Column: Gards, Leon and empty seats

Raider assistant captain Reid Gardiner put on a show against Vancouver and Medicine Hat at the Art Hauser Centre.  It’s too bad more fans weren’t on hand to witness a two game effort that earned the 19 year old from Humboldt WHL player of the week (more on that later).

In addition to an assist and a bar down snipe to tie the game Friday, the Raider assistant captain snapped in the shootout winner in confident fashion.  The hard working right winger scored twice Saturday including the overtime winner which went in despite his stick snapping in two.  Gardiner was a warrior throwing hits, taking hits and worked the walls with determination.  The type of total game we have come to expect from three year veteran that remains under appreciated by pro scouts.  The Raiders will depend heavily on Gardiner’s skill, work ethic and leadership this season.

The Prince Albert crew could have used the same from German import Leon Draisaitl last season. It seems the only people in hockey who felt the big, extremely skilled but inexperienced prospect drafted third overall in 2014 was ready for the NHL, resided in the Edmonton Oilers coaching and front offices.  They didn’t figure out Draisaitl was better off getting more seasoning in junior hockey until his 37-game NHL experiment ended with 2 goals and 7 assists.  The Raiders who were beset with injuries and without their best player for the first half of the season were unlikely to make the playoffs, so the Oilers told GM Bruno Campese to trade Draisaitl to Kelowna or he isn’t coming back.

Draisaitl’s short tenure in Kelowna included 19 goals and 34 assists in 32 games while helping lead a power house Rockets team all the way to the Memorial Cup final. The new Oiler brass has decided Draisaitl still isn’t ready for primetime, sending him to Stockton of the AHL. It’s the final slap in the face the Raiders and their fans will have to absorb in the entire fiasco.

Finally, where are the fans? Attendance for the three home games was under 2,700 for the home opener and well under 2,200 for the following two games, two of which were settled in overtime, the other in a shootout.  This is astonishing considering the amount of positivity toward the team over the summer over developments like long-term contracts for coaches Marc Habscheid and Dave Manson as well as the hiring of Curtis Hunt as GM.

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These were weekend games and the Friday night contest against the Vancouver Giants featured free admission for kids accompanied by an adult courtesy of the Giant Tiger promotion. The team basically broke even last season despite missing the playoffs and a decline in attendance.  However, that was achieved by trimming the non-hockey budget to its bare bones.

The games are great entertainment. The staff is a small, terrific—but overworked—crew, passionate about the team who are trying everything they can to get bums in the seats. The long-term viability of the Raiders depends on more than 2,150 fans on a weekend.  The fact there have only been slight waves of improvement over the past decade makes me wonder it Prince Albert really wants WHL hockey?

dwilson@panow.com

On twitter: RaidersVoice