Oil Kings’ Guhle saluted in return to Prince Albert

Edmonton powers past Raiders 5-2

Kaiden Guhle (#4) had a memorable return to Prince Albert.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – While he was no long wearing his #6 Prince Albert Raiders jersey, Kaiden Guhle still soaked in his homecoming to “Hockey Town North.”

On Saturday night, the star defenceman stepped on to the ice at the Art Hauser Centre wearing the colours of the Edmonton Oil Kings. It marked the first time Guhle played in Prince Albert since the Raiders dealt him to Edmonton in a blockbuster deal earlier this season on December 1, 2021.

Way back in what was then known as the WHL Bantam Draft in 2017, the Raiders selected Guhle first overall. The Sherwood Park, Alta., quickly lived up to high expectations.

Kaiden Guhle mans the point for the Oil Kings.

He played eight games for the Raiders on a call up basis during his 15-year-old season in 2017-18. Guhle proceeded to be an important regular as a 16-year-old rookie in the 2018-19 campaign helping the Raiders win their second WHL championship.

The skilled offensive-defenceman broke into star status posting 11 goals, 29 assists and a plus-23 rating in the plus-minus department in 64 games helping the Raiders finish first in the East Division in 2019-20 before the end of the regular season and the post-season was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Guhle was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round with the 16^th overall selection. He proceeded to sign an NHL entry-level contract with the Canadiens.

The Raiders play a video tribute for Kaiden Guhle on their scoreboard.

While he had been draft by the Canadiens, Guhle returned to Prince Albert to keep improving for his future career in the professional ranks. All total, he played 156 career regular season games with the Raiders piling up 17 goals, 58 assists and a plus-42 rating in the plus-minus department.

Guhle was the Raiders captain at the time he was traded to the Oil Kings.

In his return game to Prince Albert, Guhle, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 200 pounds, was on the ice to start the contest for the Edmonton side. At the first media break that came at the 9:08 mark of the first period, the Raiders played a video tribute for Guhle on the Art Hauser Centre’s giant video scoreboard.

Kaiden Guhle (#4) waves to the Art Hauser Centre crowd.

Guhle sat on the boards of the Oil Kings bench to watch the tribute. The 2,322 spectators in the 2,580 seat building rose to salute Guhle.

As the cheers grew louder as the video continued to play, Guhle gave a wave to the crowd. He gave a second wave at the end of the video with the spectators still cheering the players from both the Raiders and Oil Kings standing on their respective benching giving a stick tap salute.

“It was pretty special,” said Guhle. “I spent a lot of my career here.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without that staff and the guys in the room there. It was special to get a little recognition from the Raiders. It shows just how good of a first class organization they are.”

Kaiden Guhle (#4) breaks into the offensive zone on a rush.

The Oil Kings led 1-0 at the time of the video tribute thanks to a power-play goal from 20-year-old right-winger Josh Williams. The visitors would ultimately cruise to a 5-2 victory in the WHL regular season clash holding a big 40-19 edge in shots on goal and going 3-for-7 on the power play.

When the video tribute played, Guhle said his time with the Raiders seemed to flash before his eyes.

“It was just nice to get that video from the Raiders,” said Guhle, who turned 20-years-old just past the middle of this past January. “It was just a lot of memories flashing back from the championship to being in the dressing room with the guys.

Josh Williams scored the Oil Kings first goal on Saturday.

“It was just a lot of memories a lot of good memories that kind of rush through my mind. It was really special.”

Guhle said it felt different to walk into the Art Hauser Centre through the doors used by the visiting team, suit up in the visitors’ dressing room and take a spot on the visitors’ bench. When the game started, he got into the groove of the contest where it felt like he was playing another regular season game.

With odds of him moving to the professional ranks being high next season and the Raiders continuing to slip out of playoff contention, Guhle was likely playing his final game at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.

While he may not be playing for the Raiders anymore, it wasn’t lost on Guhle how much the team meant in his life.

Oil Kings centre Justin Sourdif (#42) fights through a check.

“I spent my whole junior career pretty much here with the same coaches and a lot of the same guys throughout my whole career,” said Guhle, who was captain of Canada’s entry at the last world juniors before they were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in late December 2021. “It was really special.

“I wouldn’t be out here without the coaches and the guys in the room. I give a lot of my credit to those guys in the room and the coaching staff.”

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said Guhle will always have a special place in the history of the Raiders organization. While the veteran bench boss never likes to lose, he said it was special to have Guhle back inside the Art Hauser Centre again.

Cale Sanders scored twice for the Raiders on Saturday.

“He (Guhle) is a class guy,” said Habscheid. “He is a big part of the organization and part of the 2019 (WHL championship) team.

“He will be a Raider forever. He wears that (Oil Kings) jersey, but he is still a Raider. That is the way it is.”

A short time after the video tribute for Guhle, Oil Kings star centre Justin Sourdif scored on the power play to give the visitors a 2-0 edge.

Sourdif added his second of the night on another power play at the 5:29 mark of the second period to give Edmonton a 3-0 advantage.

Raiders 19-year-old right-winger Cale Sanders tallied for the Raiders with 2:16 remaining in the second period to cut the Oil Kings lead to 3-1.

Jalen Luypen scored the Oil Kings fifth goal on Saturday.

If there were thoughts of a comeback, it wasn’t to be.

The Oil Kings sealed the deal when captain Jake Neighbours potted his 12^th of the season scoring from the front the Prince Albert goal to increase Edmonton’s lead to 4-1 at the 4:06 mark of the third.

On that play, import centre Jakub Demek caused a turnover by the right boards of the Raiders zone and centred the puck to Neighbours, who promptly put the visitors up three.

Jalen Luypen potted the Oil Kings final goal to give them a 5-1 edge.

Sanders concluded the game’s scoring with his second tally of the night with 5:18 remaining in the third to round out the 5-2 final in Edmonton’s favour.

Jakub Demek had three assists for the Oil Kings on Saturday.

Tikhon Chaika turned away 35 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders, who fell to 15-24-1-1 having lost six straight. Kolby Hay stopped 17 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Oil Kings, who lead the WHL’s Central Division with a 31-11-2-1.

Demek had three assists for the Oil Kings in the win.

The Raiders were playing without star 19-year-old centre Ozzy Wiesblatt on Saturday. He was out with an undisclosed injury suffered late in the Raiders 2-1 loss at home on Friday to the Red Deer Rebels. Wiesblatt is the only player left on the Raiders roster from their 2018-19 WHL championship team.

Sanders said his side is getting sick of the losing in what has become a reloading season for his team.

Tikhon Chaika made 35 saves for the Raiders on Saturday.

“We lost a bunch recently, so we have to battle back somehow,” said Sanders. “We’re in a slump.

“All of us are kind of angry. We’re just looking for a little of the bright side.”

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they host the Calgary Hitmen (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Oil Kings get back into action on Tuesday when they host the Regina Pats at Rogers Place. That contest is the team’s annual game where they host a number of local area schools so it starts at 11 a.m. local time.

As Sherwood Park sits just outside Edmonton’s eastern border, Guhle is playing for his birth family home area WHL team. He knows the potential his Oil Kings team has and wants to help them accomplish big goals like he did with the Raiders in 2019.

Kaiden Guhle (#4) and the Oil Kings enjoy their win on Saturday.

“Obviously, we want to go all the way,” said Guhle, who has five goals, 23 assists and a plus-eight rating in 29 games this season split between the Raiders and Oil Kings. “I think we kind of got a lot of good piece throughout the year.

“I think it is kind of win or bust for us. There are still a lot of new guys in the room still. We are still getting comfortable with everything.

“I think it is just win or bust for us.”

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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Fix-Wolansky sparks Oil Kings victory over Raiders

Trey Fix-Wolansky (#27) blocks a shot for the Oil Kings.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Trey Fix-Wolansky kick started the Edmonton Oil Kings when they needed it.

    Trailing the host Prince Albert Raiders 3-2 in a WHL regular season game on Friday night, Fix-Wolansky put his superhero cape on. While working on a power-play, the Oil Kings captain fired home a shot from the slot to even things up at 3-3 with 1:35 to play in the frame.

    He proceeded to strike for his second goal of the night with 39 seconds remaining in the second period burying a close in feed from centre Liam Keeler to put the Oil Kings ahead 4-3. From that point, the Oil Kings skated away with a 6-3 victory before 2,509 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre.

    Following the game, Fix-Wolansky said his two goals at the end of the second proved to be the turning point of the contest.

Trey Fix-Wolansky had two goals on Friday for the Oil Kings.

    “I think those were huge,” said Fix-Wolansky, whose team improved to 28-15-4-4 to remain first in the Centre Division. “Everybody was playing well at that point.

    “I think a couple of things weren’t going our way. Getting those goals and getting the momentum back that was huge for our group.”

    The draft selection of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets said he was at the right place at the right time, especially on his second tally.

    “Keels (Liam Keeler) found me backdoor and made a great pass, and I just tried to bury it,” said Fix-Wolansky, who leads the Oil Kings in scoring with 27 goals and 52 assists for 79 points. “I got a lot of help on those goals.

Trey Fix-Wolansky celebrates his second goal on Friday.

    “It really wasn’t all myself. It was good for other guys to get involved as well.”

    The Raiders were playing their first game at home since downing the Calgary Hitmen 7-3 back on Jan. 12 and entered Friday’s game after posting a 4-1-0-1 record on an extended six-game road trip.

    The hosts got out to a good start, when left-winger Cole Fonstad opened the game’s scoring at the 12:41 of the first period converting a backdoor feed from linemate Noah Gregor.

    Edmonton jumped ahead 2-1 scoring the first two goals of the second with tallies coming off the sticks of 16-year-old centre Jalen Luypen and offensive-defenceman Conner McDonald.

    With under four minutes to play in the second, the Raiders jumped back out in front 3-2 scoring two goals in a span of 81 seconds. Fonstad netted his second of the night and 20^th of the season to tie things up at 2-2, and captain Brayden Pachal fired home his 13^th of the campaign to give the Raiders a one-goal lead.

Todd Scott made 39 saves in goal for the Oil Kings on Friday.

    That set the stage for Fix-Wolansky to change direction of the contest moments later.

    “We talk about coming off a long road trip, and I guess we fell into that,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, whose club fell to 41-7-0-2 but still remains first overall in the WHL. “Parents weekend for some reason we have a tough time with that, so we fell into that.

    “Having said that, that is one thing. You can definitely control compete level, and I didn’t like our compete level. I just that we were easy to play against tonight.

    “You can leave all that other stuff out. We decide whether we want to take a hit to make a play, whether we want to drive the net, whether we want to battle and we choose not to tonight, and we paid the price.”

Cole Fonstad had a pair of goals for the Raiders.

    Any hopes of a Raiders comeback were doused at the 5:09 mark of the third, when McDonald rocketed home a shot from the right side boards for his second goal of the night to put the visitors up 5-3.

    That goal chased Raiders starting goaltender Ian Scott from the game having made 22 saves on 27 shots. Boston Bilous turned away all four shots he faced playing the rest of the way in relief.

    Vince Loschiavo scored into an empty net with 3:24 remaining to round out the scoring for Edmonton.

    Todd Scott turned away 39 shots in goal for the Oil Kings.

    Fonstad said it was disappointing to see how things rounded out for his side in the Raiders first game at home in almost three weeks and with the fact most of the parents of the Prince Albert players were in town to watch Friday’s game.

    “You can’t have that many negatives in a game and expect a good outcome,” said Fonstad, whose Raiders return to action on Saturday at 7 p.m. against the Moose Jaw Warriors. “We have a lot stuff to kind of put behind us, and we have to be ready to work tomorrow, or else we’re not going to get the outcome we want again.

Vince Loschiavo scored an empty-net goal for the Oil Kings.

    “We always love playing here. I think everyone was excited. It is too bad.”

    The Oil Kings head to Saskatoon on Saturday to face the Blades at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Friday marked the first time in three meetings the Oil Kings were able to beat the Raiders this season. Fix-Wolansky was pleased his club could break through and beat the Raiders.

    “It was super nice,” said Fix-Wolansky. “I thought we played them well the last two games.

“To get the win in this one, that was huge for us.”

    After the dust settled from Friday’s encounter, Habscheid said the best thing for his side is the fact they have to hit the ice right away to host the Warriors on Saturday.

The Oil Kings celebrate their victory over the Raiders on Friday night.

    “We can compete better than that,” said Habscheid. “We have a good character group.

“They will be better tomorrow.”

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.