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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Raiders’ Hannoun, Scott too hot for Giants to handle

Prince Albert wins 4-0, evens WHL title series 1-1

The Raiders celebrate a second period goal from Noah Gregor (#18).

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – When given a little nudge, Dante Hannoun admitted he does have some extra motivation when he plays the Vancouver Giants.
    “Maybe a little, because this is my hometown team,” said Hannoun, who is a standout overage centre with the Prince Albert Raiders. “Obviously, I have to step up a bit, and a lot of my family and friends are watching.”

    Hannoun is from Delta, B.C., which is part of a network of smaller centres that make of the Vancouver area.

    On Saturday before a sellout crowd of 3,289 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, Hannoun had a goal and two assists to power the Raiders to a 4-0 victory over the Giants in Game 2 of the WHL Championship series.

Dante Hannoun had a goal and two assists for the Raiders on Saturday.

    With the win, the Raiders evened up the best-of-seven set 1-1. Game 3 is set for Tuesday at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C., at 7 p.m. local time.

    In the two games played so far in the WHL final, Hannoun has two goals and three assists.

    He got things started for the Raiders just past the halfway point of the first period. Working on the forecheck in the Vancouver zone, Raiders power forward Parker Kelly got the puck on a Giants turnover.

    Kelly made a tight pass across the face of the Giants goal to Hannoun, and Hannoun tapped the puck into an open right side of the net to give the Raiders a 1-0 edge.

    Hannoun said he has enjoyed centring a line with Kelly at right wing and gritty Justin Nachbaur on left wing, which has allowed him to have some personal success.

    “I don’t think it is myself,” said Hannoun. “Everyone I’ve been playing with, we’ve been working off each other and reading off each other.

Parker Kelly (#27) drives hard to the Giants net.

    “I think that was the biggest part. Kels (Kelly) and Nacho (Nachbaur), they battle hard every night. They are battling down low.

    “Kels passed it out front, and it was just a little tap in.”

    Near the end of the opening frame, the Giants had a huge chance to pull even. Rookie right-winger Justin Sourdif, who turned 17-years-old in March, came down the right wing and got in alone on Raiders netminder Ian Scott.

    Sourdif cut across the front of the Prince Albert goal and tried to put a backhand shot past Scott. Scott turned away the chance to preserve the Raiders one-goal edge.

    He made 15 saves to pick up the shutout win in goal for the Raiders. The blank was Scott’s fourth of the post-season.

Giants goal David Tendeck plays the puck behind his own net.

    Scott’s sound effort came after he was a bit shaking making 21 saves in the Raiders 5-4 setback in Game 1 of the WHL final to the Giants on Friday.

    “It was definitely a good bounce back game,” said Scott. “The guys didn’t lose faith in me.

    “The sun came up this morning. Playoffs are going to be a roller-coaster, and you just have to find that even level.”

    At the 7:43 mark of the second, the Raiders extended their lead to 2-0, when Hannoun and Kelly combined to set up import defenceman Sergei Sapego for a goal.

    Hannoun and Kelly got the puck to Sapego at the top of the left faceoff circle, and the Belarusian blue-liner snipped home his third of the post-season.

    At the 10:39 mark of the second with the Raiders working on the power play, Hannoun got the puck to star overage centre Noah Gregor in the right slot, and Gregor quickly unloaded a shot into the Vancouver goal to give the Raiders a 3-0 lead.

The Raiders faithful cheers one of their team’s goals.

    “We were on our heels at the start of the hockey game,” said Giants head coach Michael Dyck. “We came back in spurts, but nothing sustained.

    “We knew they were going to respond. We knew they were going to come out hard, and they did. We needed a bigger push.”

    At the 2:16 mark of the third, the Giants thought they got on the scoreboard when Gregor hooked Vancouver star centre Davis Koch into Scott, and the puck crossed the goal-line of the Prince Albert net.

    No goal was awarded on the play as a quick whistle blew, but Gregor was sent to the penalty box for a hooking minor.

Ian Scott makes one of his 15 saves to pick up a shutout win on Saturday.

    Star right-winger Brett Leason rounded out the scoring for the Raiders with an empty-net goal with 1:21 remaining in the third.

    Giants veteran defenceman Alex Kannok Leipert said his squad can’t dwell too much on Saturday’s loss and remember Game 3 on Tuesday provides a fresh start.

    “We’ve been pretty resilient all year,” said Kannok Leipert. “We just have to press the reset button and comeback at it Tuesday with the right attitude and ready to respond.”

    David Tendeck turned away 30-of-33 shots to take the setback in goal for the Giants. Dyck said his squad needs to support their puck stopper better.

Giants RW Justin Sourdif was stoned on a big first period chance.

    “He (Tendeck) played well,” said Dyck. “He was solid, and we have to do a better job of insulating him.

    “We left him hung out to dry a few times.”

    The WHL title series between the Raiders and Giants was expected to be hotly contested.

    The Raiders finished first overall in the WHL regular season standings at 54-10-2-2 and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    The Giants placed second overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-3-2 record and are rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.

    Between action in the regular season and playoffs, Saturday’s contest marked the first time the Raiders beat the Giants in three tries.

    Giants physical forward Owen Hardy has thrown a number of big hits in the first two games of the series, and he said he wanted to keep dishing out the hits in the series.

The Raiders fans cheer another one of their team’s goals.

    “I feel that is how I make the most impact on the game,” said Hardy. “I think that is one of the biggest parts of my game, so that is what I like to keep doing.”

    The only down part for the Raiders on Saturday came in the second period, when offensive defenceman Max Martin blew a tire and fell awkwardly on his own into the boards. He left the game, and Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said Martin will be re-evaluated on Sunday.

    Habscheid was pleased with his club’s play on Saturday and believed his squad could have won Friday’s encounter too.

Sergei Sapego (#12) had a goal for the Raiders on Saturday.

    “(Friday) night, we thought we deserved a better fate,” said Habscheid. “It was just one of those games.

    “We just didn’t change too much. We thought there was still a little bit more in the gas tank that we thought we could give. They brought it tonight.

    “You saw what it was. It was a real good effort.”

    With the next three games of the series to be played in Langley, Habscheid said his Raiders could enjoy their win on Saturday night, but the squad would be focusing on getting back to work on Sunday.

    “Tomorrow is a new day, and the series is far from over,” said Habscheid. “They are a good team.

The Raiders celebrate pulling even in the WHL title series at 1-1.

    “We’re going into their building now. We feel good about our game but we are not going to get ahead of ourselves.”

    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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Tigers deliver win over Giants in Ridley’s 3,900th game

James Hamblin had three points for the Tigers on Wednesday.

    The Medicine Hat Tigers ensured a milestone night for team’s iconic play-by-play voice would be a memorable one.

    On Wednesday before 2,791 spectators at the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat, the Tigers slipped past the B.C. Division leading Vancouver Giants 4-3 in a back-and-forth WHL regular season clash. Captain James Hamblin had two goals and an assist to power the Tigers to their fourth straight win.

Medicine Hat has won all four of its outings since returning to action from the WHL Christmas break.

    Wednesday’s game marked the 3,900^th Tigers contest called by Bob Ridley, who is the team’s legendary play-by-play voice. Ridley is the only play-by-play voice the Tigers have had as they play through their 49^th season of existence.

    No one is close to Ridley’s mark for games called as the play-by-play voice of one hockey team at any level.

    To date, Ridley has called 3,474 of the Tigers 3,475 regular season games. His total also includes the one standings tiebreaker game the club appeared in, all of the Tigers 405 games in the WHL playoffs and all 20 of their contests in the Memorial Cup tournament.

    The Tigers have appeared in the Memorial Cup in 1973, 1987, 1988, 2004 and 2007 and won the event in 1987 and 1988.

Bob Ridley called his 3,900 game for the Tigers.

    As it stands already, someone could call 80 games on average between the regular season and playoffs each season for 48 seasons and still fall short of Ridley’s current total of 3,900 games called.
    For most of his broadcasting career, Ridley drove the team bus as well. He gave up those duties about four years back.

    If the Tigers make the WHL playoffs this season, Ridley would be targeted to reach 4,000 games near the end of next season, which would be the Tigers 50^th anniversary campaign.

    Wednesday’s victory allowed the Tigers to improve to 21-15-1-2, while the Giants, who still lead the B.C. Division, fell to 23-11-2 with a third consecutive loss.

    At the moment, the Tigers hold the first wildcard position in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 45 standings points. They hold a lead of seven points over the Calgary Hitmen (17-16-3-1) and nine points over the Brandon Wheat Kings (15-14-3-3).

    The Hitmen have two games in hand on the Tigers, and the Wheat Kings have four games in hand on Medicine Hat. At the moment, Brandon is sitting out of a playoff spot.

    Hamblin opened the game’s scoring at the 15:14 of the first period to allow the Tigers to head into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.

    Early in the second period, the Giants scored two goals 22 second apart from each other to go ahead 2-1 coming off the sticks of Davis Koch and Justin Sourdif. Following Sourdif’s goal, the Tigers called a timeout to settling things down on their side.

    With 5:15 remaining in the second, Hamblin scored his second of the night to force a 2-2 tie after the Tigers caused a turnover on the forecheck. Just 33 seconds after Hamblin tied the game, centre Elijah Brown potted his sixth goal of the season to give the Tigers a 3-2 edge.

Hayden Ostir scored the winning goal for the Tigers

    At the 8:48 mark of the third, right-winger Hayden Ostir scored for the Tigers to give the host side a 4-2 edge. Hamblin picked up an assist on Ostir’s goal.

    The Giants didn’t go away. With 8:21 remaining in the third, Lukas Svejkovsky scored for the Giants to cut the Tigers lead to 4-3.
    Vancouver pushed hard the rest of the way in search of the equalizer, but Tigers veteran 19-year-old goaltender Jordan Hollett, who was playing in his 100^th career WHL regular season game, slammed the door at that point.

    Hollett made 29 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers. David Tendeck turned away 32 shots to take the setback in goal for the Giants.

    The Tigers return to action on Friday, when they host the Kootenay Ice at 7:30 p.m. local time at the Canalta Centre.

    The Giants resume game action on Friday, when they travel to Lethbridge to face the Hurricanes at 7 p.m. local time at the Enmax Centre.

Shirley named assistant captain for Canada

Grace Shirley will be an assistant captain for Canada.

    Saskatoon Stars captain Grace Shirley was placed on the leadership group for Canada’s under-18 women’s team.

    On Monday, the 17-year-old centre was named an assistant captain for the team. Shirley is playing in her fourth full season in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League, and she leads the circuit in scoring with 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points in the current campaign.

    The Saskatoon product is the third all-time leading scorer in the history of the SFMAAAHL piling up 89 goals and 63 assists for 152 points in 100 career regular season games.

    Defender Maggie MacEachern, who is from Brooklin, Ont., will serve as Canada’s captain, and defender Alexie Guay, who is from Magog, Que., will be an assistant captain.

    Canada opens play at the under-18 women’s worlds in Obihiro, Japan, on Saturday against Sweden. The under-18 women’s worlds run through to Jan. 13.

    Shirley is playing in the under-18 women’s worlds for the second consecutive year for Canada.

    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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