By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders hold unprecedented prospect signing ceremony

May 13, 2017 | 4:53 PM

Kaiden Guhle’s immediate hockey future all started with an innocent joke, which unknowing to anyone at the time, correctly predicted where he would end up.

“Someone made a joke to me this year in the middle of the year, like ‘what if Prince Albert gets the first pick and you go somewhere your brother [went]?’” Guhle said. “I wanted to make that come true.”

That exact scenario came to fruition as the Raiders won the draft lottery and chose Guhle first overall May 4 at the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft in Calgary — five years after taking his older brother Brendan Guhle third overall.

On Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre, Guhle made that foreshadowing joke 100 per cent official as he put pen to paper on his WHL Standard Player Agreement contract with the Raiders, as did fellow first round pick Cohner Saleski and second rounder Ozzy Wiesblatt in front of a crowd at the Raiders’ all-access open house.

Usually, WHL players sign contracts in their own homes or in the privacy of the team’s office. But to have it in front of a crowd, beside a bouncy castle and a face-painting station, is something unprecedented at this level.

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“I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of it [before],” chuckled Raiders business manager Mike Scissons. “I know Curtis [Hunt, Raiders general manager] talked to the league and told them we were going to do this, and they had never heard of it but they loved the idea.

“I think we’ve got something here that we’re incredibly proud of this year. We’ll probably continue with it in the years moving forward.”

The players themselves thought it was a special moment.

“This is a surreal feeling,” Ozzy Wiesblatt, one of the Raiders’ two second round picks, said. “I think it’s something every kid dreams of at some point in their career. I’m really happy.”

The fact that Wiesblatt decided to come down and sign with the Raiders a week after the draft could be considered a tad surprising, judging by how his older brothers had played.

Both of Wiesblatt’s older brothers, Ocean and Orca, took the Junior A route playing with the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Both have committed to the University of Vermont, playing in NCAA Division 1.

But Wiesblatt decided to veer off the beaten trail and play major junior hockey, believing his offensive game would flourish better in the ‘Dub.’

“I think I’m a different calibre of player with my style. The WHL is just a better league for me to go to. I think I fit here better,” Wiesblatt said. “My brothers, they teach me kind of everything, things to do and things not to do. They just helped me along the way with everything.”

For Saleski, he grew up cheering for the Raiders’ biggest rivals, the Saskatoon Blades.

“When I was younger I went to quite a few Blades games,” Saleski admitted. “When you’re younger, you just love your home team. It was so cool. But now I guess I’m a Raiders fan,” he laughed. “It’s exciting.

“Now I know I’ve made it one more step in my hockey career, and that’s closer to my end goal that every kid wants, to play in the NHL. It means a lot.”

Jeff D’Andrea is paNOW’s sports reporter. He can be reached at jdandrea@jpbg.ca or tweet him @jeff_paNOW.