For the first time in more than three years, Marc Habscheid will be back behind the bench at the Art Hauser Centre.
While it won’t be with the Prince Albert Raiders, the franchise he led to a WHL championship in 2019, longtime WHL coach is still looking forward to being back in Hockey Town North on Saturday.
“I’m excited,” said Habscheid, the current Red Deer Rebels bench boss who stepped down from coaching the Raiders in 2022. “That (Prince Albert) is a special place. Everybody there, we built something pretty special. No one was more important than anyone else. We did it together. There’s a saying that you win together today and tomorrow you walk together forever and that’s the case.
“That not only includes the players, but the city, the people, (and) the fans. Everyone was a part of it, and for sure I’m excited to go back because we did something special together. Just to see the people, to see the rink, to see the stands, the people in the stands, it’s a privilege for me to come back.”
Habscheid’s Raiders gave hockey fans one of the most memorable WHL Finals in league history. In 2019, they jumped out to a three-games-to-one series lead over the Vancouver Giants, before losing Game 5 in Vancouver and Game 6 in Prince Albert.
Facing overtime in Game 7, Dante Hannoun etched his name into Raiders lore with a memorable overtime winner that sent the Art Hauser Centre crowd into a frenzy. Years later, Habscheid still has fond memories of that group.
“We were a family,” he said. “The players were so tight and the coaches and the management. Everyone was on the same page. The city was supporting us and the fans were supporting us. It was a group effort. It was a team and it just really, really goes to show what you can do as a team.”
Habscheid’s Raiders were doing a great job of defending their championship in 2020 when COVID-19 struck and the WHL cancelled their season. The Raiders had a five-point lead on the Winnipeg Ice for first place in the East Division at the time.
When play resumed in 2020-21, it did so under a bubble with a shortened 24-game inter-divisional schedule and no playoffs. The Raiders were back in the post-season when the regular playoff format returned in 2021-22, but the veteran Raider core was gone. In its place was a young group that made the playoffs as the Eastern Conferences eighth seed where they bowed out to Winnipeg in five games.
That season was Habscheid’s last in Prince Albert. He stepped down that summer to pursue a coaching opportunity in Europe.
Habscheid coached 440 regular season games with the Raiders. He replaced Cory Clouston mid-season in 2014-15, and four years later hoisted the Ed Chynoweth Cup at the Hauser.
“When I first came in, I still can remember it was a lot of people doing a lot of work,” he said. “There was a lot of people in the building and we all got together—everybody, players, coaches, staff, management, current board, and people of the city—and we just all had a goal in mind. (It was) a common goal and we all built it together and it culminated in 2019. To see the people filling the building and on the crates and—even after the years after ’19, just the love of the team and the passion for the team—it being a rallying point in this city was great to see.”
While he enjoyed his time on the other side of the Atlantic, Habscheid said he missed the camaraderie that comes with being on a WHL club.
“I really enjoyed coaching overseas for a couple of years, but the thing that I probably miss was there you have maybe one person on your staff,” he explained. “You had so much fun in the coaches room in Prince Albert, and I miss that. You miss even the time with the players at that age.
“It was good. I really enjoyed it. I loved living over there. I still will live over there. I have a place over there, but it’s just something about this league that was a draw coming back for sure.”
Habscheid’s isn’t in Prince Albert any more, but he faces a task that’s similar to the one he began in Prince Albert in 2015. The Red Deer Rebels missed the playoffs last year for the first time since the bubble season. Before that, they were knocked out of the playoffs in the second round three straight seasons.
Habscheid said he’s enjoyed working with Rebels GM Brent Sutter, and they’re willing to stay patient with the current Red Deer team that beat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-2 on Sept. 27 for their first win of the season.
“He’s a good man,” Habscheid said of Sutter. “He runs a great organization. He’s got a great culture here. The work ethic, the facility we have, has been great, but the on ice product is a work in progress.
“Him and I and the staff, we’ve been around the block a few times. It’s a process. We’re working to get there. We’ve tried to adjust a few things, and to do that takes time. Much like we did in Prince Albert, there’s a process to it.
“I’m not that young anymore, but I’ve been around the block a few times so we have an idea of what we’re doing. We’re just going to stay the course and be patient with it and every day just keep building.”
The Prince Albert Raiders and Red Deer face off at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave the incorrect year of Marc Habscheid’s final season with the Raiders. It has since been updated.
