Do you like 20-goal men?
While the Prince Albert Raiders have lots of 20-goal men – eight to be exact. Entering play on Tuesday, they include Daxon Rudolph (28), Aiden Oiring (28), Max Heise (28), Brandon Gorzynski (27), Braeden Cootes (22), Jonah Sivertson (22), Brayden Dube (21) and Maddix McCagherty (20). At the moment, 18-year-old import rookie left-winger Alisher Sarkenov is sitting on 19 goals. If he scores one more goal, that would give the Raiders nine 20-goals scorers.
The Raiders 2018-19 WHL title winning team didn’t even have eight 20-goal scorers. The five players who hit the 20-goal mark in that campaign included Noah Gregor (43), Brett Leason (36), Parker Kelly (35), Cole Fonstad (29) and Sean Montgomery (29).
The last time the Raiders had eight players who hit the 20-goal plateau was back in the 1991-92 campaign. The players that hit the 20-goal mark that season included Lee Leslie (52), Jeff Nelson (48), Dan Kesa (46), Dean McAmmond (37), Donevan Hextall (33), Curtis Regnier (30), David Neilson (25) and Jeff Gorman (23).
If Sarkenov scores one more goal to hit 20, it would give the Raiders nine players who hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time since the 1985-86 campaign. That season they included Pat Elynuik (53), Ryan Stewart (52), Dale McFee (47), Tony Grenier (42), Steve Gotaas (40), Kim Issel (29),Scott Kruger (26), Emanuel Viveiros (22) and Rod Dallman (20).
It is possible the Raiders can even hit air that is rarer. Raiders captain Justice Christensen has 16 goals, and it is conceivable he could fire home four more “juice bombs” to hit the 20-goal mark. If both Sarkenov and Christensen hit the 20-goal mark, it would equal the Raiders high for most 20-goal men in their WHL history at 10.
The Raiders had 10 players hit the 20-goal plateau back in the famed 1984-85 campaign where they won the WHL championship and the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions. The 20-goal men on that squad included Dan Hodgson (70), Dave Pasin (64), Grenier (62), Ken Morrison (51), McFee (32), Gotaas (32), Brad Bennett (32), Collin Feser (25), Dean Braham (23) and Elynuik (23).
In their junior A days in the SJHL, the Raiders did have one season where they had 11 players who hit the 20-goal mark. That came in the 1980-81 campaign where the Raiders won their third Centennial Cup as national champions in junior A. The 20-goal men included Greg Paslawski (48), Kevin Lunney (44), Dave Tippett (42), Warren Harper (35), Bill Watson (30), Doug Hendricks (29), Tim Braaten (28), current skill development and respect champion and team lifer Mark Odnokon (28), Bob Lowes (25), Carl Van Camp (24) and James Patrick (21).
The WHL record for most 20-goal scorers on one team is 12 held by both the 1980-81 Portland Winterhawks and the 1985-86 Medicine Hat Tigers.
Actually, the current Tigers are the only team to match the Raiders in 20-goal men entering play Tuesday. The eight 20-goal scorers on the Tigers include Bryce Pickford (44), Liam Ruck (43), Noah Davidson (29), Jonas Woo (28), Luke Cozens (25), Kade Stengrim (23), Markus Ruck (20) and Kadon McCann (20).
Still, the Raiders goal-scoring depth has been a huge reason they have built a 49-10-5-1 mark entering play Tuesday. It isn’t a surprise they are in a big battle with the 48-10-5-3 Tigers for first in the Eastern Conference. Medicine Hat actually has a better record than when they finished first in the Eastern Conference last season with a 47-17-3-1 mark and advanced on to win the WHL with the services of a star forward trio in Gavin McKenna, Ryder Ritchie and Cayden Lindstrom who opted to play in the NCAA over returning to the WHL.
The Raiders roster also includes players like Riley Boychuk, Owen Corkish, Ben Harvey and Evan Smith, who all have over 10 goals this season and could end up being 20-goal men in future campaigns. Harvey, who is a 16-year-old first-year player, was named the WHL’s rookie of the week on Monday for showing off his potential.
Last Friday, he had three goals, three assists and a plus-six rating in the plus-minus department in an 11-0 romp over the Moose Jaw Warriors. One day later, Harvey had an absolutely sick goal in the tiebreaking shootout as the Raiders downed the host Regina Pats 2-1 in extra time.
The Raiders are going places they haven’t gone in some time when it comes to the large number of 20-goal men on their roster. That type of depth should be a huge advantage in the tail end of the regular season and when the post-season gets underway.
Some Silvertips fans have mixed emotions to topping WHL, other notes
Prince Albert Raiders 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube jets into the offensive zone last Friday at the Art Hauser Centre. Entering play on Tuesday, Dube has 21 goals on the season. Entering play on Tuesday, the Raiders have eight players on their roster who have scored 20 or more goals – their most since the 1991-92 campaign.
Some fans of the Everett Silvertips aren’t sure if it is a good thing their team will finish first overall in the WHL.
On Saturday, the Silvertips downed the visiting Penticton Vees 4-3 in overtime. The victory locked up a first place finish for the Silvertips in the WHL’s overall standings allowing them to claim the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for a second straight year.
One day later, the Silvertips traveled to Portland, and they downed the host Winterhawks 8-5. That victory allowed them to improve to 55-7-2-1 for 113 standings points. The wins and standings points total are new team records for the Silvertips beating out the 54-15-1-2 mark for 111 points they posted in the 2006-07 campaign.
The Silvertips topped the WHL’s overall standings that season as well as last season, where they went 48-12-4-4. Before the current campaign, those are the only two previous seasons the Silvertips finished first overall in the WHL, and they were not able to make a conference final or the league final in either of those seasons.
In the 2007 WHL Playoffs, the Silvertips fell in a best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series 4-2 to the Prince George Cougars. The Cougars sealed the series with an 8-2 victory at home in Game 6.
In last year’s WHL Playoffs, Everett again fell in a best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series this time to the Winterhawks. The set went to a series-deciding Game 7, which the visiting Winterhawks claimed 4-2 at the Angel of the Winds Arena.
Silvertips fans in general are elated that their team once again topped the overall WHL standings for a third time in team history. For some, superstition is taking over, and judging by some comments on social media, they aren’t sure if topping the WHL regular season standings is a good thing noting the Silvertips didn’t make a conference final let alone the WHL final the last two times Everett was first overall.
The Silvertips have made the WHL final twice in their history. During their inaugural campaign in 2004-04, they topped the U.S. Division and placed eighth overall in the WHL with a record of 35 wins, 27 losses, eight ties and two overtime losses. They advanced to the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series only to be swept by the Tigers 4-0.
During the 2017-18 campaign, the Silvertips topped the U.S. Division and the Western Conference and placed third overall in the WHL with a 47-20-2-3 mark. They advanced to the WHL final only to fall 4-2 to the Swift Current Broncos.
It can be argued that the Silvertips might have one of the best teams they’ve ever had with the likes of Matias Vanhanen, Julius Miettinen, Carter Bear, Landon DuPont, Tarin Smith, Zackary Shantz, Jesse Heslop and Ryan Gould to go along with the goaltending duo of Anders Miller and Raiden LeGall.
If the Silvertips don’t make it to the Western Conference final, you can make a case they are facing a curse when they do finish first overall in the WHL’s regular season.
- Just a reminder, if two teams are tied with the same amount of standings points for the last playoff spot in either conference in the WHL, the two tied clubs will play a tiebreaking game. The tiebreaking game will be hosted by the team that has more wins. Entering play Tuesday, that scenario could involve the seventh place Regina Pats (25-31-7-2) at 59 points, the eighth place Red Deer Rebels (25-34-4-2) at 56 points and the ninth place Moose Jaw Warriors (24-35-5-2) at 55 points. In the Western Conference, that could include the seventh place Seattle Thunderbirds (28-27-6-4) at 66 points and the Winterhawks (29-30-6-1) and the Victoria Royals (28-28-6-3) who are tied for eighth place with 65 points.
- On January 31, the Tri-City Amerians beat the visiting Wenatchee Wild 3-2 in overtime to improve to 25-18-3-1 and appeared to be a safe bet to make the WHL Playoffs. They proceeded to go 1-16-1 over their next 18 contests to fall to 26-34-4-1 to be eliminated from post-season contention.
- On December 19, the Kelowna Rockets entered their WHL Christmas break falling to the host Raiders in Prince Albert 8-3 to fall to 16-12-3-1. After coming back from the Christmas break, the Rockets, who will host this season’s Memorial Cup, have gone 22-7-3-2 to improve to 38-19-6-3. They are guaranteed to finish in the top four of the Eastern Conference and will have home ice advantage for a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs.
- On the second last day of the WHL regular season on Saturday, the Saskatoon Blades will host the Raiders at 7 p.m. in the final regular contest for both clubs in the 2025-26 campaign. The Blades are expecting to draw over 10,000 spectators for this contest. The contest is the Blades inaugural Legend’s Night, where they will unveil their Saskatoon Blades Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame will include all Blades players who have had their numbers retired and builders who have been recognized with their names on banners in the rafters of the SaskTel Centre. The Blades will also induct Kelly Chase and Mark Wotton into their Hall of Fame. Chase had been in a fierce battle against cancer, and he said in late 2025 his cancer was in remission.
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.
