Raiders wise in keeping faith in Hildebrand

Max Hildebrand in action for the Raiders earlier this season.

Max Hildebrand is still giving the Prince Albert Raiders a chance to win every night.

The 20-year-old netminder has been the steady hand for a Raiders team that is working towards finding a new identity in the 2024-25 campaign. In the off-season and at the start of this season, the Raiders made changes with their roster electing to go with a number of younger players and made tweaks through trades looking to create more offence.

The deals the Raiders made on the trade front along with a key graduate departure saw them go without five players who played the bulk of the past two seasons with the team making up a key part of the club’s core. The key graduate was star left-winger Sloan Stanick, who led the Raiders last season in scoring with 84 points coming off 30 goals and 54 assists.

The biggest returnee for the Raiders was Hildebrand. At the moment, his statistics don’t look as flashy as they did last season.

So far this season in 15 appearances, Hildebrand has recorded a 6-6-2 record, a 3.79 goals against average and a .893 save percentage. Last season, Hildebrand posted a 25-20-4 record, a 2.88 goals against average, a .907 save percentage and two shutouts.

What the statistics don’t show is Hildebrand has been as sharp as ever. With the Raiders going through growing pains in trying to find a new identity, Hildebrand has faced more quality scoring chances than he has likely at any point during his time in Prince Albert since joining the Raiders full time part way through the 2021-22 campaign.

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

Raiders HC Truitt said return to playoffs huge for club

20-year-olds made impact, future bright for returnees

The Raiders celebrate a goal on April 2 at the Art Hauser Centre.

Jeff Truitt said the 2023-24 campaign was a season of development for his Prince Albert Raiders.

The Raiders head coach said that due to coming into the campaign with a younger group the focus for the season was on establishing culture. Prince Albert ultimately played well enough to post a 31-32-2-3 record to finish eighth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and capture the conference’s final playoff berth.

The Raiders posted their record even with having to play their archrivals the Saskatoon Blades 10 times in the regular season, and the Blades finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 50-13-2-3 mark that included going 7-2-0-1 against the Raiders. In the WHL Playoffs taking on the Blades in a best-of-seven first round series, the Raiders claimed Game 1 by a 4-3 score on March 28 in Saskatoon before the Blades claimed victory in the next four straight contests to take the set 4-1.

Prince Albert’s campaign came to an end on Friday with a 6-2 loss in Game 5 of that series to the Blades in Saskatoon.

“Getting into the playoffs, it was a real good education for everybody,” said Truitt. “I feel bad for our 20-year-olds.

Jacob Hoffrogge joined the Raiders on October 7, 2023.

“That ends their season. For the rest of the guys in this group, it was a real good education about what it takes to win at this level.”

Due to the 20-year-old shuffle that happens annually in the WHL as each team can only have three players in that age group. Star left-winger Sloan Stanick was the most tenured player on the team in that age group arriving in Prince Albert early in the 2021-22 campaign in a very early season trade with the Regina Pats.

The Raiders two other 20-year-old players actually didn’t start the 2023-24 campaign with the club. Defenceman Jacob Hoffrogge came to the Raiders in a trade on October 7, 2023 with the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Centre Turner McMillen was released by the Kelowna Rockets on October 11, 2023. Just two days after that release, McMillen was added to the roster of the Estevan Bruins joining the junior A ranks of the SJHL.  He returned to the major junior ranks being added to the Raiders roster on January 5.

Hoffrogge had one assist in three games with the Oil Kings in the 2023-24 campaign before joining the Raiders. In 60 regular season games with the Raiders, Hoffrogge recorded one goal and 17 assists. The Saskatoon product had one assist in the Raiders five post-season contests.

Turner McMillen joined the Raiders on January 5.

“Jacob was just a steady guy nothing flashy or anything like that,” said Truitt. “He is a tremendous skater that helped out with our younger guys kind of taking care of (Doogan) Pederson and (Tyrone) Sobry back there a little bit.

“You can’t ask much more from a 20-year-old that way.”

McMillen, who is an alumnus of the Prince Albert Mintos under-18 AAA team, had two goals and two assists in six games with the Rockets before being released. The Cairevale, Sask., product posted five goals and five assists in 11 games with the Bruins.

In 31 regular season games with the Raiders, McMillan had seven goals and 11 assists. He was held off the score sheet in the Raiders five post-season outings.

“We picked him (McMillan) up, and he came in and did a tremendous job,” said Truitt. “He is a good player.

“He plays with some power. He takes the body. He can shoot.

Sloan Stanick (#23) lead the Raiders with 84 points in 2023-24.

“He has that 20-year-old little bit of savvy too as well, which is great.”

Stanick, who is from Rapid City, Man., had an outstanding season leading the Raiders in scoring with 84 points coming off 30 goals and 54 assists appearing in all of the team’s 68 regular season contests. He had four assists in the Raiders five post-season games.

In 196 career regular season games with the Raiders, Stanick posted 81 goals and 112 assists for 193 points.

“Sloan Stanick again is just a tremendous player that we’re hoping that he gets a pro opportunity,” said Truitt.

Looking towards next season, the Raiders are going to return a solid core groups with one more season of experience under their collective belts. Barring any trade activity, that group will contain star right-winger Ryder Ritchie, who will be 18-years-old, offensive-defenceman Justice Christensen, who will be 19-years-old and star netminder Max Hildebrand, who will be 20-years-old.

“That is going to be the nucleus of our team,” said Truitt. “(Terrell) Goldsmith is in there as well.

The Raiders contemplate their campaign coming to an end on Friday.

“There are lots of them. Aiden Oiring has been a tremendous player for us as well. We like the pieces that we have coming back, and we’ll add to it with some of our younger guys.”

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Armstrong “Hulks up” for Blades

Scores hat trick and OT winner in Game 3 against Raiders

Easton Armstrong (#27) scores the OT winner for the Blades.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - Easton Armstrong was 1980s Hulk Hogan, and his Saskatoon Blades followed his lead.

On Tuesday night at the Art Hauser Centre, Armstrong and the Blades took on their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders in Game 3 of a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs. Like a 1980s Hulk Hogan match in the WWE, Armstrong and the Blades came out on fire.

Armstrong, the Blades star overage left-winger from Los Angeles, Calif., scored twice to push the Blades out to a 2-0 lead holding a 16-4 edge in shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes. Like a Hulk Hogan 1980s match, the opponent then takes control of the situation.

Easton Armstrong celebrates scoring the OT winner for the Blades.

The Raiders outscored the Blades 3-1 and shots on goal were even 17-17 over the next two periods. With 5:38 remaining in the third, Raiders 18-year-old centre Aiden Oiring slipped in the equalizer from just off to the right of the Saskatoon net to force a 3-3 tie and ultimately overtime.

At that point in a 1980’s Hulk Hogan match, Hogan “Hulks up,” hits his foe with three straight punches, either body slams or knocks his foe to the canvas with a foot to the jaw and proceeds to hit the leg drop for the win.

Armstrong and the Blades proceeded to “Hulk up” having 58 seconds of power play time to work with at the start of the extra session. Just 23 seconds into overtime, Blades captain Trevor Wong centred a pass from the left boards in the Prince Albert zone to Armstrong in front of the Raiders net. Armstrong deflected the winner past Raiders star netminder Max Hildebrand to give the Blades a 4-3 victory and a 2-1 lead in the series.

The Blades mob Easton Armstrong after he scores his OT winner.

With the Blades playing on the road in a rink where they are seen as the most hated visiting club, it felt like a victory by 1990s Hulk Hogan when he was leading the NWO in WCW. The standing room crowd of 2,930 spectators in the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre rained down boos.

The reaction was like 1990s Hulk Hogan in the NWO getting away with hitting an opponent in the head with a chair shot to pick up the victory.

Of course, the gathering of Blades supporters that made their way to the game were elated with the result. Had that outcome happened at the Blades home rink in the SaskTel Centre, the celebration would have been like a 1980s Hulk Hogan win in the WWE with Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” playing in place of Rick Derringer’s “Real American.”

Easton Armstrong had a hat trick for the Blades on Tuesday.

Outside of the comparisons to the unreal world of professional wrestling, Tuesday’s game was a huge win for the Blades and a heartbreaker for the Raiders. 

The Raiders had to come away lamenting their errors and missed chances which could have easily reversed the result of the Game 3 clash and given the Prince Albert side that much more belief and extra gas in trying to manufacture a major post-season upset.

The Blades finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 50-13-2-3 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. The Raiders entered the WHL Playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 31-32-2-3 mark.

Krzysztof Macias had the Raiders first goal on Tuesday.

While the Blades controlled play in the opening 20 minutes, they build their 2-0 lead on two gaffs by Raiders players.

At the 5:56 mark of the second, Raiders veteran left-winger Niall Crocker put a blind backhand pass from the right boards down across his own blue-line, and the puck was picked off by Armstrong. Armstrong zipped into the Prince Albert zone and tucked home his second of the post-season to put the Blades up 1-0.

Just over three minutes later, the Blades were pressing in the Prince Albert zone on the forecheck. Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov was pressuring Raiders overage defenceman Jacob Hoffrogge.

Ryder Ritchie had the Raiders second goal on Tuesday.

Hoffrogge lost the puck to Armstrong, who was positioned at the right side of the Prince Albert net. Armstrong quickly popped his second of the contest to give the Blades a 2-0 at the 9:03 mark of the opening frame.

Late in the first, the Raiders almost got a traction moment. Blades 19-year-old defensive-defenceman John Babcock gave away the puck in his own zone to Raiders star 20-year-old left-winger Sloan Stanick. Stanick wasn’t able to cash in on the gift sliding a shot past the Saskatoon net.

Early in the second, Raiders 19-year-old import left-winger Krzysztof Macias came through with a big traction moment for his side. Macias broke into the Saskatoon zone down the right wing, cut around the Blades defence and the front of the Saskatoon net and popped home his first of the post-season to cut the Blades lead to 2-1 at the 2:51 mark of the frame.

Aiden Oiring had the goal that forced overtime on Tuesday.

The host side proceeded to even the score 2-2 at the 11:32 mark of the second on the power play. Stanick had the puck on the left wing boards, and he passed it across the front of the Saskatoon net to Raiders star 17-year-old right-winger Ryder Ritchie by the right wing boards. Ritchie wired home his second of the post-season for the equalizer.

Before the second period ended, the Blades went back out in front off another Raiders turnover. Raiders captain Eric Johnston had the puck behind his own icing line and was pressured by Armstrong.

Johnston put a blind backhand pass up the right wing, which was picked off by Blades captain Trevor Wong. Wong quickly fired home his first of the playoffs to put the Blades in front 3-2 with 2:47 remaining in the second.

Sloan Stanick had two assists for the Raiders on Tuesday.

Before Oiring potted his equalizer, the Raiders had a number of big chances to hit the scoreboard before that moment. Offensive-defenceman Justice Christensen was stopped alone right in front of the goal by Blades breakout rookie netminder Evan Gardner.

Ritchie proceeded to fire a drive off the post, Johnston was denied by a Gardner glove save on a screen shot attempt, and Gardner made a key pad save off Macias.

After Oiring tied the game, Stanick was hit with a tripping call with 62 seconds remaining in the third. 

The Blades power play that had been scoreless in five attempts to that point in the contest was due. 

Trevor Wong scored the Blades third goal on Tuesday.

The sixth time with the man advantage was the charm with Armstrong getting his well-executed winner in overtime.

Hildebrand turned away 31 shots to take the extra time setback in net for the Raiders. Evan Gardner stopped 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades.

Stanick had a pair of assists for the Raiders. Ritchie had a helper to go with his goal.

The Raiders were 1-for-5 on the power play, and the Blades were 1-for-6 with the man advantage.

The two squads go at it again in Game 4 on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

The thrill of sudden victory belonged to the Blades on Tuesday.

There could still be a long way to go in this rivalry series, and we will see who next will step into the hero’s role like Armstrong did on Tuesday night for the Blades.

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Raiders’ Hildebrand robs Blades with 41-save sizzler

Prince Albert upsets Saskatoon 4-3 in Game 1

Raiders G Max Hildebrand stops Blades captain Trevor Wong.

Max Hildebrand should have been hauled away by the Saskatoon Police Service for grand larceny.

However, Saskatoon’s top cop in Patrick Nogier is now the chief of the Prince Albert Police Service, so that means Hildebrand has the freedom to be as heroic as he wants as a goalie. On Thursday night at the SaskTel Centre, Hildebrand was sensational making 41 saves helping his heavy underdog Prince Albert Raiders down their archrivals in the host Saskatoon Blades 4-3.

Most of the 6,757 spectators in attendance exited the building in stunned silence outside of the sizable contingent that came down from Prince Albert to support the Raiders. The win allowed the Raiders to take the opening contest in a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs against the Blades. The two sides go at it again in Game 2 on Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Max Hildebrand (#30) makes a pad save on Egor Sidorov.

The Blades enter the series having finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 50-13-2-3 record. The Raiders came into the series capturing eighth place and the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 31-32-2-3 mark. Prince Albert placed 14^th in the WHL’s overall standings.

The two sides started out Thursday’s game playing fairly evenly. With 8:41 remaining in the first, the Blades held a slim 5-4 edge in shots on goal.

Max Hildebrand made 41 saves to power the Raiders to victory.

The host side proceeded to on come with huge pressure forcing Hildebrand to make a number of big saves. On one sequence in a short time span, Hildebrand stoned Blades centre Lukas Hansen on a wraparound, robbed left-winger Hudson Kibblewhite at the right side of the goal and put up a wall on right-winger Vaughn Watterodt from the front of the Raiders net.

With 20.2 seconds remaining in the first, the Blades finally broke through on the scoreboard. While working on the power play, Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov got the puck on the right side boards from offensive –defenceman Tanner Molendyk.

Sidorov skated just pass the right faceoff dot and snapped home the game’s opening goal to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.

Max Hildebrand pushes a puck out of the way of harm.

From that point, it appeared the Blades were going to roll.

Just 59 seconds into the second, Blades import star right-winger Alexander Suzdalev found himself alone at the left side of the Prince Albert net. Suzdalev slid a shot between the legs of Hildebrand to put the hosts up 2-0.

On the play, Suzdalev got one handed clipped in the face by the stick belonging to Raiders star left-winger Sloan Stanick. Stanick was given a double minor for high sticking which will be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The first half of the double minor was eaten up on Suzdalev’s goal as a delayed penalty tally. The Blades were unable to increase their lead on the second half of the double minor.

The Raiders proceeded to put the brakes on the Blades momentum with a huge push back. At the 8:41 mark of the second, Raiders 18-year-old centre Aiden Oiring fired a midrange shot past Blades star netminder Austin Elliott to cut the Blades lead to 2-1. Oiring’s drive was the Raiders seventh shot on goal of the contest.

Max Hildebrand, left, and Sloan Stanick share a fun moment.

With 9:07 remaining in the second, Raiders 19-year-old defenceman Easton Kovacs floated a long shot from the left boards that deflected off a Blades skater past Elliott to even the score 2-2. Kovacs’ tally came on the Raiders eighth shot of the game.

A short time later, the Raiders found themselves on the power play after the Blades were penalized for having too many men on the ice. On that power play, Raiders star right-winger Ryder Ritchie wired the go-ahead goal past Elliott to put the visitors up 3-2. An initial shot taken by Stanick deflected off a Blades player to Ritchie in a prime scoring spot, and Ritchie made no mistake in giving the Raiders the lead.

The Blades attempted to push back.

The Raiders and Blades engage in a scrum.

Early in the third, Molendyk placed a shot on the Prince Albert goal through a screen that Hildebrand was somehow able to see and make a glove save on to keep the Raiders in the lead. A short time later, Hildebrand turned away Blades veteran winger Tyler Parr on a prime scoring chance after Parr made a slick toe-drag move.

At the 8:13 mark of the third, the Raiders pushed their edge out to 4-2 scoring on the power play. Ritchie took a shot from the right side of the Blades net that Elliott stopped, but Raiders 19-year-old right-winger Niall Crocker popped home the rebound from the front of the Saskatoon net to give the visitors their two-goal edge.

Egor Sidorov fires home the Blades first goal on Thursday.

The Blades didn’t give up and continued to press their attack against Hildebrand, who continued to protect the fort. That included Hildebrand robbing Molendyk, who was alone in front of the Prince Albert net when Saskatoon was working on a fifth power-play chance.

With Elliott pulled for an extra attacker, Blades 20-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright got the puck over to Sidorov at the right wing. Sidorov skated to the top of the right faceoff and snapped home a shot to the top right corner of Prince Albert net to cut the Raiders lead to 4-3 on his team’s 40^th shot on goal.

Hildebrand proceeded to slam the door from there. That included making three big saves inside the final 10 seconds of the third, when the Blades again had Elliott pulled for an extra attacker.

Alexander Suzdalev had the Blades second goal on Thursday.

With 5.7 seconds remaining in the third, Hildebrand swallowed up a close in drive from Wong. After the Blades won the ensuing faceoff, Hildebrand turned away Wong again from the right side of the Prince Albert net.

The rebound of that shot came to Blades star centre Fraser Minten in front of the Prince Albert net. Minten was denied by Hildebrand, who covered the puck for another faceoff in the Prince Albert zone with 1.3 seconds remaining in the third.

The Raiders won that draw and burned of the rest of the third period clock holding on to the puck behind their own goal.

Elliott turned away 16 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades.

Ryder Ritchie had a goal and an assist for the Raiders.

A bigger concern for the Blades in goal is that Elliott looks to have followed a not so good tread from last year’s post-season. In the 2023 WHL Playoffs, Saskatoon advance to the Eastern Conference Championship Series falling to the Winnipeg Ice.

The Blades won a first round series against Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in seven games and a second round series against the Red Deer Rebels in seven games. The Blades trailed the Rebels 3-0 and became just the third team in the history of the WHL rally back from that type of series deficit to win the set.

Elliott was the Blades starting goalie at the beginning of both those series falling behind the Pats 2-0 and the Rebels 3-0. To turn the tide, the Blades began starting Ethan Chadwick to get both those series in goal, and Elliott ultimately came back to get the Game 7 wins to finish off those sets.

Aiden Oiring had the Raiders first goal on Thursday.

Before the start of the 2023-24 campaign, the Blades dealt Chadwick to the Everett Silvertips electing to pair rookie Evan Gardner, who turned 18-year-olds in late January, as a backup to Elliott as the starter.

Gardner improved a tonne as the season went along appearing in 30 games posting a 21-5-2 record, a 1.91 goals against average, a .927 save percentage and four shutouts. He has the lowest goals against average in the WHL and the best save percentage on the circuit.

Elliott still had a great regular season for the Blades appearing in 43 games posting a 29-8-3 record, a 2.39 goals against average, a .904 save percentage and four shutouts.

Still, the Raiders got championship level goaltending from Hildebrand in Game 1, and Elliott wasn’t on that level in that contest. You have to wonder if the Blades will turn to Gardner as the series goes on.

The Raiders begin celebrating their win on Thursday.

Overall on an objective front, the Blades should have won Game 1 against the Raiders on Thursday and should have scored more goals than they did.

Hildebrand ensured none of those things came to pass, and now the Raiders have some extra real belief they can create some major misery for their archrivals.

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Raiders start hot, cruise to 8-3 win over Tigers

The Raiders mob Sloan Stanick after he scored the game’s first goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – A hot start and timely goals allowed the Prince Albert Raiders to tame the Medicine Hat Tigers.

In a WHL regular season clash played between 2,428 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday night, the Raider stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and boosted their edge to 4-0 scoring inside the first two minutes of the second. From that point, the Raiders proceeded to cruise to an 8-3 victory.

“(We had) pretty timely scoring,” said Raiders head coach Jeff Truitt. “Goals are scored at key times.

Sloan Stanick had a goal and three assists for the Raiders.

“Sometimes, they are not. Early in periods, I thought that it deflates a team. We’ve been on the other side of it where somebody comes in and 10 seconds in you are chasing the game.

“We put the throttle down here tonight with a determined effort that kind of put them being behind the eight ball that way. It was key to score at different times in those periods. It got us off to a good start.”

Numerous players had big games for the Raiders in the win over the Tigers. Raiders star 20-year-old left-winger Sloan Stanick led the way recording one goal, three assists and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department.

Thanks to the four-point night, Stanick hit another milestone surpassing the 80-point plateau in scoring for a season. Appearing in all the Raiders 62 games this season, Stanick has posted 81 points coming off 30 goals and 51 assists to go with a plus-six rating.

Ryder Ritchie had a pair of goals for the Raiders.

Stanick totals in assists, points and plus-minus are all career highs, and he needs one more goal to equal his career high in that department from one season ago. The Rapid City, Man., product was pumped to break the 80-point plateau for the first time in his WHL career.

“It is pretty surreal,” said Stanick. “It obviously feels really good.

“I’ve got some great guys to play with that get me the puck and put the puck in the back of the net. It is obviously really special. You have to keep building.”

Stanick got the Raiders going on Saturday scoring on a wrist shoot from the left faceoff circle eight minutes into the opening frame to give the host side a 1-0 edge. The Raiders proceed to receive tallies from Niall Crocker and Ryder Ritchie to push their lead out to 3-0 going into the first intermission.

Brayden Dube had a pair of goals for the Raiders on Saturday.

Working on the power play early in the second, Slanick fed a pass to Raiders right-winger Brayden Dube, which sprung him on a rush down the right wing. He wired a shot past Tigers netminder Zach Zahara to give the Raiders a 4-0 advantage.

Stanick said there are never any complaints when you are part of a game where everything is clicking.

“It was great,” said Stanick. “Obviously, everyone was electric in the crowd, and everyone on the ice was wanting to score.

“Every line was clicking tonight. It is awesome to get contribution from everyone.”

Justice Christensen had a goal and two assists for the Raiders.

Tigers 18-year-old offensive-defenceman Reid Andresen got the visitors on the board at the 4:36 mark of the second to trim the Raiders lead to 4-1. Raiders 18-year-old offensive-defenceman Justice Christensen popped home a backdoor feed at the left side of the Medicine Hat net after receiving a beauty pass from Stanick to push the host side’s edge out to 5-1.

With 6:21 remaining in the second, 18-year-old centre Hunter St. Martin tallied for the Tigers to trim the Raiders lead to 5-2.

Just 39 seconds into the third, Raiders 18-year-old centre Aiden Oiring popped home his 17^th of the campaign to give the host squad a 6-2 advantage. Tigers captain Tyler MacKenzie tallied at the 10:47 mark of the third to cut the Raiders lead to 6-3.

Aiden Oiring recorded a goal and two assists for the Raiders.

Ritchie and Dube each proceeded to add their respective second goals of the night to round out the 8-3 final in favour of Prince Albert.

“I thought we got rewarded tonight,” said Truitt. “I thought we played physical.

“We played pretty good defence. Then, we generated a lot of offence. We worked in that offensive zone winning pucks and battles and getting shots.

“We shot the puck with a mentality here tonight that we will put it in.”

Max Hildebrand stopped 32 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Zahara turned away 23 shots to take the setback in net for the Tigers.

Oiring and Christensen each had a pair of assists to go with their goals. Christensen also posted a plus-five rating.

Tyler MacKenzie had a goal for the Tigers.

With the win, the Raiders improve to 30-27-2-3. They sit tied for the seventh and eighth positions in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 65 standings points. Both squads sit five points up on the ninth place Calgary Hitmen (26-29-7-1), and both the Raiders and Hurricanes have a game in hand on the Hitmen.

The Raiders and Hurricanes are also two standings points behind the sixth place Brandon Wheat Kings (30-27-6-1). Both the Raiders and Hurricanes have two games in hand on the Wheat Kings.

With the Raiders having six games remaining on their regular season schedule, Stanick said it has been a blast playing numerous big games late in the season during the last sprint to chase down a post-season berth.

Niall Crocker had a goal for the Raiders.

“It makes it fun,” said Stanick. “The energy in the room is great.

“The practices are very competitive, because we all want to be our best. It is just really exciting for our group here coming down the stretch.”

The Tigers fell to 35-22-5-2 with the setback but still sit first in the Central Division. The Tigers lead in the Centre Division has dwindled to one standings point ahead of the Swift Current Broncos (35-20-4-2). The Broncos have three games in hand on the Tigers.

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

The Tigers are off until Friday when they travel to Swift Current to face the Broncos (7 p.m., InnovationPlex).

Going forward, Truitt wants to see his Raiders keep their level of desperation up high.

The Raiders salute their faithful after their win on Saturday.

“We have to keep going,” said Truitt. “We just can’t lay back.

“That is not we are all about. Especially if you are going to challenge for a playoff spot, you have to be playing at the peak of your game right now. We have to keep our focus, our discipline and our structure and everything.

“It is not easy, because every day the meter is right at the top, and we’ve to continue to have it.”

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Raiders capitalize on power play, schedule quirk

Prince Albert does in short-staffed Wheat Kings 5-2

Sloan Stanick, right, scores his first of three goals on Saturday.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Jeff Truitt was pleased his Prince Albert Raiders took advantage of a good hand that was dealt their way.

On Saturday night, the Raiders went 4-for-9 nine on the power play and downed a short-staffed Brandon Wheat Kings side 5-2 in a WHL regular season clash before an appreciative 2,626 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The Wheat Kings were also playing their third game in three nights all on the road.

Brandon slipped past the Raiders 3-2 when the two sides met Thursday at the Art Hauser Centre. The Raiders proceeded to have Friday night off, while the Wheat Kings went to Saskatoon and beat the WHL leading Blades 4-1.

The Raiders celebrate a second goal from Sloan Stanick, centre.

In Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Wheat Kings, the Brandon side played with only 15 skaters. The Wheat Kings were three short of the full complement of 18 skaters due to injuries and one suspension.

Truitt, who is the Raiders head coach, said it was important his team took advantage of a scenario that lined up in his club’s favour.

“We needed it,” said Truitt. “We need to play desperate.

“We knew they had a tough schedule with three in three, which is always hard to play with a short bench as well. We had to take advantage of it, and we did.”

The Wheat Kings injuries included forwards Roger McQueen, Joby Baumuller and Hayden Wheddon, who were all listed as day-to-day with upper body injuries. Centre Nicholas Johnson is listed as week to week with an upper body injury, netminder Ethan Eskit is day to day with a lower body injury and import defenceman Andrei Maliaven was out with an undisclosed ailment suffered on Friday in Saskatoon.

Sloan Stanick had his third career hat trick on Saturday.

Veteran 19-year-old centre Rylen Roersman was out serving a suspension with a length that is still to be determined for being given a checking from behind major in the Wheat Kings victory in Saskatoon on Friday.

When the Raiders went ahead 5-2 with 6:21 remaining in the third on a hat trick goal from star 20-year-old left-winger Sloan Stanick, frustration seemed to boil over on the Wheat Kings side. The final 6:21 featured one big scrum and a few moments when the visitors were losing their cool.

“They are on big three in three,” said Stanick, whose team was wearing special jersey’s for the club’s Kid Takeover Night. “We knew we had to get on their defencemen, and they were down some bodies.

Dominik Petr scored both Wheat Kings goals on Saturday.

“They obviously got a little frustrated there, but it was just saying on the bench just play between the whistles here and let’s get two (standings) points that we really need. You obviously want to defend your teammates and stick up for each other for sure. We were just trying to stay between the whistles.

“You can’t control what they do. We just have to control what we can do.”

The Wheat Kings opened the scoring in Saturday’s contest scoring on the tail end of power play. With 3:55 remaining in the opening frame, Wheat Kings 16-year-old right-winger Brady Turko had the puck at the left side boards and passed it to the doorstep of the right side of the Prince Albert net to 18-year-old import centre Dominik Petr. Petr popped home his 15^th of the season to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Justice Christensen had three assists for the Raiders.

Before the first intermission came around, the Raiders scored on a power play of their own. With two minutes remaining in the opening frame, Raiders centre Aiden Oiring tipped home a point shot from offensive-defenceman Justice Christensen to even the score at 1-1.

At the 7:44 mark of the second, the Raiders jumped in front 2-1 when Stanick wired home his 25^th goal of the campaign with his squad once again working on the power play. The hosts really started to take over play territorially in the second holding a 9-4 edge in shots on goal for the frame after holding a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal in the first period.

Aiden Oiring had a goal and two assists for the Raiders.

Stanick said it was big for his club to have the success they did on the power play on Saturday.

“We’ve been working on it lots,” said Stanick, who now has three hat tricks in his WHL career. “It is something that is going to help us win games getting those power-play goals, and it felt good.

“We’re clicking right now - just knock on wood keep it going.”

In the third, Raiders overage centre Turner McMillen scored off a rush to push the host side’s lead out to 3-1 at the 4:38 mark of the frame. Just under four minutes later, Stanick smartly put home his second of the night placing home a shot through a screen with the Raiders working on a two-man advantage to give Prince Albert a 4-1 lead.

Krzysztof Macias had three assists for the Raiders.

With 6:46 remaining in the third, Petr scored short-handed for his second goal of the night to cut the Raiders lead to 4-2. That wasn’t able to spark a comeback.

Just 25 seconds later, Stanick fired home his hat trick goal with his squad still working on the power play to give the Raiders a 5-2 advantage. Stanick said it was big for his side to respond quickly after Petr scored his short-handed goal.

“It was a good shot from their player there,” said Stanick, who has 27 goals and 46 assists for a team high 73 points this season. “We just wanted to stay composed.

“We knew we could win the game. We just had to play our game and to get that one to make it 5-2 was really good.”

Max Hildebrand stopped 15 shots to pick in goal for the Raiders. Carson Bjarnason turned away 29 shots to take the setback in net for the Wheat Kings.

Saturday’s game in Prince Albert include some word exchanges.

Oiring had a pair of assists to go with his goal. Christensen and import left-winger Krzysztof Macias both record three assists each for the Raiders.

The win allowed the Raiders to improve to 27-26-1-3 to remain seventh overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference three points up on the eight place 25-26-5 Lethbridge Hurricanes and four points up on the ninth place 23-25-7-1 Calgary Hitmen. The Hurricanes and Hitmen each have a game in hand on the Raiders and will play each other on Sunday in Calgary.

The Wheat Kings fall to 29-23-5-1 to remain sixth in the Eastern Conference six points up on the Raiders.

The Raiders return to action on Wednesday when they host the Red Deer Rebels (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Eric Johnston (#3) stands his ground defensively for the Raiders.

The Wheat Kings are off until Friday when the will host the visiting Raiders (7 p.m. local time, Westoba Place).

The Raiders play seven out of their last 11 regular season games at home, and Truitt wants his side to strive to play more consistently both at home and on the road.

“It gives you confidence that is for sure, but we’ve been up and down,” said Truitt. “We were great at home and then we weren’t great at home.

The Raiders salute the crowd after their win on Saturday.

“We were great on the road. It flip flopped. It is always an advantage to play at home there is no doubt about that.

“You have to be able to manufacture things. No matter where you play at home or on the road you have to be to play the right way and play with pace and play with sacrifice and structure and things like that. It is nice to win at home don’t get me wrong, but somewhere in the later on down the line too you have to win on the road.”

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 wipe out Wheaties 7-3

Sloan Stanick had a pair of goals and an assist for the Raiders.

The Prince Albert Raiders are heating up at home.

On Saturday, the Raiders thumped the Brandon Wheat Kings 7-3 in a WHL regular season clash to the delight of 2,428 spectators at the team’s storied home rink in the Art Hauser Centre. The Raiders have now won six straight games at home.

With Saturday’s win, the Raiders improve to 24-25-1-3 and vault to seventh in the WHL’s Eastern Conference standings. Prince Albert sits one standings point ahead of the Lethbridge Hurricanes (24-23-3) and the Calgary Hitmen (22-21-6-1) who are tied for the eighth and ninth positions in the conference standings. The Hurricanes and Hitmen both have three games in hand on the Raiders.

Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Wheat kings started out as a bit of a back-and-forth affair. Centre Nolan Flamand scored 10 seconds into the contest for the Wheat Kings to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

The lead didn’t last long as Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Sloan Stanick scored at the 3:57 mark of the first to even the score a 1-1. Wheat Kings star 20-year-old left-winger Brett Hyland tallied on the power play at the 6:35 mark of the opening frame to put the visitors back out in front 2-1.

Raiders import left-winger Krzysztof Macias scored to force a 2-2 tie at the 8:30 mark of the third. Following Macias’s tally, Raiders rookie right-winger Oli Chenier, who turned 17-years-old in late January, potted his 10^th goal of the campaign with his squad working on the power play to put the hosts up 3-2.

At the 8:29 mark of the second, Raiders 19-year-old right-winger Niall Crocker scored short-handed to push Prince Albert’s lead out to 4-2. With 69 seconds remaining in the second, Wheat Kings import centre Dominik Petr tallied to cut the Raiders lead to 4-3.

The Raiders proceeded to pull away from there in the third. Macias, Crocker and Stanick all netted their respective second goals of the contest to round out the 7-3 final score in the Raiders favour. Macias, Crocker and Stanick all finished with three point nights each collecting two goals and one assist.

Max Hildebrand stopped 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Ethan Eskit turned away 38 shots to take the setback in goal for the Wheat Kings, who fell to 26-20-5-1.

The Raiders were still without star 17-year-old right-winger Ryder Ritchie. Back on December 15, 2023, Ritchie was on the receiving end of a knee-on-knee hit from Kelowna Rockets 19-year-old left-winger Max Graham in a 4-3 setback to the Rockets at the Art Hauser Centre. Ritchie is listed as being out week to week.

The Raiders were also without 16-year-old rookie centre Luke Moroz on Saturday. Moroz went down at the 8:21 mark of the third period of a 6-1 loss on Friday to the Blades in Saskatoon after being on the receiving end of a cross check from Blades captain Trevor Wong. Wong received a minor infraction on the play.

The Raiders are now off until this coming Friday when they travel to Medicine Hat to face the Tigers (7 p.m. local time, Co-op Place).

The Wheat Kings get back at it this coming Thursday when they travel to Moose Jaw to face the Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

Hansen lifts Blades to eighth straight win

Egor Sidorov scored the Blades first goal on Saturday.

Defensive centre Lukas Hansen put on the hero’s cape to deliver the Saskatoon Blades to an eighth straight win.

On Saturday playing in front of 2,610 spectators at the InnovationPlex in Swift Current, the Blades found themselves locked in a 2-2 tie against the host Broncos going into the final 10 minutes of the third period. At the 11:28 mark of the third, Hansen scored his 11^th goal of the season that ultimately delivered the Blades to a 3-2 victory. The tally was Hansen’s fourth winner of the season.

In the final seconds of the third, Hansen came up with a big shot block to help preserve the win for the visitors.

The eighth straight win allowed the Blades to improve their WHL leading record to 39-9-2-3. They also officially locked up a berth in the WHL Playoffs.

Saskatoon took a 1-0 lead over Swift Current in Saturday’s clash with a first period power-play goal from star import right-winger Egor Sidorov.

At the 5:20 mark of the second, Blades star overage centre Easton Armstrong was given a major penalty for goaltender interference and a game misconduct. That infraction will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension. The Broncos were unable to score on that five-minute power play.

The hosts would even the score at 1-1 in the second with a tally from 18-year-old left-winger Brady Birnie.

At the 3:26 mark of the third, Blades star 19-year-old left-winger Brandon Lisowsky netted his 30^th goal of the season to put the Blades up 2-1. Lisowsky has now scored 30-or-more goals in three straight seasons for the Blades.

Broncos sophomore left-winger Clarke Caswell evened the score a short time later scoring at the 5:01 mark of the third to force a 2-2 tie.

That set the stage for Hansen to deliver his heroics to close out the contest.

Austin Elliott stopped 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Joey Rocha turned away 24 shots to take the setback in net for the Broncos, who fell to 26-19-4-2.

Blades captain Trevor Wong finished the contest with a pair of assists.

The Blades return to action this coming Friday when they travel to Lethbridge to face the Hurricanes (7 p.m. local time, Enmax Centre).

The Broncos get back at it on Wednesday when they host the Hurricanes (7 p.m., InnovationPlex).

Clark, Shirley have sweet homecoming, other notes

An Emily Clark hockey card.

Emily Clark and Sophie Shirley got the hometown salutes they so rightly deserved.

On Wednesday, the two skilled forwards dressed for Canada’s National Women’s Hockey team in Game 5 of their Rivalry Series against the United States at the SaskTel Centre in their hometown of Saskatoon. A total of 7,576 spectators came out to see the local products wearing Team Canada colours on home ice for the first time.

Clark, who is 28-years-old, has been a veteran with Canada’s senior national team dating back to the 4 Nations Cup in 2014. Shirley, who is 24-years-old, was called up to Canada’s roster just before the start of Game 5.

While they weren’t able to hit the scoreboard in Canada’s 4-2 win on Wednesday, both players had their highlight moments. Clark had a really energetic game that included getting stopped on a first period breakaway. Shirley showed her still getting a good scoring chance off a half toe-drag snapshot.

The win allowed Canada to cut the United States lead in the best-of-seven series to 3-2.

As the final seconds of the victory on Wednesday ticked away, Team Canada head coach Troy Ryan ensured both Clark and Shirley were on the ice at the same time to be saluted by their hometown crowd.

“It blew my expectations out of the water,” said Clark after Wednesday’s game. “I was feeling the love, our team was feeling the love, and I’m so proud of our group for getting that win for the crowd.

“We showed a lot of character, and this time last year, we had our backs against the wall. We’re just taking it one game at a time. I’m proud of our team and so happy the series is still going.”

“I had about 15 to 20 family in the crowd, and it was a super cool experience for me,” said Shirley on Wednesday. “I know I was called in late, but I just wanted to do my best every time I was out there.

“It was probably in my very first shift, as soon as I got out there, with the atmosphere and being at home with family made it even more exciting for me.”

Canada trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes on Wednesday before rallying for the 4-2 victory.

Brianne Jenner, Ashton Bell, Renata Fast and Laura Stacey netted singles for Canada. Hayley Scamurra and Gabbie Hughes replied with singles for the United States.

Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 14 shots to pick up the win in goal for Canada. Nicole Hensley turned away 24-of-27 shots to take the setback in goal for the United States.

The hometown treatment for Clark and Shirley turned into warm home province treatment for Game 6 of the series on Friday night at the Brandt Centre in Regina. After playing through a scoreless opening 40 minutes, Canada exploded for three goals in the third to post a 3-0 victory and even the series 3-3.

Clark had Canada’s second goal in the third-period surge. Natalie Spooner had Canada’s first goal, and Sarah Nurse has the third goal for the host country.

Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 27 shots to pick up the shutout win for Canada. Maschmeyer now has 11 career shutouts playing for Canada. Aerin Frankel turned away 19 shots to take the setback in goal for the United States.

Fast played in her 100 career international game for Canada on Friday.

At game’s end Clark and Shirley took a victory lap in front of the Regina crowd.

Canada was down 3-0 in the Rivalry Series before rallying back for three wins. Game 7 is set for Sunday in St. Paul, Minn., (1 p.m. Saskatchewan Time, TSN4).

Last season, Canada trailed the Rivalry Series 3-0 before rallying back with four straight wins to take the set.

• On Saturday in Medicine Hat, the host Tigers trailed the Red Deer Rebels 4-1 after 40 minutes in a WHL regular season encounter. The Tigers roared back with three straight goals in the third and 20-year-old import defenceman Bogdans Hodass scored with 19.8 seconds remaining in overtime to give the hosts a wild 5-4 victory.
• Medicine Hat News sports reporter James Tubb laid out a compelling case for why the City of Medicine Hat and the Medicine Hat Tigers should bid for the 2026 Memorial Cup, which is the CHL’s annual championship tournament. That piece can be found by clicking right here.
• On Saturday in Kelowna, centre Emmitt Finnie scored four times for the visiting Kamloops Blazers as they dumped the host Rockets 7-3. The Rockets led the contest 2-1 after the first period. The Blazers scored three goals in the second to go up 4-2 and roll from there.
• On Saturday in Prince George, 20-year-old right-winger Zac Funk scored a hat trick for the host Cougars as they outlasted the visiting Victoria Royals 9-6. Funk leads the WHL with 49 goals so far this season.
• On Friday, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a story on the sport of cricket in Saskatoon and the growth that sport is seeing in “The Bridge City.” Officials with Cricket Saskatoon said new facilities are needed for cricket in Saskatoon to handle the surging interest in the sport. That piece can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that is highlighted by a visit from members of the Toronto Blue Jays to the Indoor Training Centre along with various winter happenings. That post can be found by clicking right here.

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.