Pickford went down, and he then got up and proceeded to skate straight to the Tigers dressing room favouring his left shoulder. Miraculously, the rearguard returned for the start of the third period.

Noah Davidson had one goal and one assist for the Tigers.

His return seemed to inspire the Tigers. Kade Stengrim tallied at the 2:20 mark of the third, and Van Mulligen found the back of the net at the 6:59 mark of the stanza to cut the Raiders lead down to 6-5.

Medicine Hat pushed for the equalizer, but the Raiders came up with a key insurance goal with 7:01 remaining in the frame. Raiders centre Evan Smith made a high looping pass out of his own zone down the right wing to Boychuk springing him into the Medicine Hat end on a two-on-two rush.

Boychuk made a toe drag move around a Tigers defenceman, slipped down, got up and fired a shot to the top right corner of the Medicine Hat net to push the visitor’s edge out to 7-5.

The Tiger truly did battle to the bitter end. With 6.9 seconds remaining in the third, star right-winger Liam Ruck one-timed home a shot from the front of the Prince Albert net converting a beauty setup pass from Basha to cut the Raiders lead to 7-6. Medicine Hat couldn’t come up with a miracle play to get the equalizer to force overtime.

Michal Orsulak stopped 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Cootes and Rudolph each finished with one goal and two assists. Rudolph leads the WHL post-season in scoring with 23 points coming off nine goals and 14 assists to go with a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus department.

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

Woo, Davidson and Cozens each finished with one goal and one assist for the Tigers. Yaroslav Bryzgalov had a pair of assists for Medicine Hat. For the moment, Basha sits second in the scoring race in the WHL Playoffs with 21 points coming off three goals and 18 assists to go with a plus-one rating.

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 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. After losing a number of key players from their WHL championship club last season, the Tigers were not expected to do as well as they did at the start of the 2025-26 campaign.

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.

Jonas Woo had one goal and one assist for the Tigers.

In the Eastern Conference final, the Tigers were battling a big flu bug for the entire series. Tigers legendary head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said at the end of Game 6 that his players who hit the ice for his team still were not at full strength, but he gave the Raiders credit for the series win. Desjardins said the Raiders are a really good team, and he wasn’t sure his squad would have won the series at full health but would have liked to have had that opportunity.

The Raiders will now face another tough foe in the Silvertips in the WHL Championship Series. The Silvertips swept the Penticton Vees 4-0 in the Western Conference Championship Series and will enter the WHL final after a long rest period. Game 1 of the WHL final is set for this coming Friday at the Angel of the Winds Arena with a start time still to be announced.

Everett topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-8-2-1 and was rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Silvertips 57 wins and 117 standings points are team records. They are appearing in the WHL final for the first time since 2018, when they fell in the championship series in six games to the Swift Current Broncos.

Aiden Oiring scored for the Raiders on Sunday.

As for the now completed Eastern Conference final, it delivered the thrills that were expected and a memorable conclusion for both teams. The Raiders exited the series as a deserving conference champion, and the Tigers went down with the fight fitting a defending league champion.

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 series sweep victory would not be denied

Blades go down with big final battle in 5-3 defeat

The Raiders celebrate their series win over the Blades.

You have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good.

On Wednesday night at the SaskTel Centre, the puck was taking all sorts of positive bounces for the Prince Albert Raiders in the first period in Game 4 of their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against their archrivals in the host Saskatoon Blades. Thanks to three positive bounce goals, the Raiders surged ahead of the Blades 4-1 in the first period holding a 15-4 edge in shots on goal in Game 4 of a WHL Eastern Conference Semifinal Series.

With the Raiders having built a 3-0 series lead in rather dominant fashion, it could have been easy for the Blades to pack it in after the three positive bounce goals went the Raiders way in the opening 20 minutes of Game 4 coming away with the thought that it is just not meant to happen for them.

Raiders fans celebrate their team’s series sweep.

The Blades battled back with their best two periods of the series cutting the Raiders lead to 4-3 in the second period. Star right-winger Hunter Laing and captain Tyler Parr fired home goals that got the host side back into the game.

Inside the final 70 seconds of the second, a puck from a battle along the left boards at centre ice came out to Raiders star centre Max Heise. Heise jetted into the Saskatoon zone on a rush down the left wing and wired a bullet shot short side to the top left corner of the Blades net to make the Raiders lead stand at 5-3 with 57.7 seconds to play in the frame. That tally, which was the first of the post-season for Heise, proved to be a dagger goal.

The two sides proceeded to skate to a stalemate in the third allowing that 5-3 score to hold up as the game’s final outcome. The Raiders swept the set 4-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time since 2019, when they last won the WHL title.

David Lewandowski reacts to the Blades season coming to an end.

At game’s end, the 6,361 spectators in the building, who were engaged with the contest all night, paid respects to both squads. The Raiders faithful, who were present in large numbers making just a 75 minute drive down Highway 11 to “The Bridge City,” celebrated the fact their squad was going to a conference final in what has been a memorable season.

The Blades faithful, which still made up the majority of the crowd, gave their team a rousing final salute. In the first round of the WHL Playoffs, the Blades pulled off an inspiring seven game series upset of the heavily favoured Edmonton Oil Kings to set up the rivalry series against the Raiders.

A quartet of Blades supporters take in post-game happenings.

Raiders captain Justice Christensen was pleased his squad got the win on Wednesday to advance to the WHL’s final four in the post-season.

“It means a lot,” said Christensen. “The guys battled hard tonight and are definitely enjoying it right now.

“We will move on here pretty quick, but enjoy it for the time being.”

With that noted, Christensen was part of the Raiders underdog squad that fell to the Blades in five games in the opening round of the WHL Playoffs in 2024, when the Blades finished first overall in the WHL regular season standings. The Blades went to the Eastern Conference final falling 3-2 in overtime in Game 7 at home to the Moose Jaw Warriors, who would move on to win the WHL title.

Rowan Calvert give a final salute to the SaskTel Centre crowd.

The Raiders star defenceman was happy his squad returned the favour to the Blades this season, when Prince Albert was favoured to beat the Saskatoon side.

“It was nice for sure to get that one and do it four,” said Christensen. “I definitely didn’t forget about that one in 2024.

“I had that in the back of my mind the whole time, so it was nice to get it done.”

Parr, who exhausted his WHL eligibility with Wednesday’s setback, was on the victorious side in the 2024 series with the Blades. He didn’t like being on the losing end of the series this time, but he enjoyed the fight his team put up.

“It sucks losing to the Raiders, but I’m super proud of this group over the year,” said Parr, who graduates from the team along with standout left-winger Rowan Calvert. “I am super proud of the effort against them.

The Raiders and Blades shake hands at the conclusion of Game 4.

“I am super proud of the effort in this series. We fought right to the end, so I’m super proud of the guys.”

The positive bounces for the Raiders started just 68 seconds into Wednesday’s contest. Raiders star centre Braeden Cootes had the puck below the icing line in the right corner of the Saskatoon zone. Cootes banked the puck off the back of Blades star netminder Evan Gardner into the Saskatoon net to put the visitors up 1-0.

Imports Alisher Sarkenov, left, and Elias Pul visit at game’s end.

A short time later, Blades star import left-winger David Lewandowski rang a shot off the post of the Prince Albert net.

Moments after that scoring chance, the Raiders would cash in on their second positive bounce. Raiders 16-year-old breakout rookie defenceman Brock Cripps banked a shot off teammate in 19-year-old standout left-winger Maddix McCagherty into the Saskatoon net to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0 at the 4:53 mark of the opening frame. McCagherty was actually being guarded well by sophomore defenceman Jack Kachkowski, when Prince Albert’s second goal banked home off the Raiders forward.

Members of the Raiders faithful salutes their team.

Just 79 seconds after that tally, Raiders standout rookie import defenceman Matyas Man fired home a shot from a sharp angle at the left side of the Saskatoon net to the top right corner of the Blades goal to make the Raiders lead sit at 3-0. The Blades immediately called a timeout to regroup after that tally.

The Blade proceeded to get a break just 38 seconds later, when Lewandowski put home an off-speed shot close to the blue-line along the right boards for his fourth of the post-season to trim the Raiders lead to 3-1. Lewandownski’s shot went through an inadvertent screen by a Raiders player skating through the play that blocked the visit of Prince Albert’s star import netminder Michal Orsulak.

Max Heise scored the Raiders fifth goal, and it was a big one.

Blades offensive-defenceman Brayden Klimpke would proceed to hit a goalpost setting the stage for the next big positive bounce for the Raiders.

With 2:57 remaining in the opening frame, Raiders star defenceman Daxon Rudolph drove a shot on net that Gardner got a piece of. The puck proceeded to fall into the crease of the Saskatoon net and started to slowly creep towards the goal. Blades defenceman Jordan Martin went to play the puck and inadvertently poked it into his own net to make the Raiders advantage sit at 4-1.

“We were playing on them,” said Rudolph. “We were getting pucks in, getting behind them and playing a fast game, which is hard to play against.

“I think sometimes pucks can get bouncing when you’re rushing plays and things like that. I don’t really know what the reason is, but fortunate for us, we will take those bounces there in the first.”

Braeden Cootes had the Raiders first goal on Wednesday.

The Blades proceeded to battle back in the second period, where they outshot the Raiders 16-9. At the 11:39 mark of the frame, the Blades got a gritty goal as Laing found a loose puck around the Prince Albert net during a net scramble and popped it home to trim the Raiders lead to 4-2.

Just 2:51 later and working on a rare four-versus-three power play, Parr drove a mid range shot home through a screen from the front of the Prince Albert net to cut the Raiders lead to 4-3.

“The first wasn’t what we wanted at all obviously,” said Parr. “They came out pretty hard.

“We just kind of said, ‘This is it.’ It is time to get desperate. They’ve challenged us here, and it is how do we respond.

Brock Cripps (#12) works some creativity in the offensive zone.

“There was only one option, and that was to do everything we could to fight back into the game and we did that. It was a two-goal game, but a bounce here, a bounce there, it could have been tied. I’m just super proud of how we responded after the adversity in the first period, and I hope the guys can learn from that.”

Heise proceeded to pot his insurance goal with 57.7 seconds remaining in the second.

With about 13 minutes remaining in the third, Blades standout centre Hayden Harsanyi rang a shot off the crossbar of the Prince Albert net to further add to the total of bounces that did go in the direction of the host side.

The Raiders celebrate a goal from Maddix McCagherty (#17).

Orsulak stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Evan Gardner turned away 25 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades.

“I’m just really proud of our group, how we played,” said Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald. “I thought our start was absolutely tremendous as we got to our skating legs right away.

“Even the resilience throughout the game, the Blades pushed hard. That is a real scrappy team over there, and again, they didn’t go away and kept pushing us and again got the game close. We had to again buckle down and get back to our game.

“Give our guys a lot of credit, we got into that third period and really locked things down.”

Blades head coach Dan DaSilva was proud of how his club responded, when it looked like things were going to go south fast for his club in the opening frame.

Matyas Man scored the Raiders third goal on Wednesday.

“I thought that it (the game) was unfortunate the way it started,” said DaSilva. “I think our guys were excited, and they were ready to go.

“We had a couple of bad breaks early and got behind the eight ball right away. As we’ve seen all year long, there is no quit in our group. They used the timeout and the intermission to reset and get back to work.

“They played with so much pride in the last 40 minutes. They weren’t going to say die. I thought we had our best period of the series in the second period there.”

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.

Daxon Rudolph netted the winning goal 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.

DaSilva was pleased his squad bowed out on a note where they battled hard in their Game 4 season ending loss to the Raiders in their Eastern Conference semifinal.

“It was our best game of the series,” said DaSilva. “We still came up short, hit a few posts, a couple of bad bounces.

The Blades celebrate a goal from captain Tyler Parr (#20).

“It is behind us now. I am just proud of the group, proud of the season and proud of everything that they gave. It is truly a pleasure to stand in front of that group and coach them every day.

“They are hard workers. They’re good human beings and good young men. We had a lot of fun this year.”

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 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.

Tyler Parr ensures a young fan leaves with a big memory.

On Wednesday, the Tigers finished off the other Eastern Conference Semifinal Series in a 4-0 sweep posting a 5-2 victory over the Hitmen in Calgary in Game 4 of that set. The heavyweight showdown between the Raiders and the Tigers in the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series will happen with the schedule to be announced.

It is expected both clubs will have about eight off days between games as the two Western Conference semifinal series are still ongoing. The Tigers swept the Raiders in an Eastern Conference Semifinal Series a year ago.

For now, the Raiders want to enjoy for a short time the fact they swept away their archrivals in the Blades and are now 5-4 in all-time post-season series between the two clubs.

The Blades give a final salute to their fans at the SaskTel Centre.

“It feels good, obviously,” said Rudolph. “We have a long, historic rivalry here against the Blades.

“To come out on top in this series is definitely big for us. It is just a super happy feeling right now and super happy to get it done.”

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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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.

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 taking advantage of Rebels youth on defense

Jake Missura (#3) chats with Brandon Gorzynski and Justice Christensen.

The Prince Albert Raiders have been merciless when it comes to taking advantage of the youth on the Red Deer Rebels defense.

One of the facts on life in the WHL is teams will capitalize on an area you can take advantage of in an opponent and keep doing it again and again and again until you pick up the win. That type of development becomes larger in a best-of-seven post-season series.

That is becoming evident in the best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs between the Raiders and the Rebels. The Raiders lead the series 2-0 with Games 3 and 4 to be hosted Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at the Merchant Crane Centrum in Red Deer.

During the regular season, the Raiders topped the Eastern Conference 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.

At this point in their development, they are an experienced and more veteran team that also has a youthful contingent who are proving to be special players. The steady veterans include 20-year-olds in captain Justice Christensen, Brayden Dube and Aiden Oiring along with Braeden Cootes, Brandon Gorzynski, Maddix McCagherty and Linden Burrett.

The youngsters who are playing beyond their age include Daxon Rudolph, Brock Cripps, Ben Harvey, Connor Howe and netminder Steele Bass. On Monday, the 16-year-old Cripps was named the WHL’s rookie of the week for posting two goals, two assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department in Prince Albert’s victories in Games 1 and 2 of the series at the Art Hauser Centre.

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

Raiders run over Rebels with 6-0 win in Game 2

Prince Albert takes 2-0 lead in first round post-season series

The Raiders celebrate a short-handed goal from Daxon Rudolph (#10).

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – When the dam burst, it burst big.

On Saturday, the Prince Albert Raiders found themselves being thwarted on numerous scoring opportunities by Red Deer Rebels star rookie netminder Matthew Kondro in the first third of Game 2 of a WHL best-of-seven first round playoff series. The teams exited the first period locked in a scoreless tie with the Raiders holding a 13-3 edge in shots on goal.

Just 1:37 into the second period, Raiders 16-year-old skilled rookie defenceman Brock Cripps scored a power-play goal on an end-to-end rush. From that point, the host Raiders added four more goals in the second to push their advantage out to 5-0. They would finish off the contest cruising to a 6-0 victory to the delight of a jubilant standing room crowd of 2,997 spectators at the 2,580 seat storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.

Brock Cripps had the Raiders first goal on Friday.

With the win, the Raiders, who were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings, take a 2-0 lead in the series. Going back to the regular season, they have won eight straight games.

“You know what, we have a game plan,” said Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald. “We have a process that we stick to.

“It hasn’t wavered all year no matter who we’re playing. The guys did a great job going out there executing the game plan tonight.”

During the first period, it appeared the Raiders might get snake bitten around the net for the night. Star centre Braeden Cootes had a backhand shot chance in close that was turned away by a paddle stop by Kondro.

The Art Hauser Centre faithful cheer on the Raiders.

Late in the frame, Raiders star defenceman Daxon Rudolph had a partial breakaway, but he fanned on his shot. The fanned shot was still a chance Kondro had to make an alert stop on.

The host side’s luck changed around the net, when Cripps scored on his end-to-end rush. On that play, the puck disappeared from sight underneath Kondro’s pads, but referee Adam Bloski was positioned behind the net and made the call of a good goal on the ice.

Following the goal call, the play went to a view review that lasted for about five minutes. After the review, the officials ruled the call on the ice stands.

“You look at the entry, the speed that Brock (Cripps) possessed getting into the zone, it was a great move to get around the stand,” said McDonald. “He took the puck right to the net and got rewarded.”

Ben Harvey had one goal and one assist for the Raiders.

Just two minutes after Cripps’ goal, the Raiders pushed their advantage to 2-0, when 16-year-old rookie right-winger Ben Harvey fired a shot from the front of the net to the top right corner of the Red Deer goal. Harvey converted a sweet setup feed from Rudolph.

“Dax (Rudolph), obviously, made a nice play coming down the wall and found me in the middle,” said Harvey. “I kind of just popped up and tried to get it past the first layer there, and I don’t think their goalie saw it.”

Just under five minutes later, the Raiders picked up a short-handed tally from Rudolph to push their lead out to 3-0. Cootes sent a smart pass to Rudolph to spring the rearguard into the Red Deer zone on a rush. Rudolph charged to the front of the net and ripped home a shot to the top right corner of the goal.

Daxon Rudolph had one goal and two assists for the Raiders.

With 3:52 remaining in the second, Raiders sophomore centre Riley Boychuk potted home a loose puck during a net scramble for a power-play goal that made the Raiders lead sit at 4-0. With 2:05 remaining in the second, Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube sniped home a power-play marker from inside the right faceoff circle in the Red Deer zone to give the Raiders a 5-0 edge.

Prince Albert’s momentum proceeded to carry over to a right between rookie 16-year-old left-winger Connor Howe and Rebels 17-year-old defenceman Cameron Dillard. The bout was a spirited one that ended with Howe, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 155 pounds, getting the take down on the much larger Dillard, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 218 pounds. The Art Hauser Centre faithful rained down thunderous applause for Howe, who is a hometown product.

Brayden Dube had a pair of goals for the Raiders.

“Everyone is just playing the right way,” said Harvey, who had an assist to go with his goal. “We’re just sticking to our game and playing fast.

“It is just eventually they’re going to come.”

Dube proceeded to score his second of the contest taking a drop pass from Cootes and wiring home a shot from the right faceoff dot in the Red Deer zone to round out the 6-0 final score in favour of the Raiders.

“I was just in the right spot at the right time it felt like,” said Dube. “It was nice to get a couple.”

Following Dube’s second tally, the Rebels elected to pull Kondro. Kondro took the loss in the Red Deer net turning away 30-of-36 shots sent his way. Peyton Shore played the rest of the way in the third in relief turning away all four shots sent his way.

Fans at the Art Hauser Centre do the wave.

Overall, Dube was pleased with his team’s effort and thought it was a good follow up to their 4-1 victory over the Rebels in Game 1 on Friday at the Hauser.

“I think we played similar to yesterday,” said Dube. “The goals didn’t come that quick, but I think we wore them down.

“They started making mistakes, and we capitalized on them.”

Raiders star 18-year-old import rookie netminder Michal Orsulak stopped all 13 shots sent his way to pick up his first career post-season shutout in the WHL. He also had an assist on Cripps’s goal.

While the Raiders had the Rebels pinned in their own zone for a large part of Saturday’s game, Orsulak had to come up with a huge sprawling glove save on a Rebels left-winger Poul Andersen inside the final seven minutes of the third to preserve his shutout.

Michal Orsulak made 13 saves for the shutout win on Saturday.

“He was sticky and tidy when called upon,” said McDonald. “It was just a real solid night from him tonight.”

Rudolph finished with a pair of assists to go with his goal and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department. Cootes had a plus-two rating to go with his two helpers.

The Raiders were without breakout star centre Max Heise, who was injured after being hit into the boards by Rebels right-winger Owen DeWitt early in Game 1. McDonald said Heise is listed as day-to-day when it comes to possibly returning.

The series between the Raiders and Rebels now shifts to Red Deer. Games 3 and 4 will be held Tuesday and Wednesday respectively at 7 p.m. local time on both nights at the Marchant Crane Centrium. In looking forward to those contests, Dube said his Raiders need to keep doing what they have been doing so far in the series.

The Raiders celebrate their win on Saturday.

“I know they’ll be better in Red Deer,” said Dube. “We just have to stick to our game and clean some things up that we can work on and just keep it going.”

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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