By Darren Steinke
Stanks On Sports
Being in the chase for banners is fun and winning banners is even more fun.
The WHL regular season is heading down its final straightaway, and the Prince Albert Raiders are in a heated race for first place in the East Division. Entering play on Tuesday, the Raiders (33-20-5-1) hold down first place in the East with a one standings point lead over the Brandon Wheat Kings (32-19-4-3).
Sitting three points back of the Raiders and two points back of the Wheat Kings are the Saskatoon Blades (31-20-2-4). Both the Wheat Kings and the Blades have a game in hand on the Raiders.
Basically, the team that plays the hottest down the stretch will take the division title. The club that wins the East Division will also be the second seed in the WHL’s Eastern Conference for the first round of the playoffs.
That is a big prize considering the fact that the first place finisher will be the only East Division team with home ice advantage for the first round of the post-season. The top three teams in the Central Division sit ahead of the Raiders in the Medicine Hat Tigers (41-17-3-1), the Calgary Hitmen (39-15-3-3) and the Lethbridge Hurricanes (38-19-2-2).
The Hurricanes are third in the Central Division and are eight points up on the Raiders in the overall Eastern Conference standings. The odds of the Hurricanes or either the Hitmen and the Tigers hitting a tailspin to fall out of one of those top three spots is slim.
After the first round, the teams reseed via conference standings points, which means the Tigers, Hitmen and Hurricanes would all have home ice advantage over the Raiders if the WHL standings entering play Tuesday remain as they are.
With that noted, the Raiders, Wheat Kings and Blades aren’t struggling to earn a post-season berth. Entering play on Tuesday, the Raiders need just one more win of any type to officially be in the WHL Playoffs.
Still, it is pretty special any time you can win a division championship banner. The Raiders last earned a division banner for topping the East Division for the 2019-20 campaign, which was cut short due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There were no WHL Playoffs in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
The Raiders also got a division banner among the many banners they claimed for topping the WHL’s overall standings in 2018-19. Of course, the Raiders went on to capture the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL champions in the 2019 post-season.
Before the 2018-19 campaign, the Raiders last division banner came from the 1998-99 campaign for topping the East Division. That Raiders team included a pair of 16-year-old rookies named Scott Hartnell and Riley Cote, Milan Kraft, Marc Brown, Cody Jensen, Garrett Prosofsky, Nick Schultz and netminder Evan Lindsay.
For any of the players that were on Raiders teams that topped the East Division, it is still cool to visit the Art Hauser Centre and see the banner you won hanging in the rafters. The same would go for players from the Wheat Kings and Blades for their respective home rinks.
Overall, the Raiders in the current campaign have had a memorable season. The obvious joys have come from watching 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand, Tomas Mrsic, Aiden Oiring, Lukas Dragicevic, Brayden Dube, Rilen Kovacevic, Niall Crocker, Justice Christensen and Daxon Rudolph all have great campaigns. Actually, you can go down the Raiders lineup and pretty much everyone has created memories including backup netminder Dimitri Fortin, Vojtech Vochvest, Matteo Fabrizi, Harrison Lodewyk, Riley Boychuk, Ty Meunier, Ethan Bibeau and Dayce Derkatch.
As far as the Raiders go, now is totally the time to live in the present. This Raiders team has been an enjoyable one to watch. Before you know it, the current campaign will be over, but the memories will remain.
Huskies host Mount Royal in Canada West men’s hockey final
While most in Prince Albert will be focusing their attention on a home-and-home series between the Raiders and Blades this weekend, there will be folks in “Hockey Town North” paying attention to the Canada West Conference men’s hockey championship series.
Of course, the Raiders host the Blades at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday, and those clubs go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. While those games are going on, Merlis Belsher Place on the University of Saskatchewan campus will be hosting the best-of-three Canada West Championship Series between the host Huskies and the Mount Royal University Cougars.
Games 1 and 2 of that series are slated for Friday and Saturday respectively at 7 p.m. on both nights at Merlis. If necessary, Game 3 is set for Sunday at 6 p.m. at Merlis. There will be Raiders followers that are likely hoping the Canada West final goes to a series deciding Game 3.
The Huskies topped the Canada West regular season standings with a 23-5 record and were rated second in the final U Sports Top 10 Rankings. They eliminated the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a Canada West semifinal series claiming a 4-2 victory in a series deciding Game 3 this past Sunday at Merlis before a standing room crowd of 2,605 spectators.
The U of S roster contains former Raiders players Landon Kosior, Keaton Sorensen, Rhett Rhinehart and Ty Prefontaine. Rhinehart and Prefontaine had short stays with the Raiders. Former Prince Albert Mintos under-18 AAA players Josh Pillar and Ashton Ferster are also with the Huskies along with Prince Albert minor hockey system product Ethan Regnier.
The Huskies are guided by head coach Brandin Cote, who was a Raiders assistant coach in 2016-17. Cote was named the Canada West coach of the year on Tuesday.
The Cougars finished second overall in the Canada West regular season with a 22-6 mark and were rated fourth in the final U Sports Top 10 Rankings. They took out the U of Alberta Golden Bears 4-2 in a series deciding Game 3 in the other Canada West semifinal series last Sunday in Calgary at the Flames Community Arena.
Mount Royal’s roster contains fourth-year forward Spencer Moe, who was one of the core players in the Raiders WHL title win in 2019. Moe played his entire WHL career with the Raiders from 2016 to 2021. The Cougars roster also contains third year defenceman Remy Aquilon, who played three seasons for the Raiders from 2019 to 2022.
Thanks to making the Canada West final, the Huskies and Cougars have advanced to the U Sports Championship Tournament – the University Cup. That event, which will be played in an elite-eight single-elimination format, runs from March 20 to 23 at TD Place in Ottawa, Ont.
Soyko pushes Pandas to Canada West final
Abby Soyko had the most memorable game of her university career to push the U of Alberta Pandas women’s hockey team to their Canada West final.
Taking on the Mount Royal University Cougars in a series deciding Game 3 of a Canada West semifinal last Sunday at the Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Alta., Soyko came up clutch, scoring twice and assisting on the overtime winner in a 3-2 Pandas victory. In overtime, the all-time leading scorer for the Prince Albert Northern Bears female under-18 AAA team put a drive on net, and the rebound of the third-year forward’s shot was buried home by linemate Natalie Kieser.
In the three game series with the Cougars, Soyko posted two goals, three assists and a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department. During the 2024-25 regular season, Soyko appeared in 18 games with the Pandas recording career highs in goals (10), assists (10) and plus minus (plus-13) in being named a second team Canada West all-star.
Game 1 of the Canada West final is set for Thursday, Game 2 is slated for Friday and if necessary, Game 3 will be held on Saturday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Games 1 and 2 are set for 7 p.m. local time, while Game 3 is scheduled for 5 p.m. local time.
The Pandas, who finished second overall in Canada West with a 24-3-0-1 mark and were rated third in the final U Sports Top 10 Rankings, travel to Vancouver to face the UNB Thunderbirds in a best-of-three Canada West Championship Series. The Thunderbirds topped Canada West with a 25-2-1 mark and were rated first in the final U Sports Top 10 Rankings. UBC’s roster contains fourth-year defender and Bears grad Kailee Peppler.
Both the Pandas and Thunderbirds have qualified for the U Sports Championship Tournament that will be played in an elite-eight, single-elimination format from March 20 to March 23 in Waterloo, Ont.
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.
