Raiders begin preparations for Warriors
The Prince Albert Raiders and Moose Jaw Warriors could not have taken more different paths to the 2018 WHL playoffs.
While Moose Jaw was ranked nationally all year long, eclipsing 100 points for the first time in franchise history and earning the WHL’s regular season title, the Raiders had to fight tooth and nail to earn a playoff berth in the final week of the regular season, on the heels of a nine-game winning streak. After triggering a rebuild in the 2016-17 season with the trades of Brendan Guhle and Reid Gardiner among others, the revamped green-and-gold have proven many doubters wrong by getting back into the playoffs just a year later.
“We’re going to play free, we’re going to play structured, we’re going to play hard, but the pressure’s all on them because they’re the number-two team in the country,” Raiders Head Coach Marc Habscheid said.
Despite missing playoffs a year ago, the Raiders received a crash course in managing the day-to-day emotions of a do-or-die setting as the team raced the Saskatoon Blades for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference all season long. It wasn’t until the fourth-last game of the regular season that Prince Albert clinched their playoff berth.