What would that scrappy 14-year-old Prince Albert Mintos forward from 2002 have said if someone told him he would become the head coach of the Prince Albert Raiders one day?
Way back in 2002, Ryan McDonald attended training camp and skated in practice sessions with the Mintos under-18 AAA team looking to get some extra ice time before playing in his upcoming under-14 season. The young 14-year-old who lived on 11th Avenue East made an approach to the Mintos coaching staff, who elected to have him on the ice as an extra skater for drills.
The Mintos were looking to have a fairly strong team that season, and they would have a number of forwards who all had great campaigns including Chris Wilson, Tyler Mugford, Cole Fern, Scott Vaughan and Dallas Thiessen. As the skating sessions went on, an idea came up about offering McDonald a spot on the Mintos forward group as a 14-year-old underage player.
Ron Bonneau, who was the Mintos head coach that season, brought the idea up amongst the team’s older players, and they thought it would be a good idea to have McDonald on the team. When offered the spot, McDonald was more than happy to suit up for the Mintos.
As a player, McDonald played a style of game fairly identical to Brad Marchand, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and more recent Raiders alum Parker Kelly. McDonald had the skill to score, but he wasn’t afraid to mix it up and agitate. When he got an opposition player off his game, that trademark pest smirk would come across McDonald’s face.
The often overlooked part about the feisty and pest type player is that they are the perfect teammate, when they are on your side. They are viewed as the guy that would do anything to win a game.
During his 14-year-old season with the Mintos, McDonald appeared in 39 regular season games recording 10 goals, four assists and 66 minutes in penalties. WHL scouts were flocking to the rink to see McDonald play with the Mintos, because they wanted to see how he would handle competing against players that were one to three years older than him.
He was selected by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the second round and 38th overall in the 2003 WHL Bantam Draft. McDonald was pegged as a player that could potentially step in and play in the WHL right away.
In his 15-year-old and final campaign with the Mintos in 2003-04, he appeared in 42 regular season games recording 22 goals, 19 assists and 109 penalty minutes. Before that season’s WHL trade deadline, the Wheat Kings dealt McDonald’s WHL rights to the Regina Pats as part of a blockbuster deal to get star netminder Josh Harding.
McDonald, who stood 5-foot-11 and weighed 174 pounds in his WHL playing days, kept up his style of play through his five seasons in the WHL skating for the Pats and the Raiders. He was acquired by the Raiders part way through the 2006-07 campaign. He ultimately played in 306 WHL regular season contests posting 97 goals, 86 assists and 391 penalty minutes.
During that time, McDonald would often joke his idol was Kindersley, Sask., product and Medicine Hat Tigers high scoring agitator Derek Dorsett. After helping the Tigers win a WHL title in 2007, Dorsett went on to a professional career that included playing in the NHL from 2008 to 2017 with the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.
McDonald wasn’t able to move on to the professional ranks as a player. From 2009 to 2014, he played four seasons in the U Sports ranks including three campaigns for the Lakehead University Thunderwolves in Thunder Bay, Ont., from 2009 to 2012 and one season with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in 2013-14. In 78 career regular season games in U Sports, McDonald posted 40 goals, 32 assists and 88 penalty minutes.
Over all those years as a player, the idea that McDonald would become the Raiders head coach wasn’t on anyone’s mind.
Speed up to the current day, McDonald is a married family man and head coach of the Raiders. In that role, you would have never thought he was a feisty forward type that liked to stir things up like Marchand. The 37-year-old McDonald is the mindful players’ first head coach who guides his team in a style similar to current long time Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins.
While he never played for Desjardins, McDonald as a member of the Pats did play for current Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt, who was the Pats head coach for almost all of McDonald’s time with the team. Hunt was a mindful players’ first head coach when he worked behind the bench.
McDonald played for a number of coaches who all had good traits to draw from including Bonneau, Peter Anholt and Bruno Campese from the Raiders and Dave Adolph with the Huskies. Still, McDonald, who joined the Raiders as an assistant coach before the start of the bubble season in 2021, has his own style and a vibe where it feels like everything is under control.
Another aspect that became apparent behind the bench was that McDonald has the “believe” intangible installed in the players he coaches. That really came to light last season when McDonald went from assistant coach to interim head coach in the Raiders first 15 games coming back from the WHL Christmas break when then head coach Jeff Truitt had to go on medical leave for eye surgery.
The Raiders went 10-4-0-1 over that stretch with McDonald as head coach. The belief factor and “anything is possible” intangibles went up a notch, and I found talking with some close friends on the circuit that was noticed by other teams. That path seemed set that Hunt was going to have to make a tough decision.
Hunt did that this past March 10 relieving Truitt, who is a quality coach and person, of his duties with the Raiders in the midst of going 1-3-2 in a six game stretch. McDonald was promoted to interim head coach.
That move allowed the Raiders to go 5-1 over their last six regular season games to top the WHL’s East Division with a 39-23-5-1 mark. They eliminated the Edmonton Oil Kings in seven games in the first round of the WHL Playoffs before being swept by the eventual WHL champion Tigers in an Eastern Conference semifinal series.
In the off-season, McDonald had the “interim” tag removed from his job title becoming the Raiders head coach. Heading into action on Tuesday, the Raiders lead the East Division with a 12-1-3 mark and are rated fifth in the latest CHL Top 10 Rankings that were released that day.
The belief that McDonald instilled continued as part of the Raiders start as he left the team to be the head coach of team Canada Red for the U17 World Challenge in Truno, Nova Scotia. On Saturday, McDonald guided Canada Red to a 6-3 victory over Canada White in the event’s gold medal game. Canada Red posted a 4-0-1 record at the event.
He got to share that moment with Raiders defenceman Brock Cripps, while Raiders right-winger Ben Harvey was skating for Canada White. McDonald became the first person to win gold medals at the U17 World Challenge as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
McDonald picked up a gold medal as a player in 2004-05 playing for Canada Western while still a member of the Pats. He captured a gold medal as an assistant coach for Canada White last year.
Of course, the sample size of McDonald working as the role of head coach is still a small one. The Raiders will have bumps in the road, and you can expect the always tough current road trip through the U.S. Division will provide some bumps.
Still, McDonald is well on his way. When it comes to being a hockey head coach, it feels like McDonald has the “it” factor. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more successes in store for him as his coaching career goes on.
That feisty 14-year-old forward with the Mintos has done pretty good for himself.
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.
