It was a successful season for the Prince Albert Raiders in 2024-25, despite a slow start.
After starting the season with a 2-7-2-0 record, the Raiders would rally to finish the season with a 39-23-5-1 record and the top spot in the WHL’s East Division.
In an interview with the Daily Herald, Raider general manager Curtis Hunt says it was a remarkable achievement for the team to take home a banner.
“I’m just tickled about how resilient the players (were) and the job that coaches did to get the pennant. We played well enough and competed well enough and took care of our own that when the window opened, we jumped right through it. We’ll look at that forever and it’s what we want to do is put banners up. You can never downplay that, especially when you think about the start we had.”
Throughout the course of the season, several players made their way through Prince Albert thanks to early season trades and younger players getting a shot in the WHL. Hunt gave a lot of credit to the team’s leadership group for keeping the Raiders on track.
“When you look at this season, including our rookie players, we only really had seven players that were here the year before by the time we got through. That’s a lot of work, It’s never easy when you’re shuffling players in and out of the lineup and in and out of your dressing group. Our leadership group, those guys did a tremendous job of keeping our group together when we did have a lot of movement.”
Last offseason, Hunt swung two major trades to improve the Raiders heading into the campaign. Defenceman Lukas Dragicevic was acquired from the Tri-City Americans in July in a deal that saw Terrell Goldsmith head back to Kennewick. In the final days before training camp, Tomas Mrsic was acquired from the Medicine Hat Tigers in a blockbuster move sending Ryder Ritchie back to The Gas City.
Both players were key contributors on the Raider power play, which ranked third in the league during the regular season operating at 28.2 percent proficiency. Prince Albert had the 10th ranked power play in 2023-24 at 23.3 percent.
Hunt says Dragicevic and Mrsic did a lot more than just make the Raider power play more dangerous.
“(Lukas) Dragicevic and (Tomas) Mrsic, what an incredible impact they had on our power play and certainly building that belief that we were in every single game and had a chance to win every single game. I thought that was really good for our club too. I think community wise, when you look at our last six or seven home games, the building’s full, the energy in the city was electric.”
In the postseason, the Raiders fell in a three games to one series deficit against the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round. After a 4-2 win in Game 5 at the Art Hauser Centre and an emotional win in Game 6 in Edmonton, the Raiders would send the series to a winner-take-all Game 7 back in Prince Albert.
With a 5-0 win on home ice in front of a capacity crowd, the Raiders would punch their ticket to the second round for the first time since the 2018-19 championship season.
In the second round, Prince Albert would run into the top-seeded Medicine Hat Tigers who took care of business and advanced to the conference final in four straight.
Hunt says the community support shown throughout the playoffs was incredible to see and something the organization is proud of.
“The biggest thing about the second round is I think development for your players. We all use different recruiting tools when we talk to parents and families and one of the biggest advantages I think we have in our community is the fact that our players are embraced by our community. The fans are interested in getting to know them. We have a tremendous group of billets that support through some difficult times for boys who are going through emotional and certainly physical stress and anxiety as they mature and grow. When you come to the rink and you see tailgating, you see the energy, face painting and the number of jerseys in the crowd, it’s just a tremendous atmosphere and it’s just a tremendous place to play. Every time you hear that horn blow when we score goals and the place lights up, you think the roof’s coming off. I’m proud to be part of it and I’m appreciative to be part of as a manager and how the fans treat myself and our coaches, beyond the players.”
The Raiders had three 16-year-olds playing full-time by season’s end. Daxon Rudolph, Riley Boychuk and Ty Meunier were all selected in the top 10 picks of the first round by Prince Albert in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.
Hunt says all three players bought in to the message from the Raider coaching staff and that paid dividends by the end of the season.
“The first part of the year, it’s tough for them. It’s the toughest year of their life. They’re not playing as much as they’re used to. They don’t get the freedom or the leeway that they’re used to as younger players. They’re all elite players when they come to the program. It’s just a matter of how quickly they can adapt to the schedule, school, fatigue, eating the right way, taking care of things off the ice so that when they get on the ice, they can perform at their best and it’s not easy. It’s a very tough year for young guys and I thought two things: our young guys (did a) tremendous job staying the course. I think we saw the dividends immediately January 1 where all three of them really took off and that’s a pivotal time. That Christmas break, go home, reset. They came back, all of them scored huge goals, all of them had scoring streaks and runs. That was really the window of the future in my opinion, and certainly a huge step for those players individually as they continue to develop their game.”
With just six games in the regular season, the Raiders would make a coaching change relieving Jeff Truitt of his duties. Ryan McDonald took over as the interim head coach and led the Raiders to a 5-0-1-0 record down the stretch.
Hunt was noncommittal on removing the interim tag from McDonald and says the Raiders will take their time when it comes to determining the team’s coaching staff for next season.
“I’m not really going to talk about that. I think we’ll keep those conversations internal right now. It’s a big decision for the organization. I think we’ll take our time as well.”
sports@pahearld.sk.ca
