John MacNeil
Daily Herald
A late rally sparked the Prince Albert Raiders to a 6-5 victory over the host Saskatoon Blades on Tuesday in the opening pre-season game for both Western Hockey League teams.
Alex Boldt, a Minnesota forward drafted last spring, scored the winning goal with 37 seconds left in regulation time, not long after Athens Shingoose evened the score with his power-play goal with 1:09 remaining.
The teams went on to play five minutes of three-on-three overtime, per league rules for the pre-season.
Including a two-goal performance from Caleb Mozell, a couple of buddies from Saskatoon scored for the Raiders in their hometown rink. Mozell, 15, and Louis Judd, 16, accounted for the Raiders’ first-period offence as the Blades opened a 3-2 lead at the SaskTel Centre.
The pair of forwards are slated to be teammates this season with the U18 AAA Saskatoon Blazers, along with Raiders’ goaltending prospect Cash Borowski, 16.
John O’Shea, a 16-year-old forward from Minnesota, tallied for Prince Albert in the second period, after which Saskatoon led 4-3.
The Blades’ goals came from Teagan Dernisky, with two, Landon Medin, Alexander Sharman and Wesley Truax.
Evan Wandler and Chase Kettles tended goal for Prince Albert, while Bracken Larocque and Max Hartel were between the Saskatoon pipes.
The Raiders outshot the Blades 41-34.
Both teams’ first-round selections from the 2025 draft appeared in Tuesday’s game. Saskatoon selected Kain Martinuik with the 15th overall pick, just before Prince Albert took another forward, Shingoose, at No. 16. Both players participated in Hockey Canada’s national under-17 development camp this summer.
SUBHEADLINE: Richards makes his Prince Albert case
While the opening exhibition game was mostly about evaluating prospects for the future, Prince Albert’s training camp and pre-season overall also involves older candidates vying for more immediate jobs.
One of those intriguing Raiders’ prospects who didn’t play Tuesday is 17-year-old forward Kai Richards, who was drafted twice in the WHL. Prince Albert selected him in the 11th round last May, two years after the Seattle Thunderbirds made the St. Albert, Alta., product a seventh-round draft choice.
Richards, who scored at a point-per-game clip last winter with the U18 AAA St. Albert Raiders of the Alberta Elite Hockey League, showed some of that flash during intrasquad action on the weekend. He also participated in Monday’s Green-and-White game, mostly involving veteran players.
“I was pretty excited to come down here and see the city,” Richards said. “I had never been here before, so it’s a very new experience. But I’ve loved it here so far. I’m excited to get things going.”
Sporting hockey pants with Seattle’s crest, Richards has moved swiftly during Prince Albert’s camp, highlighting the speed that’s an integral part of his game.
“For sure,” he said. “I’d say I pride myself in playing a fast-paced game. Just making things happen with my speed. I’ve been trying to bring that most of camp.”
At the U18 AAA level, Richards scored 14 goals and 34 points in 35 games last season with St. Albert.
“That comes from my speed, too, making plays in the O zone,” he said. “I think I’m a playmaker, so if the play is open when I’m skating, I just try to make that (offence) happen.”
The major junior Raiders took time from their busy playoff run last spring to pluck an older player from the crop in Richards, who wasn’t necessarily expecting to hear his name called in a second WHL draft.
“No, it was a pretty new experience to me,” he said. “My (U18) season ended pretty early, so I had lots of time to prepare for this camp. I was looking forward to it all summer, so I’m happy to be here.
“I just want to showcase my game (in the pre-season) and play like I can play. I know what I can do, so just go out there and show it every game.”
Richards, about five-foot-11 and 160 pounds, has turned the page after being dropped from Seattle’s protected list.
“It was obviously a bit of a shock,” he said. “I didn’t really fully set in there. But I’m happy to be here. That’s all I care about right now.”
Prince Albert’s pre-season continues with a Friday home game against the Moose Jaw Warriors. It’s a 7 p.m. start at the Art Hauser Centre.
