Thundersbirds are WHL’s best Memorial Cup hope since 2014

Kyle Crnkovic had a hat trick for the Thunderbirds on Saturday.

If the Seattle Thunderbirds aren’t able to win the Memorial Cup, the WHL as a league might have to look into what supernatural forces it has to appease to be able to capture major junior hockey’s biggest prize.

When it comes to winning the storied trophy that is given to the CHL champion, the WHL as a league still seems to be haunted by the “Curse of the Drop.”

For the superstitious types, that event took place on May 25, 2008 after the WHL champion Spokane Chiefs downed the host Kitchener Rangers 4-1 in the Memorial Cup tournament’s championship game. It marked the second time the Chiefs captured the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions.

After winning the title in 2008, Chiefs captain Chris Bruton accepted the Memorial Cup. Bruton turned and was going to give the Memorial Cup to defenceman Trevor Glass. Glass, who was in his 19-year-old season at the time, was with the Medicine Hat Tigers the previous campaign when they won the WHL title and fell 3-1 in the Memorial Cup championship game to the host Vancouver Giants.

As Bruton reached out to hand the Memorial Cup to Glass, the trophy separated at the neck and fell to the ice to the shock of spectators in Kitchener, Ont.

Since that Chiefs win, only one WHL club has won the Memorial Cup coming with an Edmonton Oil Kings victory in 2014. Edmonton was playing to honour the memory of former player Kristians Pelss, who was with the Oil Kings 2012 WHL championship team and passed away in June of 2013 due to a recreation diving accident.

The WHL is currently in its longest drought as a league of not being able to win the Memorial Cup spanning six seasons from 2015 to 2019 and 2022. The Memorial Cup tournament wasn’t contested in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Nolan Allan had a goal for Seattle on Saturday.

The current drought saw WHL championship winning teams go on a stretch of losing 14 straight contests at the Memorial Cup tournament. That streak came to an end on June 22, 2022, when the Oil Kings downed the host Saint John Sea Dogs 4-3 in overtime in Saint John, N.B., as part of round robin play.

This year’s Thunderbirds WHL title winning squad is the deepest team from the western major junior circuit that has appeared in the Memorial Cup since the Oil Kings winner in 2014.

On Saturday, the Thunderbirds hit the ice at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, B.C., for their first action at this year’s Memorial Cup in round robin play. During that contest, the Thunderbirds showed off a microcosm of their positive traits that should serve them well in pursuit of a first CHL title in franchise history.

The Thunderbirds downed the OHL champion Peterborough Petes 6-3 in a clash that was tighter than the final score would suggest.

Peterborough skated out of the first period with a 1-0 lead off a breakaway goal by left-winger J.R. Avon. The Thunderbirds showed poise and didn’t panic. Just 39 seconds into the second, Seattle captain Lucas Ciona potted home a loose puck in the crease of the Peterborough net to even the score at 1-1.

With 4:07 remaining in the second, Petes centre Owen Beck scored a beauty on an end-to-end rush to put the OHL champions up 2-1. The Thunderbirds answered back 52 seconds later when 21-year-old star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic blew home a shot to the top left corner of the Peterborough net to even the score at 2-2.

After a tighter checking opening 40 minutes, the Thunderbirds blew the game wide open in the third. Crnkovic netted his second of the contest and star defenceman Nolan Allan potted a marker 82 seconds after that tally to give the Thunderbirds a 4-2 edge.

Lucas Ciona had a goal for Seattle on Saturday.

Allan, who has a signed three-year NHL entry-level contract with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, is relied on for his sound work defensively. He has offensive skill and showed it off sniping home a bad angle shot low in the Peterborough zone between the legs of Petes netminder Michael Simpson.

Petes 20-year-old right-winger Avery Hayes scored on the power play with 6:04 remaining in the third to cut the Seattle lead to 4-3. The Thunderbirds sealed victory with centre Jordan Gustafson scoring with 3:15 remaining in the third and Crnkovic picking up an empty-net tally to complete his hat trick with 1:34 remaining in the third to round out the 6-3 Seattle win.

Thomas Milic stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds. Simpson turned away 34-of-39 shots to take the setback in net for the Petes.

At the moment, the Thunderbirds are skating through their best campaign in team history. They topped the Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record.

The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records. In the WHL Playoffs, the Thunderbird proceeded to win the league title posting a 16-3 mark.

After falling to the Oil Kings in six games in the best-of-seven WHL final in 2022, the Thunderbirds additions via the trade route included Crnkovic, Allan, Brad Lambert, Dylan Guenther, Luke Prokop and Colton Dach. Seattle general manager Bil La Forge pushed all the chips to the centre of the table to win right now.

Dylan Guenther was a big trade pick up for the Thunderbirds.

The trade additions bolstered a Seattle side that returned 15 players this season who were on the club’s playoff roster in 2022. Some of the key returnees included Milic, Ciona, Gustafson, Jared Davidson, Reid Schaefer, Nico Myatovic, Kevin Korchinski and Jeremy Hanzel. Seattle also benefitted from Gracyn Sawchyn putting up a pile of points as a rookie.

Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette and the coaches on his staff were able to bring this group together creating a team in Seattle that can play any style of hockey you want to play. With all that noted, the Thunderbirds are still going to have to earn everything they get at the Memorial Cup.

The QMJHL champion Quebec Remparts opened the Memorial Cup in impressive fashion downing the host Kamloops Blazers 8-3 on Friday. The Remparts have put together their own impressive campaign finishing first overall in the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-12-1-2 record and were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Hockey legend Patrick Roy is the Remparts head coach and general manager. He is an icon in the province of Quebec being tabbed with the nickname “Saint Patrick.”

Roy is as ultra-competitive a person you will find, and his teams are always well prepared for opposing clubs. It is speculated this will be the 57-year-old’s last ride with the Remparts before he departs for a potential head coaching position in the NHL. That might give the Remparts another emotional edge to win the Memorial Cup.

On top of that, the Petes and Blazers could bounce back and still be factors in how the Memorial Cup plays out. Those clubs will meet Sunday at 3 p.m. local time at the Sandman Centre. The Thunderbirds and Remparts will go at on Monday at 6 p.m. local time at the Sandman Centre.

The Blazers could be the WHL club that ends that circuit’s Memorial Cup drought.

Kevin Korchinski has been a mainstay on defence for Seattle.

Still with the way things look at the moment, the Thunderbirds are the WHL’s best bet for capturing the top prize in major junior hockey.

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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Thunderbirds undeniably WHL’s best team in 2022-23

The Thunderbirds celebrate a goal in January.

The Seattle Thunderbirds are the WHL’s best team in 2022-23.

They had the best team on paper, and it translated to having the best team on the ice long before they won the Ed Chynoweth Cup. The fact they won the Ed Chynoweth Cup to become WHL champions on Friday just added a final stamp of approval.

Of course, the Kamloops Blazers will still have a chance to cast doubt about whether the Thunderbirds truly are the best in the WHL. The Blazers host the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion, and that event will start this coming Friday and runs through to June 4 at the Sandman Centre.

Seattle and Kamloops met in the WHL’s Western Conference Championship Series and the Thunderbirds took that best-of-seven set 4-2. If the Blazers win the Memorial Cup, they will be one of those asterisks CHL champions, because they weren’t able to win their league championship on their way to capturing major junior hockey’s biggest prize.

Still, the reason the Thunderbirds won the WHL championship was due to the fact they had the deepest team on the circuit. That allowed them to beat the Blazers in the Western Conference final for a second straight year before taking out the Winnipeg Ice in the league championship series in five games. The Ice had topped the WHL’s regular season standings in each of the past two seasons.

The seeds of the Thunderbirds run to winning the WHL title in 2022-23 were planted during the 2021-22 campaign. In 2021-22, the Thunderbirds finished seventh overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-18-4-2 record.

Thomas Milic is the Thunderbirds star netminder.

They advanced to the WHL Championship Series falling in six games to the Edmonton Oil Kings. During that post-season run, the Thunderbirds won six straight contests where they faced elimination from the WHL Playoffs.

After falling in the WHL final in 2021-22, the Thunderbirds went all in for the 2022-23 campaign. The obvious difference between this season and last season has been the load up.

Seattle traded multiple young players, prospects and draft selections in order to add star players that would put them over the top. After falling to the Oil Kings in the 2022 WHL final, the Thunderbirds additions via the trade route included Brad Lambert, Dylan Guenther, Luke Prokop, Nolan Allan, Kyle Crnkovic and Colton Dach.

Guenther and Prokop were key figures in helping the Oil Kings capture the WHL crown in 2021-22. The experience they had added to the experience the Thunderbirds gained in their post-season run in 2022.

Seattle returned 15 players this season who were on the club’s playoff roster in 2022. Included among the key returnees from the 2022 post-season run was netminder Thomas Milic. Milic backstopped Canada to a gold medal finish at world juniors this past January and was named the WHL playoff MVP as the Thunderbirds claimed the Ed Chynoweth Cup this past Friday.

Brad Lambert has scored key goals for the Thunderbirds.

Other key returnees included Jared Davidson, Jordan Gustafson, Reid Schaefer, Lucas Ciona, Kevin Korchinski and Jeremy Hanzel.

The returnees guaranteed the Thunderbirds would have a good shot at a top five finish in the WHL’s overall standings. Seattle also benefited from Nico Myatovic having a breakout year as a returnee and Gracyn Sawchyn putting up a pile of points as a rookie.

Credit has to be given to Thunderbirds general manager Bil La Forge and his scouting staff for knowing who they should add to the core mix of players they already had. La Forge was named the winner of the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as the WHL executive of the year for 2022-23.

La Forge and his scouting staff knew they couldn’t just add players who could statistically put up points. They looked to add players who where good character guys that could put up points that would be automatically welcomed in by the existing players.

One of the first players the Thunderbirds acquired was Crnkovic from the Saskatoon Blades back on August 30, 2022. During his 19-year-old season with the Blades in 2021-22, Crnkovic was an assistant captain who appeared in all of the team’s 68 regular season games recording 39 goals and 55 assists for 94 points.

Off the ice, Crnkovic was known as one of the Blades best ambassadors in the community. You would be hard pressed to find someone that disliked Crnkovic, and it was pretty safe to assume he would be accepted into the Thunderbirds dressing room.

Jared Davidson is a key member of the Thunderbirds core group.

Lambert, Guenther, Prokop, Allan and Dach are all high character guys too. Dach is a power forward who likes to be an agitator. When he is in your dressing room, you think he is the greatest teammate ever, but when he is an opponent, you wish you could run him over with a semi truck.

Prokop is known as the first WHL and CHL player to come out as gay. As he is signed by the NHL’s Nashville Predators, Prokop also became the first active player with an NHL contract to come out as gay.

After making his coming out announcement on July 19, 2021, you could tell Prokop was more comfortable in his own skin. Since that announcement, he has played the best hockey of his career and continues to steadily improve.

Prokop is arguably one of the best all-around defencemen in the WHL. He can play a physical game, a smart game, put up points or skate for massive minutes to ensure the defensive end is always under control. On top of that, Prokop has been popular with his teammate in every stop he has made in his hockey career.

Lambert and Guenther are talents who are NHL ready right now. Lambert spent the first half of the season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, who are an affiliate of the NHL’ Winnipeg Jets. His WHL rights were traded by the Blades to the Thunderbirds, and Jets elected to assign Lambert to a Seattle side projected to make a long post-season run.

Dylan Guenther has won two straight WHL titles.

Guenther spent the first half of the 2022-23 campaign with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes. After the Oil Kings traded his NHL rights to the Thunderbirds, the Coyotes assigned Guenther to the Seattle said anticipating he would be part of another long playoff run.

During the post-season, both Lambert and Guenther have played with heart skating with the Thunderbirds. They could probably get away with going through the motions, but they have shown they are driven to win championships in the post-season.

Allan focuses on perfecting his craft of being a defensive-defenceman. He has a signed NHL contract with the Chicago Blackhawks and knows he needs to be a good defensive-defenceman to have a long NHL career.

Still, Allan has skill offensively and can play multiple roles on the back end. He was the captain of the Prince Albert Raiders due to his ability to lead by example, and Seattle gave up a tonne of assets making a blockbuster deal with the Raiders on November 16, 2022 to get Allan.

Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette and the coaches on his staff were able to bring this group together creating a team in Seattle that can play any style of hockey you want to play.

Kevin Korchinski is one of Seattle’s star veteran defencemen.

The Thunderbirds topped the Western Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 54-11-1-2 record. The U.S. Division champions were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. Seattle’s 54 wins and standings points total of 111 points are new regular season club records.

While it is easy to talk about the Thunderbirds headline grabbers that came via the trade route, the career members of the team are still able to shine. That was seen when the Thunderbirds locked up the WHL Championship Series with a 3-1 victory over the Ice in Game 5 this past Friday before a sellout crowd of 6,202 spectators at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash.

Milic, who is a career member of the Thunderbirds and turned 20-years-old in April, made 30 saves to pick up the win in goal in that contest. Seattle’s first two goals came from centre Sam Popowich, who turns 20-years-old on Sunday, at even strength and Myatovic, who is 18-years-old on a penalty shot. Both Popowich and Myatovic have played their entire WHL careers with the Thunderbirds.

Crnkovic sealed the win with an empty-net goal with Guenther picking up an assist on that tally.

Kyle Crnkovic skates with the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

Going into this year’s Memorial Cup, the Thunderbirds are the WHL’s strongest representative at that event since the circuit’s last Memorial Cup winner in the Oil Kings from 2014. The Thunderbirds are stronger than their WHL title winning team from the 2016-17 campaign that featured Mathew Barzal and Ethan Bear as stars.

The Thunderbirds are the best in the WHL. Soon, we will see if they are the best in the entire CHL.

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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Bedard no deal means WHL trade rules work

Connor Bedard star status grew at world juniors.

The WHL trade deadline came and went on Tuesday, and Connor Bedard remained a member of the Regina Pats.

That development proved the WHL’s trade rules work.

Following the 2017-18 season, the WHL put in rules that teams aren’t allowed to trade 15-or-16-year-old players who have signed WHL contracts. The only time a 17-year-old player will be allowed to be traded is if that player requests a trade.

The 17-year-old player will have to approach the team’s general manager to ask for a trade, and a team won’t be able to make the first move asking a 17-year-old player to waive his no trade clause.

The rule changes were made in response to the large number of trades that were made involving younger players leading to the WHL’s trade deadline of January 10, 2018. There were cases where 15-year-old players were being dealt before they had a chance to play a regular season game with the club that originally drafted them.

The spirit of the rules were to allow those players the chance to play with the team that drafted them and not have to worry about changing schools, while they were still in high school. The request for trade provision was put in to allow players who felt they were slipping through the cracks with regards to a lack of playing time to get a fresh start with a new club. A reality of junior hockey is that happens.

What goes against those roles is trying to convince a 17-year-old phenom to be traded to get a huge return of assets.

Bedard’s presence in the WHL created the biggest challenge to those rules. Coming into the WHL for the 2020-21 season, Bedard was the first player to be granted exceptional player status to play in the WHL at age 15.

Connor Bedard leads the WHL in scoring

Now at age 17, Bedard, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds, has lived up to every bit of the tag of being a generational talent. His star status grew that much larger at this past world juniors, which concluded on January 5 with Bedard’s Team Canada side downing Czechia 3-2 in overtime in the gold medal final at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.

For that event co-hosted in Halifax and Moncton, N.B., Bedard topped the tourney in goals (nine), assists (14), points (23) and had the best plus-minus (+13). The North Vancouver, B.C., product was named the most valuable player at world juniors along with picking up accolades being named the event’s best forward and a tournament all-star.

His tallies for assists and points were new Canadian records for a single world juniors along with setting a new record for points in a tournament by any player aged 18 or younger. In 16 career games played at world juniors, Bedard set new Canadian career records at the event for goals (16) and points (36).

On WHL trade deadline day, Bedard was leading the league in scoring, and the Pats sat seventh overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference holding the conference’s second last playoff position, if the regular season ended that day.

Before leaving to join Canada’s world junior team, Bedard spoke to the media in Regina on December 7, 2022, and he said he wanted to remain with the Pats and play the entirety of his junior hockey career in Regina. Right there, that should have been the end of the story on the trade front.

Still, that didn’t seem to be enough for way too many WHL fans, WHL followers and media types who cover hockey at both the junior and professional levels. Chatter on social media and sports talk shows was that Bedard should be traded to a team near the top of the WHL’s overall standings that was in better position to contend for a league title and the CHL championship trophy - the Memorial Cup - for a king’s ransom of assets.

Often, those comments came with complete silence over the rules regarding trading high school aged players in the WHL.

Connor Bedard was the MVP of world juniors.

There were people that didn’t take Bedard or Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock, who said repeatedly he wasn’t going to trade Bedard, at their word. There were people out there who thought both Bedard and Paddock were lying and would believe what they saw if Bedard was indeed trade or not traded.

There were people who thought Pats management should be unscrupulous and convince Bedard he needed to be traded to a club at or near the top of the WHL overall standings to get a massive haul in assets and that the WHL office should look the other way when this all goes down. Due to the fact numerous unscrupulous things go down in all walks of life these days, there were people who believed that Bedard would be traded hook or crook.

Those types of talks or thoughts speak more about the people who envisioned things going down in an unscrupulous manner as opposed to Bedard and Paddock.

In Bedard’s short career in hockey and the seemly the six decades long career in the game of the 68-year-old Paddock, both have been straight shooters. It could be argued that Paddock is as straight of a shooter as you will ever find in the game of hockey.

Bedard wanted to remain with the Pats and the spirit of the rules in the WHL with regards to trading 17-year-old players was respected. This was a big win for the league, because it shows the rules that were put in place work.

Following Friday’s action in the WHL, the Pats sport a 20-19-1-1 and still sit seventh overall in the Eastern Conference. Bedard still leads the WHL in scoring totally 75 points coming off 34 goals and 41 assists to go with a plus-21 rating in 30 appearances with the Pats.

On Friday, NHL Central Scouting’s Mid-Term Rankings were released, and Bedard was listed as the top prospect among North American skaters for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, which will be held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 28 to 29. Barring something unforeseen, Bedard will be the first player selected in that draft.

Connor Bedard is likely skating in his final months as a WHLer.

Until then, Bedard makes the Pats a dangerous team. Even if the Pats make the WHL Playoffs with one of the bottom two seeds in the Eastern Conference, they can be a bracket buster. Bedard has the potential to will the Pats past superior opposition.

If Bedard is able to do that, it might go down as a bigger accomplishment than Lionel Messi willing Argentina to a World Cup title in soccer, which is known as football outside of Canada and the United States, this past December.

Over the long term, the Pats will reap benefits as being the only junior team Bedard played for before joining the NHL.

Overall, the right thing happened, when Bedard remained a member of the Pats at the WHL trade deadline. Again, fans of all type should get out to the rink and enjoy the Bedard phenom while it is still in the WHL.

Bedard bashes Blades in Pats 7-4 win

Connor Bedard, right, had five points for the Pats on Friday.

Not even any Friday the 13^th hexes could stop Connor Bedard.

The Regina Pats 17-year-old phenom centre had another spectacular night as the Pats posted a 7-4 victory over the visiting Saskatoon Blades on Friday night. Bedard recorded a hat trick that including the winning goal, two assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department in the Pats victory, which saw a season high crowd of 5,651 spectators turn out at the Brandt Centre.

With the five-point outburst, Bedard was able to surpass 200 career regular season points during his time in the WHL. In 107 career regular season games, Bedard has 97 goals and 106 assists for 203 points to go with a plus-30 rating.

Zack Stringer, Steel Quiring, Braxton Whitehead and Borya Valis all netted singles for the Pats. Czech import defenceman Stanislav Svozil collected four assists for Regina.

Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Brandon Lisowsky and Tanner Molendyk replied with singles for the Blades. Wong has a pair of assists to go with his goal.

Drew Sim stopped 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats (20-19-1-1). Ethan Chadwick turned away 18-of-25 shots taking the setback in net for the Blades (26-8-2-1).

The two sides were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, and the Pats held a 3-2 advantage after two periods.

The Pats return to action when they host the Portland Winterhawks (28-7-2-1) at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

The Blades are back at it on Saturday when they host the WHL leading Seattle Thunderbirds (30-6-1-1) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Thunderbirds slip past spirited Raiders 3-2

Ryder Ritchie had a pair of assists for the Raiders on Friday.

The Seattle Thunderbirds allowed star defenceman Nolan Allan to come out a winner on his return to Prince Albert.

On Friday night playing in front of a standing room crowd of 2,602 spectators at the 2,580 Art Hauser Centre, the Thunderbirds gutted out a 3-2 victory against a host Raiders squad that put in a spirited effort. Allan, who is a 19-year-old alternate captain with the Thunderbirds, started the current season as the Raiders captain before being dealt to Seattle in a blockbuster trade on November 16, 2022.

Allan appeared in seven regular season games for the Raiders in their 2018-19 WHL championship season as an associate player call up before joining the club full time in 2019-20. In 162 career regular season games with the Raiders, Allan recorded 14 goals, 49 assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.

The Davidson product, who helped Canada win gold at this past world juniors, was held without a point on Friday but was still named the game’s third star.

Overage star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic netted his 20^th goal of the season and recorded an assist to pace the Thunderbirds. Brad Lambert and Jordan Gustafson recorded singles for Seattle.

Lambert, who is a centre from Finland, was playing in his first career WHL game after being assigned to the Thunderbirds by the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. He had been playing with the Jets AHL affiliate in the Manitoba Moose.

Niall Crocker and Sloan Stanick replied for the Raiders. Ryder Ritchie, who is a 16-year-old rookie left-winger, picked up assists on both Prince Albert goals. In 33 appearances with the Raiders, Ritchie has 11 goals and 14 assists.

Thomas Milic stopped 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds (30-6-1-1). Max Hildebrand turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders (14-23-3).

After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the two sided were tied 1-1 after the second before the Thunderbirds squeaked out the victory.

The Raiders hit the road to take on the Oil Kings (6-34-1) on Saturday in Edmonton (7 p.m. local time, Rogers Place).

The Thunderbirds are also back in action on Saturday as they take on the Blades (26-8-2-1) in Saskatoon (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

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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Captain’s role fine fit for Raiders’ Herman

Evan Herman sets to fire a shot on goal for the Raiders.

Becoming the captain of the Prince Albert Raiders has brought out the best version of Evan Herman.

The 20-year-old centre was named the 47^th captain in the club’s history on November 18. Herman was tabbed with the captain’s role just two days after the Raiders dealt their former captain in Nolan Allan to the Seattle Thunderbirds in a blockbuster trade.

In the Raiders first four games with Herman as captain, they’ve posted a 3-1 record. Over that stretch, Herman, who is from The Pas, Man., has collected four goals, four assists and a plus-four rating in the plus-minus department.

With their burst over the past four games, the Raiders improved to 10-13-2 and sit tied with the Swift Current Broncos (11-11) with 22 points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

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

Raiders take big step playing full campaign in 2021-22

The Raiders get pumped up before their playoff game last Wednesday.

The Prince Albert Raiders’ biggest victory in the 2021-22 campaign might have been the fact everything felt normal by season’s end.

When the Raiders began the 2021-22 campaign, they were still traveling down an unknown highway that had some images of familiarity. After playing through a four-game pre-season schedule in September of 2021, the Raiders hosted the Regina Pats on October 1, 2021 at the Art Hauser Centre in the regular opener for both sides.

For the Raiders, they would be hosting their first regular season game since March 6, 2020, when they dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic would proceed to get its grips on North America to go along with the rest of the world. The 2019-20 WHL campaign was officially brought to an end on March 12, 2020.

No WHL playoffs were held in 2020 or 2021, and the Memorial Cup tournament to crown a CHL champion was nixed in both of those years too.

Reece Vitelli led the Raiders with 51 points.

Teams in the WHL had an abbreviated 2020-21 campaign. The Raiders took part in 24 regular season games in 2020-21 playing in a bubble environment in Regina against the league’s other four teams located in Saskatchewan and two clubs from Manitoba.

When the Raiders stepped on the ice to play the Pats on October 1, 2021, no one was certain the 2021-22 campaign would be played to a conclusion. The Raiders raised a banner for finishing first in the WHL’s East Division before falling 3-1 to the Pats in that contest played before 2,578 spectators at the Raiders storied 2,580-seat home rink.

As far as first impressions went, fans in “Hockey Town North” had to note this wasn’t the same Raiders team they last saw in person hit the ice in 2019-20 that topped the East Division with a 36-18-6-4 record. This was definitely not the same Raiders that finished first in the WHL’s regular season standings in 2018-19 with a dominant 54-10-2-2 record and went on to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions in the post-season.

It was obvious the Raiders roster was in a transition type reload state. With that said, fans were just happy to have the chance to watch Raiders hockey at the Art Hauser Centre that night during the loss to the Pats.

There were no guarantees the Raiders would get in all their regular season games.

Ozzy Wiesblatt was a holdover from the 2018-19 WHL title winner.

Since March 12, 2020, it has been hard to almost impossible in some cases to grade how any team in the WHL has performed due to all the twists and turns and adjustments that had to be made due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For a two-week period at the start of this past January, positive COVID-19 tests caused major disruptions causing rescheduling that saw games go on for two weeks after the original April 3 end date of the regular season. The Winnipeg Ice and Brandon Wheat Kings also postponed a number of home games originally schedule in January and the first half of February due to capacity restrictions that were brought into Manitoba to combat COVID-19.

Still, the Raiders and the WHL were able to navigate all those hurdles to date. The Raiders played a completed 68 game regular season posting a 28-35-4-1 regular season record to finish eighth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and capture the conference’s final playoff berth.

Prince Albert proceeded to fall 4-1 in a best-of-seven first round series to the Winnipeg Ice, who finished first overall in the WHL regular season standings with a 53-10-3-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. The Raiders campaign ended with an 8-2 loss to the Ice in Game 5 of their series on Friday in Winnipeg.

Nolan Allan anchored the Raiders back end.

Credit goes to general manager Curtis Hunt and head coach Marc Habscheid and his coaching staff for their efforts ensured the Raiders remained a team that could make the post-season. In the process, Habscheid moved into fifth place on the WHL’s career head coaching regular season wins list current sitting with 582 victories.

Credit goes to business manager Michael Scissons and the office staff for fact the Raiders averaged 2,334 spectators over their 34 home regular season games and 2,605 spectators for the team’s two home playoff dates.

During the ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Raiders office staffers took on unforeseen roles at various times to ensure there was a product on the ice and game days did happen.

At lot of good things happened on the ice for the team as well. The Raiders closed the regular season winning two straight must win games in order to qualify for the WHL Playoffs.

After star defenceman Kaiden Guhle was traded to the Edmonton Oil Kings on December 1, 2021, Nolan Allan, who was selected in the first round and 32^nd overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, assumed the role as the main force in the back end for the Raiders.

Landon Kosior, who is a 19-year-old veteran, broke out as an offensive defenceman collecting 45 points on 18 goals and 27 assists appearing in all the Raiders 68 regular season games.

Tikhon Chaika emerged as a legit solid starter.

Overage centre Reece Vitelli, who became the Raiders captain after Guhle was traded, had his most memorable season in the WHL. Vitelli topped the Raiders in scoring with 51 points coming off 25 goals and 26 assists, and all those statistical totals were career highs.

Overage defenceman Remy Aquilon provided a steady presence on the back end and posted career highs in goals (three), assists (24) and points (27).

Left-winger Evan Herman, who was playing through his 19-year-old campaign, showed he had a nose for the net leading the Raiders with 28 goals to go along with 19 assists appearing in all the Raiders 68 regular season games.

Rookie 18-year-old import netminder Tikhon Chaika, who is from Minsk, Belarus, emerged as a solid legit WHL starter. In 51 regular season appearances, Chaika posted a 22-21-4 record, a 2.79 goals against average, a .904 save percentage and three shutouts.

The Raiders do have a number of younger players that have the potential to take big steps in the future.

Do they have the roster that can win a WHL Championship or a Memorial Cup at the moment?

That answer to that is “no” for now. At the moment, those titles were still last awarded in 2019, and since March 12, 2020, no one could realistically determine when they would be awarded again.

The Raiders salute their fans at the Art Hauser Centre.

The immediate goal was to get on the ice and plan a complete campaign like the Raiders did.

Assuming world events don’t throw in any more curveballs, the steps to building a team capable of capturing the WHL and CHL titles can now start in a more honest fashion.

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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Allan ensures Raiders playoff push stays alive

Defenceman picks up four points in 6-1 win

Nolan Allan collected four points for the Raiders on Saturday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Nolan Allan made certain his Prince Albert Raiders stayed alive as far as a playoff push is concerned as the WHL regular season draws to a close.

On Saturday night, the 18-year-old standout defenceman recorded one goal and three assists to power the Raiders to a 6-1 victory over the Regina Pats before a season high crowd of 3,040 fans at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The win allows the Raiders hopes of chasing down a WHL playoff berth to remain very much alive.

The triumph over the Pats was a big bounce back effort for the Raiders, who dropped a 4-2 decision one night earlier on home ice to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Nolan Allan and his Raiders stayed alive in the WHL playoff chase.

“We were more ready to go tonight I think,” said Allan, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. “We weren’t real happy with our game against Brandon last night.

“We came in prepared today and got the job done. It was just our mindset. We are do or die right now.

“Everyone has to bring more. We need every inch we can get. We have to stick to that mentality and play that way every night.”

With the victory, the Raiders to improve to 26-33-4-1 to jump into ninth place in the WHL’s Eastern Conference standings with 57 points to sit one point ahead of the 24-31-6-2 Calgary Hitmen.

Nolan Allan scored a key second period goal on Saturday.

The Raiders trail the 26-32-5-2 Swift Current Broncos by two points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

The Pats fell to 24-33-3-2 with Saturday’s setback to the Raiders. Regina remains 11^th overall in the Eastern Conference six points behind the Broncos for the final playoff berth in the conference.

The Lethbridge Hurricanes gave themselves a little breathing room when it comes to locking up a playoff berth posting a 6-1 road victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat on Saturday. The Hurricanes improved to 29-30-3-1 to sit three points ahead of the Broncos for seventh in the Eastern Conference.

The Pats have six games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Hurricanes and Hitmen have five contests remaining on their slates, the Raiders have four games left on their schedule and the Broncos are set to hit the ice for three more contests this season.

Keaton Sorensen scored the Raiders first goal on Saturday.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said he liked how his players took ownership when it came to playing well in Saturday’s game with the Pats.

“That was all on the players,” said Habscheid. “We had one power play meeting before the game.

“It was time they took over the show. In the end, the players have to own it, and they owned it tonight. They deserved the benefits.”

Just 2:12 into the opening frame, the Raiders jumped ahead 1-0 on a goal from left-winger Keaton Sorensen. Sorensen entered the Regina zone on a rush down the right-wing, cut in close to the Pats goal and tucked home his 10^th tally of the season.

Connor Bedard fires home his breakaway goal for the Pats.

With 7:01 remaining in the opening frame, Pats 16-year-old phenom centre Connor Bedard snapped home his 45^th tally of the season on a short-handed breakaway glove side on Raiders import rookie netminder Tikhon Chaika to even the score at 1-1.

Bedard sprung himself on the breakaway intercepting a pass in his own zone from Allan, who was working the point.

On top of evening the score of the contest at 1-1, Bedard tied the Pats record for most goals in a season by a 16-year-old matching the 45 markers former NHLer Jeff Friesen put up in the 1992-93 campaign.

Reece Vitelli scored the winning goal for the Raiders.

While the Pats got even on the scoreboard, Habscheid was pleased to see Allan didn’t get down on himself after Bedard scored.

“It was important the way he (Allan) responded after that first goal,” said Habscheid. “(Connor) Bedard is a pretty good player.

“You can say it was a lucky play, but really it wasn’t. I just like the way Nolan responded.”

The opening frame had an intense playoff feel to it where the Pats held an 11-9 edge in shots on goal, and both sides brought some physical play.

The Raiders started to gain an edge in the second period and ultimately captured the games momentum scoring two goals in a span of seven seconds to go up 3-1 with just under five minutes to play in the frame.

The Raiders celebrate Nolan Allan’s second period goal.

With 4:52 remaining in the third, Raiders captain Reece Vitelli blew home a midrange shot for a power-play goal that put the Raiders up 2-1. Allan and centre Evan Herman combined to set Vitelli up for the one-time chance that resulted in the power-play tally.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Vitelli won the draw to Allan. Allan zipped down the right wing into the Regina zone and banked home a bad angle shot to give the Raiders their 3-1 advantage just seven seconds after Vitelli’s goal.

Allan said that two-goal spark proved to be important in allowing the Raiders to ultimately take the game.

“It was big,” said Allan, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 184 pounds. “I think it turned the momentum our way.

The Raiders celebrate an Evan Herman power-play goal.

“We obviously got a couple of more on the power play to kind of put them to bed. Those were huge.”

Just 41 seconds in the third, the Raiders struck again on the power play with offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior firing home a point shot to post his 18^th goal of the season to give the hosts a 4-1 advantage. Allan picked up his second assist of the night on Kosior’s tally.

At the 9:04 mark of the third, Allan and Vitelli combined to set up Herman for the Raiders third power-play goal of the night. Herman tucked home his 23^rd goal of the season from the centre left side of the Regina goal.

Eric Johnston (#3) scored the Raiders last goal on Saturday.

The Raiders went 3-for-8 on the power play on Saturday, while the Pats were unable to capitalize with four chances with the man advantage.

Rookie defenceman Eric Johnston scored a point shot goal to round out the 6-1 final for the host side.

Chaika stopped 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. 

Drew Sim turned away 22 shots to take the setback in net for the Pats.

When asked about his four-point game, Allan chuckled and deadpanned that it really wasn’t that big of a deal.

“I guess some of those assists were just secondary assists,” said Allan. “They are not really that nice.

The Raiders salute their fans after their win on Saturday.

“It is whatever. We got the win is the main thing. It was a huge two points against this team.”

The Pats now get back into action on Tuesday when they travel to Brandon to face the Wheat Kings (7 p.m. local time, Westman Place).

The Raiders are off until this coming Friday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on their archrivals the Blades (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

Allan said his squad has to keep up the urgency going forward.

“It is do or die,” said Allan. “We pretty much have to win all of our games here.

“Every night you are putting everything on the line. That is just the mentality that we need that we are going to have going forward to try and get into playoffs here.”

Injury ends season for Raiders’ Wiesblatt

Ozzy Wiesblatt is out for the rest of the season due to injury.

On Saturday afternoon, the Prince Albert Raiders announced star forward Ozzy Wiesblatt has been brought to an end due to an upper body injury.

A decision was made to shutdown Wiesblatt through consultation of the doctors from the Raiders and the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. The Calgary, Alta., product, who turned 20-years-old earlier this month, has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Sharks.

The Sharks selected Wiesblatt in the first round and 31^st overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Wiesblatt last suited up for the Raiders on March 12, when they downed the Blades at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon 1-0.

With 3.8 seconds remaining in the first period of that contest, Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart nailed Raiders left-winger Sloan Stanick hard into the right wing boards in the Prince Albert zone by the blue-line. Wiesblatt took exception to the hit and engaged Rhinehart in a fight.

The two had a short fight with Rhinehart getting in the majority of the hard shots. Wiesblatt left the game and did not return appearing to favour his left wrist.

Wiesblatt appeared in 43 games with the Raiders this season posting 10 goals, 31 assists and a minus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

Before leaving Prince Albert, Wiesblatt was a guest of the 900 CKBI post-game show in the Ches Leach Lounge hosted in front of fans following the Raiders 6-1 home ice victory over the Regina Pats.

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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Nightmare second does in Raiders against Broncos

Raiders D Nolan Allan, left, and Broncos C Mathew Ward chase the puck.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - A delete the video type second period did in the Prince Albert Raiders.

The Raiders went into the second frame of a WHL regular season contest locked in a 2-2 tie with the visiting Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday night. The Broncos rolled off three goals in the second period to power their way to a 6-3 victory to disappoint most of 2,146 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre.

Raiders 19-year-old centre Evan Herman said setbacks like the one his club experienced on Wednesday to the Broncos are tough to take. Both Raiders and Broncos are part of a group of five teams battling for the final two playoff berths in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Isaac Poulter, left, makes one of his 38 saves for the Broncos.

When it comes to the playoff race, Herman said you can feel the urgency in games like the one against the Broncos.

“These are four point games,” said Herman. “It is really tight in the standings.

“There is not much more to say than that. That was a must win for us. When you let that one go, it is even more of an uphill battle here to close in on the final stretch.”

The Raiders came into Wednesday’s gave having posted four wins and an overtime setback in their five previous outings. While the Prince Albert side had been rolling, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid his squad came down to earth in the loss to the Broncos.

Kayden Sadhra-Kang scored the Broncos first goal on Wednesday.

“Sometimes you’ll get a thud,” said Habscheid. “Tonight was the thud I thought.

“I thought we were ready, but their pucks found a way in, and we made some just horrendous mistakes and ended up in our net.”

The opening 20 minutes of Wednesday’s contest were played in a back-and-forth fashion.

Raiders right-winger Niall Crocker had a chance early in the first to put the hosts ahead but he was stopped in alone in close by Broncos overage netminder Isaac Poulter.

Shortly past the midway point of the first, Broncos right-winger Raphael Pelletier wired a shot from the left boards off the post of the Prince Albert goal.

Evan Herman gave the Raiders a short-lived lead.

The Broncos broke through on the scoreboard at the 11:31 mark of the first. Pinching Broncos defenceman Kayden Sadhra-Kang fired home a shot from the left slot after collecting a rebound from a shot taken by Pelletier.

About two-and-a-half minutes later, the Raiders evened the score at 1-1, when left-winger Sloan Stanick potted his 18^th goal of the season off a net scramble.

With 4:14 remaining in the first, things got testy as Raiders centre Hayden Pakkala hit a Swift Current player from behind into the boards in the Broncos zone. Broncos defenceman Sam McGinley immediately came in and hit Pakkala from behind and a scrum ensued.

During the scrum, Poulter came into the scrum and grabbed a Raiders player.

Carter Stebbings scored the Broncos second goal on Wednesday.

Pakkala was given a major for checking from behind and a game misconduct. His major penalty will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

McGinley was given a cross-checking minor and a 10-minute misconduct, and Poulter got a minor for leaving his crease.

On the ensuing Raiders four-versus-three power play, Herman one-timed a set up pass from offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.

Just 44 seconds later, the Broncos evened the score at 2-2, when Swift Current right-winger Carter Stebbings fired home a power-play goal off a rush down the right wing on a five-on-four man advantage.

The Broncos celebrate the first of two Karson King (#18) goals.

“We made mistakes that we just can’t from older guys,” said Habscheid. “It is an interesting league, because in the NHL you get four or five years difference it is not a big deal, but in junior it is.

“It is a 19 and 20-year-old league, and you need those guys to play. We had some older guys that didn’t play worth a darn tonight. We need them.

“They have to play better.”

In the second, the Broncos hit high gear while the wheels fell off for the Raiders. Just over six minutes into the second, Broncos 17-year-old rookie right-winger Karson King scored two goals coming 11 second apart from each other to put the visitors up 4-2.

Max Hildebrand saw relief duty in goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders pulled import rookie netminder Tikhon Chaika after King’s second tally. Chaika turned away 8-of-12 shots fired his way to take the loss in goal for the Raiders (23-29-3-1). Max Hildebrand played the rest of the way in relief for the Raiders stopping 8-of-9 shots fired his way.

With 6:19 remaining in the second, the Broncos stuck for their second power-play goal of the contest. Standout Swift Current centre Mathew Ward fired home a shot from the right boards to extend the Broncos lead to 5-2.

Habscheid said the Raiders didn’t get the effort they needed from their goaltending or defence on Wednesday.

“He (Chaika) wasn’t very good,” said Habscheid. “Hilty (Max Hildebrand) let one in that wasn’t very good, and I thought four of our D were terrible to be quite honest.

Raphael Pelletier scored an empty-net goal for the Broncos.

“Two were real good. Out of the other four, one was really bad tonight. It was just not real good timing.”

Nolan Allan rounded out the Raiders scoring netting his fifth of the season with 3:16 remaining in the third. Pelletier closed out the Broncos scoring with an empty-net goal with 62 seconds remaining in the third.

Poulter turned away 38 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Broncos (21-30-5-2).

The Broncos get back at it on Friday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers (7 p.m., Innovation Credit Union i-Plex).

The Broncos celebrate their win on Wednesday.

The Raiders are off until on Saturday when they host their archrivals the Saskatoon Blades (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre). Herman is expecting his Raiders will have a strong bounce back effort against the Blades.

“They are our rival,” said Herman. “Every time we play our biggest rival, it should be pretty easy to get yourself psyched up for the game.

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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