The Prince Albert Raiders have signed Luke Moroz to a WHL Standard Player Agreement.

Moroz, the 15th overall selection in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, hails from Grand Coulee, SK, and dominated the Saskatchewan U15 AA Hockey League, scoring 108 points (47G-61A) in 27 regular season games with the Prairie Storm in Balgonie.

“He’s a high IQ player, he sees the play before it’s going and the puck always seems to find him,” Raiders Director of Player Personnel Bruno Zarillo said. “He’ll be an elite forward as he ages and matures through our program.”

Saskatchewan roots

The Raiders’ selection of Moroz marked the first time the Raiders have picked a Saskatchewan-born player in the first round since defenceman Nolan Allan was selected third overall by the team in 2018.

Four of Prince Albert’s 13 selections in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft are from Saskatchewan.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

The Prince Albert Royals hosted the Unity Cardinals for a pair of games on Saturday afternoon at Andy Zwack Field in Prince Albert, but it was the visitors who came away with two wins at the end of the day.

Game One:

The Royals jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings, scoring once in the bottom of the first, and three times in the bottom of the second. Bronson Parker drove home the first run of the game with a line drive single, letting Carter Gladstone touch home plate. After three walks issued by the Cardinals in the second, Lukas Robin doubled and Kolby Brown scored on a wild pitch to make it a 4-0 spread.

Unity responded with a five runs in the third inning, all scored with two outs on the board. Two singles and a pair of triples allowed Kaden Braun, Hunter Sperle, Denim O’Donnell, Thomas Snell, and Karson Blanchette to score to give the Cardinals a 5-4 lead.

Parker and Landon Vandale scored for the Royals in the bottom of the third to restore Prince Albert’s lead, as the Royals went up 6-5.

A walk followed by a double in the top of the fifth brought the Cardinals back to a tie at 6-6, but Unity kept pouring on the offense in the frame. After a strikeout for out number two in the inning, the Cards quickly struck with three more runs to go up 9-6. A pair of singles, followed by a walk and a wild pitch gave Unity their second lead of the game, and the Royals could not mount another comeback. Unity added another run in the top of the sixth to go up 10-6, and that’s how game one would end.

Nick Dutchak pitched four and two thirds innings for Prince Albert giving up six hits and seven earned runs. Brown came in relief in the fourth and finished the game, pitching two and a third innings, allowing three runs on three hits. The Cardinals used four pitchers in game one, with Carter Ralston being utilized the most with two and a third innings thrown, not allowing a run or a hit to go with a walk and two strikeouts.

Game Two:

It took just five innings for the Cardinals to mercy the Royals, thanks to the help of an 11 spot put up in the first inning. Prince Albert got off to a good enough start in the opening half of the first going up 2-0, but committed four errors in the bottom half to assist the Cardinals. Lukas Robin lasted just one inning on the bump for Prince Albert, but out of the 11 runs given up, just two of them were earned.

Unity tacked on six more runs over the second, third, and fourth inning to go up 17-2. The Royals couldn’t find any more offense after their two first inning runs, as the game was called after the top of the fifth to the mercy rule, as the Cardinals took game two, sweeping their weekend double header.

The Royals fell to 3-8 on the season, while the Cardinals improved to 4-1 with the win.

Prince Albert is back in action on Wednesday night at home when they welcome the Saskatoon Blue Jays.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

In a year where Prince Albert Mintos forward Jacob Cossette won league MVP, the SMU18AAAHL scoring title, the league’s top forward and named to the first all star team, he added on to his trophy collection once again at the Mintos award banquet on Sunday night.

 The 18-year-old Air Ronge product took home three team awards: MVP, top forward, and split the scholastic award with defenceman Nate Misskey. Cossette led the league in scoring with 77 points (25G-52A) in 43 regular season games.

Prince Albert Minto award winners:

Rookie of the Year: Ashton Tait

Scholastic Award: Jacob Cossette and Nate Misskey

Sportsmanship Award: Karson Blanchette

Dedication and Commitment: Caden Dunn and Jayden Kraus

Top Defenceman: Nate Misskey

Top Forward: Jacob Cossette

Jacob Leicht Heart and Hustler: Karson Blanchette and Logan Beebe

Playoff MVP: Jayden Kraus and Ty Shumanksi

MVP: Jacob Cossette

The Mintos also announced part of their leadership group for next season. Defenceman Caden Dunn will serve as captain for Minto home games, while defenceman Logan Beebe will wear the ‘C’ during road contests.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

The Prince Albert Predators took care of business early in the first period of a 12-3 win over the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux on Friday night at the Kinsmen Arena. They scored eight first period goals in the win, in a game where a combined 87 penalty minutes were assessed.

“I was really happy with the start that we had,” coach Tyson Fetch said. “Getting some early goals in front of a big crowd and getting the crowd into it was really important. Also just not letting (Standing Buffalo) get into the game at all was really key to our victory. We kept them off the scoresheet in the first period and kept them out of our end.”

Dillan Cochrane and Hayden Ulriksen led the offensive charge in the first period, scoring two goals each. Cochrane opened the scoring just 4:41 into the contest with a powerplay goal, one of four on the night. Matthew Cudmore, Braden Shewchuk, Tyson Perreault, and Kade Beaton all scored first period goals of their own, to give Prince Albert an 8-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Shewchuk added his second of the night with 15:39 left in the second period with a powerplay goal of his own to make it a 9-0 gap. Toby Olynyk responded for the Fighting Sioux with two goals late in the middle frame to make it a 9-2 Predators lead after 40.

Cudmore and Brayden Reiger scored back to back powerplay goals just three minutes apart in the third period to put the Preds up 11-2, but Standing Buffalo’s Marshall Yuzicappi responded with a powerplay goal of his own with 3:59 left in the game to cut the lead to 11-3. With just 55 seconds left in the contest, Preds captain Davin Ikert capped off the team’s offensive display with a shorthanded goal to make it a 12-3 final. Prince Albert outshot their opponent 60-30 in the game.

“Standing Buffalo is a big team,” Fetch said. “They’re just a large team. We used our speed. They were doing a lot of man on man, so we exposed that with our speed. We just had guys getting to the open places, and they weren’t able to keep up with us. We just used their size against them, because they don’t have the agility that some smaller players have.”

Fetch pointed out some of the things that he really liked out of his team on Friday, and explained what he wants to continue to see from his group.

“We want to keep the ball moving on offense. Defensively, we want to keep teams to the outside. If they’re only getting outside shots on us, they’re not going to do much offensively.”

The two teams travelled to Melfort on Saturday afternoon for two period of make up lacrosse from a game that was called off earlier this season. The Predators were holding a 5-3 lead when the game was postponed, and continued to play a strong style of lacrosse, as they were able to once again take down the Fighting Sioux, this time by a 14-5 final.

The Predators are back in action on June 4 in Swift Current to take on the Wolverines.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

After suffering their first loss of the season last Thursday to the Saskatoon Jr. Swat, the Prince Albert Predators will look to get back in the win column on Friday and Saturday when they take on the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux.

“We haven’t seen each other for more than a period, and it’s been nearly a month since we played them last,” coach Tyson Fetch said. In their first meeting of the season, the game was called off in the second period due to a lack of floor traction.

“I think both teams have changed quite a bit,” he added. “I think their record doesn’t indicate an outstanding season, but I never take opponents lightly. The game of lacrosse is unique where anyone can win a game. We need to come out and play hard, and we can’t take them lightly, because they’re not going to let us come away with a win.”

One of the things that has changed about the Predators is the addition of three veteran players. Davin Ikert, Caidyn Prediger, and Kade Beaton joined the team earlier this season after returning from playing college lacrosse in the United States. Fetch says their leadership on the team since their arrival has been a key factor in the team’s recent success.

“Their work ethic that they bring to practices and to games is great for the young guys to see. Their leadership in the dressing room, on the floor and on the bench just shows that they are great gentlemen on this team. It’s been a really important factor on our season so far.”

With the young group that the Predators have this season, it may be surprising to some that the team is just one point out of first place in the PGLL standings. But, the team has managed to put together a string of strong performances, which Fetch gave a lot of credit to their work on the floor.

“Even though we’re a young team, I think maturity has been a big thing with us. We have some games under our belt, and now our guys know what it feels like to win and lose, and they know how it feels to take a hit and to give one. Just overall, that experience that we’re getting has really helped us.”

While losing at any point in the season is never fun, rebounding from last week’s loss against Saskatoon will be huge if they can pick up a pair of wins this weekend. Fetch says losing their first game of the season was an important learning curve for the Predators’ young core.

“I think that we learned something from that loss,” Fetch explained. “Going forward, we won’t come out flat like that and play too terrible periods of lacrosse again. With that said, it’s up to our kids to bring that intensity and be ready to play. We can only do so much in  practice, but they have to be ready to play. I think tonight they’ll be ready. They were pretty excited at practice on Thursday. They were loose, but at the same time they still fully participated and took it seriously.”

Opening faceoff on Friday from the Kinsmen Arena in Prince Albert is at 8 p.m. The Predators and Fighting Sioux will continue April 30th’s postponed game on Saturday in Melfort with a 1 p.m. faceoff.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

The Prince Albert 18U Royals were in Muenster on Sunday afternoon for a pair of games, and came back with a split.

They dropped their first game of the day 16-2 to the second best team in the league, the Weyburn Beavers, but bounced back with an exciting 17-16 triumph over the Muenster Red Sox in their second contest of the day.

“We got a win, which is always good for the boys,” coach Pat Robin said.

The Royals (3-5) fell behind 6-0 in the first inning against the Beavers, and couldn’t fight their way back into it. The Royals scored two runs in the next frame to make it a 6-2 score through two innings, thanks to a pair of RBI’s from Lukas Robin.

“We were in the game for a couple of innings,” Robin said. “But the errors that we committed started to pile up.”

Weyburn added ten combined runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to go up 16-2, and with the Royals unable to find any more offense, the game was called after five innings to the mercy rule. A seven run fifth put up by the Beavers was something that Robin says was a self inflicted blow.

“The fifth was a bad inning with the errors. Other than scoring a couple of runs in the second inning, we didn’t really generate much on the batting side of things.”

Sam Mallory had a day on the bump for Weyburn, pitching all five innings, striking out seven batters. He was also strong at the plate, leading the game with four RBI’s and three hits. Mark Acorn pitched four and a third innings for Prince Albert, throwing 106 pitches.

“Mark pitched a good game,” Robin said of his starting pitcher. “He went over 100 pitches and he three 66 strike, and that was his first game that he really pitched in. He’s got a few things that I pointed out for him to practice on his own time, but overall, he allowed us to be in the ball game for as long as we could.

“Weyburn is a good ball team. We would have had to be perfect to beat them. You can’t offer up all the errors that we did and expect to win. They’re just a good hitting ball team.”

Prince Albert’s second game of the day was full of runs right down to the final out. Their game against the Muenster Red Sox featured a combined 18 runs scored in the fifth inning alone. The Royals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, but the Red Sox took the lead with a three spot in the fourth.

Bronson Parker began the scoring festivities in the top of the fifth with a two RBI double. The entire batting order made plate appearances in the fifth, with Parker collecting three RBI’s in the frame, as Prince Albert stormed ahead to take an 11-3 lead.

Muenster responded with nine runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to the help of four errors committed by the Royals. The Red Sox had 13 at bats in the bottom of the fifth, and regained the lead, going up 12-11.

Prince Albert outscored Muenster 6-4 in the remaining three inning to win the game by a 17-16 final. Dawson Patterson got the win one the mound for the Royals, pitching three relief inning and giving up just two earned runs. Tai Beischer was charged with the loss for the Red Sox.

“It was a goofy game when the errors came in to play,” Robin said. “It was nice to squeak out a win, because we had that big lead and gave it right back in that fifth inning. It was a tough inning to work through, but we scooted back. (Munester) also made some errors, and that helped us win the game.”

The Red Sox have been dominant over the Royals in years past, and for Robin’s group to collect a win against Muenster this time around was an encouraging sign.

“Muenster’s had our number for many years,” he explained. “It’s probably been since peewee with this group. It was nice to beat them because of the way they’ve played against us in the past. They’re a good hitting team, too, and they get a lot of practice in with their AAA team. They’re a baseball community, everything is baseball minded, and it was good for us to come away with a win.”

The Royals return home on Wednesday night when they welcome the Saskatoon Blue Jays for their first of three meetings this season. Robin explained what he wants his team to take from the action over the weekend into Wednesday’s prime time contest.

“When we practiced on Monday, we rotated a couple of skill stations with ground balls and attacking the ball. Some of our errors are throwing errors, when we don’t have the proper technique to throw it across the diamond. We worked on other aspects like holding runners and leading off on the base.

“What we take from the weekend is that we can generate runs like the best teams. We’ve never scored nine runs against Muenster in one inning before, which is a good sign.”

Nick Dutchak will make his third start on the mound for the Royals on Wednesday night. After being out of the lineup over the weekend, Robin is confident that his starter can put his team in another position to win.

“With Nick, I know he’s going to be able to be around the strike zone. It’ll be a competitive game tomorrow, I believe. We haven’t seen them yet, but I think we’re comparable with each other. It should be a good game as long as we don’t hand it over to them on a silver platter.”

The Blue Jays (1-2) were in action on Saturday, losing 14-3 to the Weyburn Beavers.

Opening pitch on Wednesday night between Prince Albert and Saskatoon from Andy Zwack Field in Prince Albert is at 6:30 p.m.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

While the Prince Albert Northern Bears didn’t come home as Esso Cup champions, they came back with the next best thing: experience. The team will relive the tournament all over again next season when the Esso Cup comes to the Art Hauser in Prince Albert, with the Bears once again serving as the host team.

Although they failed to make it to the semi finals after a 2-0-3-0 record through round robin play, the Bears played some of their best games of the entire season throughout their stay in Alberta. Many people counted Prince Albert out before the tournament even started, given the pedigree of the champion teams from across the country that participated. However the team was able to pull out a couple of big wins, and show that they did indeed deserve to play.

“I’m very proud of our girls and how they played,” Bears head coach Steve Young said. “There were six teams there and our path was a little bit different. I think once we got there, our girls realized that they did deserve to be there, and all we had to do was work hard and compete. Once they laced their skates up, they went and played with that mindset, and I’m very proud of them for the way they played.”

The team was able to have some fun during the tournament as well. Country music nights became a regular thing in their hotel rooms, and they even invited the Quebec team over to share some laughs. Their stay in Okotoks showed that there is more to hockey than the game itself. Young said it was a fun way to take their mind off of the game and just enjoy their time at the tournament.

“The whole experience was great, and I don’t think you realize that until you get there. I think from the start of the tournament when we walked through the dressing room and see all the Esso Cup stuff set up and knowing that this is where you are was great. The games were intense and high tempo.

“The girls were also able to meet new people and make some new friends along the way. Their big thing happened to be with Quebec, and I thought it was great.”

The Bears are slated as the 2023 Esso Cup hosts, which means that the tournament will finally be played at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert if nothing changes. The city was supposed to host the tournament in 2020, but COVID-19 put a wash into those plans.

Young looking forward to returning as Bears head coach

Steve Young made it clear that he has unfinished business behind the Prince Albert Northern Bears bench, and that business will pick up in the fall when the team kicks off their training camp. The veteran hockey coach joined the team at the beginning of February, following the resignation of former head coach Jeff Willoughby.

“It was a tough time,” Young explained. “You look at Jeff and know that he’s put in a lot of years of work and effort into the organization. For him to step aside at that time of the year wasn’t easy for him, and it wasn’t easy for anyone. But at the same time, you have to move forward, and that’s what the Bears did.”

The team was coming off of back to back losses to the Regina Rebels, and the coaching change brought up some new questions marks about the team’s identity. When the team was facing one of their toughest stretches of the season after collecting just two wins in eight games in January, Young was able to sturdy the ship, and get his new group back on track. They finished the regular season with a 3-2-1-0 record under their new coach, before a quick exit in the playoffs.

“We came into a situation with the exact same players,” Young said. “We pushed them in a direction that we felt they had to go. Losing to Saskatoon in the first round was tough, but I think that everything we did this year from start to finish, the girls learned something every day. Whether it was on the ice with games and practices, or off the ice with everything that’s gone on, there were a lot of hard learned lessons. By the time they got to the Esso Cup, we put all of those lessons to work.

“One thing I really look at with these girls is that they were a really good group. They worked hard and paid attention to what needed to be done. They got along and they were very easy to coach. I think the group that we did have this year was one that believed that they should be at the cup, and they were excited about that all year. I think that made it a little easier because their drive was knowing that at the end of the year they would be at the Esso Cup.”

When confirming that he will be with the team next season, which will feature another Bears team playing at the Esso Cup, Young explained what he is looking forward to about next year’s team.

“The main thing is that the girls who will be coming back have gained experience at the Esso Cup. With us hosting next season, it won’t be easy again and we know that. It’s seven games in seven days, and it’s grueling. Your hockey skills and conditioning have to be at its top level. It will also be a fresh start for everyone. It’ll be at the start of the year where we kick things off. I think anytime you can start fresh, you can set your goals and take it from day one.”

Next season, the team will be without five veteran players, who all played their last game with the team on Friday at the Esso Cup. Captain Paige Dawson, along with alternate captains Erin Kirkland, Sophia Zuck, Taylor Leitch, and third year forward Carnell Olsen, will leave holes in the team that will be hard to fill. Dawson and Leitch are the last of a group of players to spend four years with the team; something that will never be done again in the league with the new age requirements.

“All of those girls were a very special part of this hockey club,” Young said. “Paige and Taylor came into this team as younger girls and they had the opportunity to go through the system for more than three years, and had time to grow and develop. I thought they became very mature, not only as hockey players, but mature people as well.

“Sophia and Erin were the same thing, they grew and developed here. They had different characters and brought different things to the team, and were leaders on the team. Carnell was one of the girls that would come in and go to work. Every day she would come to practice and work really hard and was a leader that way. Everything that all five of those girls brought was positive.”

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca

The Prince Albert Northern Bears put up a solid fight at the 2022 Esso Cup, but a 2-0 loss to the Northern Selects in their final round robin game of the tournament on Friday night brought an end to their season.

Julia MacDonald scored the game winning goal 6:17 into the second period, while the Northern Selects added another goal in the third period to secure the win.

The semi final matchups are now set for Saturday morning, as the Durham West Lightning will take on the Northern Selects, while the Fraser Valley Rush will battle the Notre Dame Hounds.

The Hounds, who entered the Esso Cup as the Western Region champs, ended their round robin play with a 4-2 win over the Remparts du Richelieu. Notre Dame improved to two wins, one overtime win, and two losses in the tournament.

@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca