Nathan Reiter
Special to the Herald
Editor’s Note: The Prince Albert Raiders and Medicine Hat Tigers played Game 5 at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday. The final score was not available by press time. Game 6 is back in Medicine Hat on Sunday. Game 7, if necessary, is scheduled for Tuesday.
It’s pretty safe to say that the entirety of Prince Albert is firmly on the Raider playoff train.
While the Raiders are the talk of the town in Hockeytown North every year, the city is in full excitement as the team is in their deepest playoff run since winning the WHL championship in 2019.
While she’s not from Prince Albert, Kristi Oiring has become an honorary resident of the city. She is the mother of Raider forward Aidan Oiring who is in his fourth season in Prince Albert after being acquired in a trade with the Winnipeg ICE.
“He started in Winnipeg and if you weren’t like Geekie, Savoie or Benson, you were nobody and nobody talked to you.” Oiring explained. “I went there, I think only once. It just was like a cold feeling.”
Like any parent would, Oiring had some doubts when her son was first traded to the Raiders on Dec. 31, 2022.
In the time since, Kristi has been welcomed with open arms by the city whenever she comes up to watch her son play. The Mayert family has become her unofficial billet family since she first received a text from Darcy as they both share a distant relative.
Oiring says the support of the community has been great not only for the team on the ice, but also off the ice for Aiden.
“In reality, it turned out that PA.really wanted them. Coming here the first time, (a fan) came up to me and was like ‘oh, are you Mrs. Oiring?’ Ever since then, every time I come here, I meet somebody else that’s new, amazing and cool. It’s not just the support for me, but the support for Aiden. He’s got an old beat up car and there’s people helping him out.”
The Art Hauser Centre was rocking over the weekend for the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final against the Medicine Hat Tigers. Both games were sold out and there were plenty of fans scouring social media trying to find last minute tickets, despite the late April blizzard that rocked much of Saskatchewan keeping many others away.
Raider head coach Ryan McDonald, who grew up in Prince Albert, says players are constantly recognized in the community.
“It’s unbelievable, guys can’t go to the grocery store, they can’t go to the corner store, they can’t go to Tim Hortons or walk down the street without someone wishing them good luck. It’s not just good luck, they call them by name because that’s how invested our fan base is in our group. It’s something truly special to be a part of every day.”
Another area that the Raiders have made a name for themselves has been the 50/50 draw each night during the playoffs. During Game 1 against Medicine Hat on Friday, the total pot was north of $196,000.
50/50 tickets are able to be purchased from anywhere in Saskatchewan. The two other community owned teams in Saskatchewan, the Swift Current Broncos and Moose Jaw Warriors, both made posts to their Facebook pages encouraging their fans to purchase tickets.
“The 50/50 has been incredible. That’s the support of our community, but the support of the province as well, because you can buy across Saskatchewan.” Raider business manager Michael Scissons said in an interview with the Daily Herald.
“We’re getting help from Swift Current and Moose Jaw sharing our 50-50s. That’s the support of community-owned teams. It’s incredible. You see the merchandise flying off the shelves. You see the signs in the windows of the restaurants you go to for lunch, or when you’re getting your eyes checked or whatever the situation is, and it’s pretty incredible to see.”
While the Raiders are representing well on the ice, the business staff of the team also received recognition from the WHL finishing as the finalist for the WHL Business of the Year award.
“I’m extremely happy for our staff to be recognized like that.” Scissons explained. “We got a small group of very experienced people that work extremely hard. Some of the numbers that we were able to pull off from a Victory Plus standpoint, being one of the top teams in the entire league, from unique viewership that way in minutes, to leading the way on the CHL app with what happens on there, our digital numbers, we punch way above our weight in all social medias. It’s just pretty impressive to see the work that a small group of dedicated people can do. I was extremely happy to see the staff recognize that way.”
The Raiders currently sit second in the Battle of the Rinks leaderboard, a promotion put on by Victory+ putting fanbases against each other to earn points by watching live or archived game broadcasts.
Prince Albert currently sits in second place behind the Everett Silvertips. The city of Everett has over 110,000 residents according to a 2020 census and Snohomish County, which Everett sits in has more than 800,000 people.
