By Darren Steinke
Stanks On Sports
The faithful in “Hockey Town North” gave their Prince Albert Raiders a well deserved sendoff last Thursday at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.
The Raiders had just seen their 2024-25 campaign come to an end after being blanked by the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers 3-0 in Game 4 of a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The victory allowed the Tigers to sweep the set 4-0.
That contest saw Raiders star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand depart with one last gem seen by the standing room crowd of 3,208 spectators at the 2,591 seat facility. He was sensational making 54 saves keeping the Raiders in that contest. The truth in the WHL is most players end their careers with a loss, but Hildebrand added the exclamation point on a memorable campaign.
Hildebrand had a spectacular regular season posting a 33-16-5 mark, a 2.87 goals against average, a .918 save percentage and three shutouts. In the Raiders 11 games in the post-season, he posted a 3.05 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and one shutout.
Thanks to his work in the regular season, Hildebrand is a nominee for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL player of the year, the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as WHL goaltender of the year and the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s humanitarian of the year. In the history of the Raiders dating back to their start in junior A in 1971, Hildebrand had one of the best seasons a Raiders goalie ever had.
The Raiders had a special season that saw them reach heights they hadn’t seen since the 2019-2020 campaign was halted due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world. Due to the pandemic, there were no WHL Playoffs in 2020 or 2021.
The Raiders won the WHL’s East Division title with a 39-23-5-1 mark, and that was their first division title win since the ill fated 2019-2020 campaign. Raiders fans will always carry a great memory of how that first place finish in the division came about.
Prince Albert entered the last two games of the regular season needing to sweep a home-and-home series with the archrival Saskatoon Blades to top the division. On March 21 before 10,990 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Raiders were trailing 2-1 until gritty centre Harrison Lodewyk scored with 5:07 remaining in the third to force a 2-2 tie and overtime. Just 98 seconds into overtime, breakout star winger Brayden Dube drove home the winner to give the Raiders a 3-2 victory.
One night later at the Hauser, the Raiders were greeted warmly by the 3,264 spectators that packed into the building, and another classic finish followed. Locked in a 3-3 tie with the Blades, Raiders star 19-year-old defenceman Lukas Dragicevic drove home the winning goal with 3:01 remaining in the third period to give Prince Albert a 4-3 victory.
The Prince Albert Raiders give a final salute to their faithful at the Art Hauser Centre on April 17, 2025. The Raiders had just been eliminated from the WHL Playoffs with a 3-0 loss in Game 4 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series.
In a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs, the Raiders fell behind 3-1 in the set to the Edmonton Oil Kings. Prince Albert roared back with three straight wins to take the series 4-3. It marked the Raiders first series victory in the WHL Playoffs since winning the WHL title 3-2 in overtime over the Vancouver Giants in Game 7 on May 13, 2019 at the Hauser.
The Raiders latest victory in a Game 7 was a crowd pleaser. On April 8, the Raiders took the ice before a sellout crowd of 3,293 spectators at the Hauser and blanked the Oil Kings 5-0.
Hildebrand stopped all 30 shots sent his way to pick up the shutout win in goal. Dragicevic had one goal, three assists and was a plus-two in the plus-minus department. Star centre Aiden Oiring had one goal, one assist and a plus-two rating, and breakout rookie defenceman Daxon Rudolph had three assists and a plus-two rating.
Overall, lots of Raiders left great memories in the 2024-25 campaign. Star 20-year-old right-winger Niall Crocker set career highs in the regular season with goals (27), assists (38), points (65) and plus-minus (plus-four) in 67 games. He graduates from the WHL playing five seasons as a full-time player and a career member of the Raiders.
Star right-winger Rilen Kovacevic came over in a trade with the Moose Jaw Warriors on January 7 and made a big impact. In 60 regular season games split between the Warriors and Raiders, Kovacevic piled up 26 goals and 33 assists.
Tomas Mrsic was a star left-winger who came over to the Raiders before the start of the campaign in a trade with the Tigers. Mrsic led the Raiders in regular season scoring with 90 points coming off 33 goals and 57 assists to go with a plus-five rating.
Dragicevic came to the Raiders before the start of the season in a deal with the Tri-City Americans and turned into everything the Raiders expected and more. During the regular season, he piled up 70 points coming off 18 goals and 52 assists to go with a plus-four rating. Dragicevic developed a strong love for the community of Prince Albert becoming a heart-and-soul Raider along the way.
From left, Ethan Bibeau, Max Hildebrand and Daxon Rudolph react to their Prince Albert Raiders being eliminated from the WHL post-season on April 17, 2025 at the Art Hauser Centre.
The 2024-25 campaign was also about the special 16-year-old rookies in Rudolph, left-winger Ty Meunier and right-winger Riley Boychuk. All three made head turning plays during the campaign to allow fans to get excited about the future.
Rudolph recorded seven goals, 34 assists and a plus-13 rating in 64 regular season contests. He is a finalist for the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy given to the WHL’s rookie of the year. Rudolph is also up for the Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s scholastic player of the year.
Still, the Raiders experienced their bumps too. They started 2-7-2 after coming home from a tough road trip through the circuit’s B.C. Division.
After getting back on track, then head coach Jeff Truitt missed the team’s first 15 games after the Christmas break taking a medical leave to have eye surgery. With Ryan McDonald serving as interim head coach, the Raiders went 10-4-0-1 and had played really well. That turned out to be an omen.
On March 10 with six games remaining on their regular season schedule, Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt relieved Truitt of his duties. The Raiders went 1-3-2 in their last six games under Truitt. It appeared they were going for a parallel finish from the 2023-24 campaign where they went 2-9 over their final 11 outings combined in the regular season and post-season.
Hunt told Nathan Reiter of the Daily Herald that he made the decision because he thought a new voice was needed in the dressing room. McDonald became the interim head coach for the rest of the campaign.
The Raiders went 5-1 with McDonald as interim head coach over their final six regular season games to capture the East Division championship. The exciting first round comeback series win over the Oil Kings followed.
Prince Albert ran into a buzz saw in a Tigers team that has been on a heater for a lengthy stretch. The Raiders played well in the first two games of the series in Medicine Hat falling 6-4 in Game 1 on April 12 and dropping a heartbreaker 5-4 in overtime in Game 2 on April 13. The Tigers found another gear when the series switched to Prince Albert and that included taking Game 3 at the Hauser 6-1 on April 16.
The Tigers topped the Eastern Conference and finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 47-17-3-1 mark. They took out the Swift Current Broncos in five games in a best-of-seven first round series.
In their last 43 games between the regular season and playoffs, the Tigers are an impressive 36-4-2-1. There are no disappointments when you bow out of the post-season against a foe that is playing that well.
Bottom line – the Raiders were a tonne of fun to watch in the 2024-25 campaign. Any time Raiders fans think back to this campaign, they can do so with a big smile.
Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer with more than 20 years of experience covering the WHL. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.
