Fun with Raiders versus Blades rivalry never gets old

Memories of past Raiders/Blades clashes get better with age

A post-game sign was all that was needed to announce the rivalry between the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades is still alive and well.

On Saturday before a standing room crowd of 3,044 spectators at the storied and historic 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre, the Blades blanked the host Raiders 4-0. After congratulating their star netminder Evan Gardner on a 29-save shutout win, the Blades players skated to centre and a sign placed up against the glass close to the penalty box caught the attention of most of the Saskatoon skaters.

A Raiders fan was holding a sign that said, “Blades 59 years still no cup.”

That of course is the classic Raiders fan dig at the Blades, who have never won a league title or a Memorial Cup championship joining the WHL as a charter member in the 1966-67 campaign. Actually, you can add two more years on to that sign as the Blades were born in 1964 and played two seasons in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League during a time when all clubs that currently play major junior and junior A were all on the same level and competed for the Memorial Cup.

The Blades never finished above .500 in their two campaigns in the SJHL. As a useful double check for the Raiders faithful, the Blades are currently working on year 62 and still no cup.

With the intensity the two sides displayed in playing against each other in their home-and-home series this past weekend, the rivalry between the clubs isn’t losing any steam. When the Blades claimed victory at the Hauser on Saturday, you could tell they took a little more satisfaction from that outcome compared to when they play anyone else in the WHL.

The same went for the Raiders when they downed the host Blades 3-1 at the SaskTel Centre on Sunday before 6306 spectators, which included a healthy contingent of Raiders fans that made the trip down Highway 11 from Prince Albert to Saskatoon. Having grown up in Prince Albert, Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald has taken part in numerous rivalry clashes in hockey between Prince Albert and Saskatoon including time spent as a player with the Mintos under-18 AAA team and the Raiders.

Following Sunday’s game, McDonald said in a post-game interview that victories over the Blades are meaningful to the team, and he is well aware how much victories over the Blades mean to the faithful in Prince Albert.

“You’re playing your biggest rival,” said McDonald. “You could ask them the same question, and I’m sure they would give you the same answer.

“These two teams they really get up to play each other. Tip your cap to them. They played a tremendous game tonight as well too, and it was a really good hockey game out there.

“That is a playoff style game where you’re fighting for every inch and right until the bitter end and a tight checking game that again the last shot won. You just have to keep itching forward and keep fighting for that inch.”

Of course, the game has changed, and the rivalry doesn’t have the numerous fights or brawls like there were in the 1980s and 1990s. There were times you would go to the rink, and it would take three hours in real time to complete the game.

Tensions still get hot in the current day. Saturday’s clash saw a first period fight between Raiders 17-year-old right-winger Jonah Sivertson and Blades 19-year-old right-winger Hunter Laing. Both players are better known for using their hands to put up points as opposed to trading punches.

Just past the midway point in the first period of Sunday’s game, Raiders 19-year-old defenceman Linden Burrett got frustrated when an offensive rush was blown down for an offside. He softly flipped the puck in the air, but it went right at Blades 18-year-old centre Kazden Mathies.

Mathies threw up his arms looking for the call and the officials gave Burrett an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The officials ensured the infraction was called to quiet down players on either side trying to spark agitation whether intentional or not.

Overall, clashes between the Raiders and Blades are must-watch games. The next one is on Saturday, February 14 at 7 p.m. at the Hauser. Don’t expect there to be any warm Valentine’s Day feeling to be shared between those clubs on that night.

Since I started covering the WHL during the 1999-2000 campaign, I’ve seen my share of head-to-head meetings between the Raiders and Blades, and I am getting to that age where someone will say something that triggers a memory over a past encounter I still get a chuckle over.

One memory involves the night Blades star netminder Nolan Maier and Blades agitating left-winger Riley McKay upped their villain treatment in Prince Albert to a WWE level. On December 27, 2019, the Blades slipped past the Raiders 3-2 at the Hauser in a contest where Maier made 32 saves and McKay netted a pair of goals including the winner.

McKay was named the game’s second star that night and Maier took first star honours. When McKay came out for his second star announcement, the boos from the 2,900 spectators in attendance hit one of the louder levels you would have ever heard in the storied rink. McKay proceeded to smile, make a bigger lap, applauded the crowd and could be seen mouthing thank you and that the audience was wonderful many times over.

Maier also soaked in the boos with the smile of a WWE bad guy that just won a title taking out a good guy via underhanded means like a chair shot.

Both enjoyed their moments at the end of that contest.

“I find it is a fun barn to play in,” said McKay after that game. “I love how loud it is in this barn, and I love when fans are giving it to me.

“It fuels me to play harder, so it is fun.”

“I think they are a really passionate fanbase,” said Maier after that contest. “Obviously, it is really special to kind of be a part of this kind of rivalry.

“I like it, especially with the playoffs last year. I’m kind of used to it. It hasn’t been as much as I am kind of used to from last year.

“It is always fun kind of playing in really high intensity games like tonight.”

While Raiders fans won’t believe this, Maier and McKay are both absolute good guys and beauties. They legitimately enjoyed the passion of the faithful in “Hockey Town North.”

There are a bunch of other memories I could talk about over the years I chuckle over. I’ll just quickly mention a handful of them here.

• Near the end of 6-2 Raiders win in Saskatoon on October 14, 2018, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid and Blades head coach Mitch Love were up on the benches having a yelling match at each other. Little did anyone know that would foreshadow the theatre when the two squads met in the second round of the 2019 WHL Playoffs.
• Of course, the meeting in the second round series where the Raiders beat the Blades in six games in the 2019 WHL Playoffs can’t be forgotten as Habscheid and Love put on a show in the media. The intensity in that series hit higher levels with Habscheid calling the Blades divers and Love calling the Raiders head hunters.
• The first WHL regular season game I ever covered for the Herald was Raiders versus Blades clash on September 21, 2001 at the Hauser, when it was then known as the Comuniplex. It was the opening game of the regular season for both sides where the Raiders skated away with a 9-1 win. At the 5:39 mark of the first period, there was a huge line brawl and the officials threw three players on either side out of the game including Raiders enforcer Grant McNeill. Fans were disappointed they wouldn’t be able to see McNeill, who was a sound defenceman, fight more than once.
• There was also the night on January 30, 2004 where Prince Albert product Tanner Shultz stirred the pot as the Blades agitator. In a story I did leading up to that game in the Herald, Shultz said he really loved to get under the skin of the Raiders and he felt he easily could annoy Raiders left-winger Dane Byers and defenceman Chris Schlenker. There were six fights and 138 penalty minutes in that game won 4-0 by the host Raiders. Shultz and Schlenker fought each other twice in that contest.

I only scratched the surface here, but the rivalry between the Raiders and Blades has given everyone on both sides lots of memories in the past and will give lots more memories to be made in the future.

Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer with more than 25 years of experience covering the WHL. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.