Getting the Red Deer Rebels first in the WHL Playoffs might be a good thing for the Prince Albert Raiders.
After topping the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 52-10-5-1 mark finishing the regular season with six straight wins, the Raiders will face real playoff intensity against the Rebels, who finished eighth in the conference 26-36-5-2. Two sides are set to engage in a best-of-seven first round series with Games 1 and 2 set for Friday and Saturday respectively at 7 p.m. at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre.
By tradition, the Raiders and Rebels are mirror images of each other. When they are at their best, they play with great skill offensively, grind out games, play physically, bring a strong work ethic and possess a never quit mentality. The Raiders traditional style dates back to when Terry Simpson was the team’s head coach and general manager, and the Rebels traditionally mirror in the image of their longtime general manager and owner in Brent Sutter.
The Raiders do go into the series with an edge in the experience department. Prince Albert is carrying a roster with five players in the 17-year-old age group and three players in the 16-year-old age group before adding in associate player call ups.
The Rebels are carrying 11 players in their 17-year-old seasons, and five of those players make up the seven skaters on their defensive unit. One of those overall 17-year-olds in centre Beckett Hamilton led the Rebels in scoring with 62 points coming off 24 goals and 38 assists, while 17-year-old right-winger Kalder Varga had 21 goals and 37 points.
Red Deer also has seven players in their 18-year-old seasons and one in his 16-year-old campaign. At the moment, the Rebels are built with the expectation that their brightest days will be in their next two seasons.
With that said, Marc Habscheid is the Rebels head coach, and he will have his players believing this series can be won. The Rebels were better in their final 34 games going 16-16-2, while posting a 10-20-2-2 record over their first 34 contests.
Still, the Raiders and their depth should ultimately carry the day. With the Rebels defence being so young, the Raiders really have to focus on getting the puck deep in the Rebels zone and forcing the young blue-liners to play under pressure.
The Raiders also come at the Rebels with nine players who have scored 20-or-more goals. They include Max Heise (29), Daxon Rudolph (28), Aiden Oiring (28), Brandon Gorzynski (27), Braeden Cootes (24), Jonah Sivertson (24), Brayden Dube (24), Alisher Sarkenov (21) and Maddix McCagherty (20).
Raiders captain Justice Christensen just missed out on being the 10th player to score 20 goals finishing at 18 markers for the campaign. Christensen also missed the Raiders first four games this season after attending the training camp of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.
When it comes to “believe,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald has been able to instill that big time into his players. 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 10-4-1 over that stretch.
The Raiders played so well during that period that Curtis Hunt made the move with six games remaining on their regular season schedule last season to relieve Truitt and let McDonald run in the head coach position. Over those final six games, Prince Albert went 5-1 to top the East Division and rallied from a 3-1 series deficit for a 4-3 series victory against the Edmonton Oil Kings in the first round of the WHL Playoffs.
With McDonald as head coach, the Raiders play to win. They also play with the feeling that “anything is possible.”
Both sides are comfortable in goal. Raiders 18-year-old rookie import netminder and starter Michal Orsulak posted a 28-4-4 record, a 2.22 goals against average, a .907 save percentage and four shutouts. Rookie Steele Bass, who turned 18-years-old in early January, posted an 11-4-1 record, a 1.94 goals against average, a .915 save percentage and three shutouts.
Rebels 18-year-old rookie starting netminder Matthew Kondro has the potential to become one of the WHL’s top puck stoppers one day. While facing a lot of action this season, Kondro posted a 19-19-5 record, a 3.49 goals against average, a .892 save percentage and one shutout.
It will also be important for the Raiders to keep the pedal down in this series. The last two times these clubs met, the Raiders took leads into the third period only for the Rebels to come back and win in regulation.
On March 3 at the Art Hauser Centre, the Raiders were up 3-1 heading into the third only for the Rebels to score three times in the final eight minutes of that frame to pull out a 4-3 victory. On March 7 at the Marchant Crane Centrium in Red Deer, the Raiders took a 1-0 lead into the third, and the Rebels again scored three straight goals in the final eight minutes of that frame to claim a 3-1 victory. That caused the regular season series between the two sides to be split 2-2.
Going into this series, the Raiders, who are rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings, will be heavily favoured. With that said, the Rebels will bring a battle to ensure things will not be easy for the Prince Albert side.
Tigers’ Ruck twins top CHL in scoring, other notes
The WHL and possibly the CHL might not see a set of twin brothers do what the Medicine Hat Tigers’ Ruck twins have done for a long time or potentially ever again.
When the major junior regular season came to an end, Markus and Liam Ruck, who both turned 18-years-old on February 21, topped not only the WHL but the entire CHL in scoring. Markus won the scoring title posting 108 points coming off 21 goals and 87 assists to go with a plus-45 rating in the plus-minus department. Liam placed second in the scoring race with 104 points coming off 45 goals and 59 assists to go with a plus-47 rating.
Maxim Masse, who is a 19-year-old right-winger with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, led the QMJHL in scoring. He posted 102 points coming off 51 goals and 51 assists to go with a plus-62 rating in 63 regular season contests.
Nikita Klepov, who is an 18-year-old rookie import right-winger with the Saginaw Spirit, won the OHL scoring title. He posted 97 points coming off 37 goals and 60 assists to go with a plus-nine rating.
Outside of the Rucks and Masse, there was only one other 100-point scorer in the entire CHL in the 2025-26 regular season. That ended up being right-winger Cameron Schmidt, who turned 19-years-old on January 19, of the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Schmidt was acquired in a trade with the Vancouver Giants on January 5. He finished with 100 points coming off 51 goals and 49 assists playing in 72 regular season contests split between the Thunderbirds and Giants.
As for Markus and Liam Ruck, they likely were the biggest beneficiaries from the fact the Tigers lost three potential returnee forwards to the NCAA ranks. Superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna went to the Penn State University Nittany Lions, right-winger Ryder Ritchie bolted to the Boston University Terriers and centre Cayden Lindstrom went to the Michigan State University Spartans. Had that trio returned, they likely would have been the Tigers top forward line.
Instead, the Rucks were able to play up the Tigers lineup and log important minutes in key situations. It was obvious they were ready for bigger roles in being eligible for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft to be held June 26-27 in Buffalo, New York.
The Rucks played a key role in helping the Tigers top the Central Division and finish third overall in the WHL at 50-10-5-3. The Tigers bettered their regular season record of 47-17-3-1 in 2024-25, when they marched on to win their sixth WHL title.
The Rucks are cementing a legacy with the Tigers and are doing something unique with their scoring prowess as twin brothers that will always be remembered in the history of the CHL.
- Everett Silvertips finished first overall in the WHL with a 57-8-2-1 mark. Their 57 wins and 117 standings points are new team records. Their previous record for wins was 54 and standings points was 111, when they topped the WHL’s overall standings in 2006-07 with a 54-15-1-2 mark.
- This season the WHL’s division winners all finished inside the top four of the circuit’s overall standings for the first time since 2021-22. The Silvertips (U.S. Division) were first, the Raiders (East Division) placed second, the Tigers (Central Division) took third and the expansion Penticton Vees (B.C. Division) claimed fourth. The Vees posted a 44-14-6-4 mark. All four of those squads cracked into the final installment of the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings released on Tuesday, the Silvertips were rated first, the Raiders came in fourth, the Tigers took fifth and the Vees were installed at eighth.
- Prince George Cougars star netminder Joshua Ravensbergen led all WHL goalies with 32 wins this season. In 46 games, Ravensbergen posted a 32-13 record, a 2.51 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and four shutouts.
- Tigers blue-liner Jonas Woo was the highest scoring defenceman in the WHL this season. He recorded 86 points coming off 29 goals, 57 assists to go with a plus-63 rating in 56 games.
- Tarin Smith of the Silvertips led the WHL in plus-minus with a plus-65 rating. In 65 regular season contests, he recorded 16 goals and 55 assists for 71 points.
- The Saskatoon Blades unveiled their Saskatoon Blades Hall of Fame on Saturday. The Hall of Fame was made up of players who already had their numbers retired and builders who have been officially honoured in the past for their contributions to the team. The newest inaugural inductees included rugged right-winger Kelly Chase, who played from 1985 to 1988, defenceman Mark Wotton, who played from 1989 to 1994, and current associate general manager Steve Hildebrand, who started with the club in 2000 as an equipment manager.
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.
