Nathan Reiter
Special to the Herald
There are certain things in life that you can’t recreate in a digital medium and need to be experienced in person. Whether it be the experience of playing a world class golf course or seeing the natural beauty of a picturesque mountain landscape, seeing it on a screen just doesn’t do it justice.
Something else that needs to be experienced in person for any junior hockey fan is a game at the Art Hauser Centre. As someone who used to live in Prince Albert and watched numerous Raider games while working for the Daily Herald, there’s something special about that building that I have a hard time putting into words.
Now that I’ve moved closer to my family in Lethbridge, I’ve missed the experience of getting to watch games in the Hauser. I’ve been keeping tabs on the Raiders throughout the season watching games on Victory Plus, but you could have the best production team in the world and you aren’t going to replicate what makes that building special.
I was fortunate enough to get some time off work to come up to Prince Albert for the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final and I’m very glad that I did.
You can’t be a human being with a pulse and not have goosebumps after the national anthem performance ahead of Game 1 or 2. While O Canada was sung by the always excellent Carole Ring, the sellout crowd of 3,299 was behind her for each and every lyric and provided this sense of electricity that made you excited for puck drop. Even going back and watching some videos of the moment shared on social media, it doesn’t do it justice for what it was like to be there in person.
Another moment that pops into my mind is the first goal of Game 1 scored by Raider overager Brayden Dube. While viewers on Victory Plus were treated to an excellent call of the moment by Raider broadcaster Nick Nielsen and colour commentator Martin Ring, nothing can match the pop of the crowd in that moment. I say this with no disrespect to Nick, Marty or Tigers broadcaster Will Bryant but that play could have been called by an all-time great broadcaster such as Garry Thorne or late greats Ric Jeanneret and Bob Cole, I’d still choose to experience it in person at the Art Hauser Centre every single time.
You can tell the players enjoy the experience when they get a chance to play in front of a capacity crowd at the Art Hauser Centre. Raider forward Max Heise spoke to reporters following the 8-3 win for Prince Albert in Game 1.
“I had chills going out there tonight,.” Heise explained. “It was pretty cool (to) see this community and this town rally around our team. It’s really special and all the boys in there get fired up for it.”
With no disrespect to any other building or fanbase in the WHL, Prince Albert is in a league of its own when it comes to atmosphere. I’ve had the privilege of being in some other buildings around the league when they have a full building, but it’s hard to put into words what separates the Art Hauser Centre from everywhere else.
First off, the way the rink is set up plays a huge factor. With the steeper seating bowl, a majority of fans are way closer to the ice surface than anywhere else in the WHL. With the old wooden roof being so close to the ice, it definitely helps bounce sound waves and make the crowd seem like it is easily two or three times the size.
After Game 2 on Friday, I had a conversation with a player on Medicine Hat off the record for a story to write up once I got back to Lethbridge. He even agreed with me that the atmosphere in PA is unlike anywhere he has ever played.
It remains to be seen what the future has in store for the Art Hauser Centre. With the WHL wanting teams to play in bigger facilities, it appears the days for the building that opened as the Communiplex in 1971 could be numbered.
It’s incredible that the facility has lasted into 2026 considering the league wasn’t happy with the facility in the early 2000s. I have to give a huge shoutout to the late Donn Clark, Bruce Vance and everyone else who contributed to the Bring Back The Magic campaign to help breathe life back into the facility and keep it going for so long.
Whenever the date comes that the Raiders do have to say goodbye to the Hauser, it’s going to be a sad one. Several other teams lost a bit of that magic when they said goodbye to their former homes. Although I never experienced it, several people have told me that Moose Jaw hasn’t been quite the same since the Warriors moved out of the Crushed Can. While last season’s run to a championship helped a bit, Medicine Hat hasn’t been able to remake the atmosphere that The Arena provided at Co-op Place.
With the current junior hockey landscape meaning there is no guarantee of who is going to be on your roster on a year-to-year basis, you never know what the future holds. This could very well be the last deep playoff run that the Raiders enjoy in the Hauser, although I hope that is not the case. One thing is for certain, this year’s edition of the Prince Albert Raiders is a special team and I’d love to see them bring the Ed Chynoweth Cup back to where it truly belongs: Hockeytown North.
Nathan Reiter is the former sports reporter for the Prince Albert Daily Herald and currently works for the Lethbridge Herald.
