Raider Wall of Honour to grow by 8 in 40th Anniversary Season

Peter Anholt – Player (SJHL)

Peter Anholt has been labelled the “Consummate Prince Albert Raider” for his work ethic, passion and dedication he displays towards everything in his life, molded by his time in a Raider uniform from 1978-82. Anholt played on 3 Centennial Cup Championship teams: 1979, 1981 and 1982 serving as Captain on the last two National championship squads.

Anholt totaled 106 points and 590 penalty minutes while patrolling the Raider blue line. He went on to play 2 seasons with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

After graduating from the U of S, Anholt returned to Prince Albert and was a Raider Assistant Coach under Rick Wilson. He would parlay coaching into a 14 year, 973 game career at the WHL level as Head Coach with the Raiders (1988-89, 2002-07), Seattle Thunderbirds, Red Deer Rebels and Kelowna Rockets

James Patrick – Player (SJHL)

James Patrick only played one season with the Prince Albert Raiders, 1980-81, but it was a memorable season that launched an incredible career for the defenceman from Winnipeg. In the 1980-81 season Patrick led the Raiders to their third Centennial Cup championship, capturing Canadian Tier II Player of the Year honours, along with Centennial Cup MVP and Centennial Cup First Team All Star.

Patrick registered 82 points from his defensive position during the 80-81 campaign and also was named the MVP of the league All-Star Game and captured the Raiders Top Defenseman Award. He was selected in the first round of the National Hockey League draft in 1981, 9th overall by the New York Rangers.

The following two seasons Patrick would play at the University of North Dakota then one season with the Canadian National team before joining the Rangers late in the 83-84 NHL campaign.

Patrick would go on to a career spanning 1280 NHL games with the Rangers, Hartford, Calgary and Buffalo. He returned to the Sabres organization in 2006 as an Assistant Coach.

Ken Baumgartner – Player (WHL)

Ken Baumgartner was a key member of the Prince Albert Raider teams of the mid 1980’s that would strike fear into many opponents! The lanky defenceman from Flin Flon, Manitoba patrolled the Raider blue line with a legendary physical presence from 1983-86, including the Memorial Cup Championship team of 1985.

In 187 career WHL games Baumgartner had 8 goals and 32 assists, but his 822 minutes in penalties spoke volumes about his style of game. The Raiders Scholastic Player of the Year in 1985 and 1986 was an NHL draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 1985.

Baumgartner went on to a 969 game NHL career with Los Angeles, the Islanders, Toronto, Anaheim and Boston, serving one season as an Assistant Coach with the Bruins in 1999-2000.

Mike Modano – Player (WHL)

When Terry Simpson convinced a 16 year-old player from the Detroit Little Ceasars to come to Prince Albert in 1986 many heads around the hockey world turned. Modano would become a superstar in the Western Hockey League and has become the highest scoring American born player in the history of the National Hockey League.

Modano would play 3 seasons in Prince Albert from 1986-89 with his last season cut short by a wrist injury suffered at the league All Star game. In 176 games as a Raider Modano would collect 118 goals and 176 assists for 294 points, an average of over a point and a half per game.

He would become the first Prince Albert Raider to be selected 1st overall in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota North Stars.

Modano would play 21 seasons with the Stars organization – Minnesota from 1988-93, then Dallas from 1994-2010 and is currently a member of the Detroit Red Wings, although a recently sustained wrist injury has him on the disabled list indefinitely. Modano’s NHL totals currently stand at 1479 games, 559 goals and 808 assists for 1367 points.

The Booster Club – Builder

Formed in 1975 the Booster Club quickly became known as one of the best fund raising organizations for any junior hockey franchise in Canada. Through the 50/50 draw at each game and many other fund raising events the Booster Club was able to make major purchases for the community owned building and team including: the organ for the Comuniplex, team bus, whirl pool for the dressing room and many other amenities that made the Raiders a storied franchise.

The Booster Club also hosted Christmas Parties, Awards Nights, Booster Tents and All Star games to raise funds.

The club became the model for other Booster Clubs across the country.

Steve Peneff – Builder

Steve Peneff’s involvement with the Prince Albert Raiders spanned 1972-87 primarily as the trainer from 72-84 but also many other key volunteer contributions. As the trainer Peneff continued with his regular full time job with Corrections Canada while tending to all of the prerequisites of trainer duties from washing jerseys, repairing equipment, riding the bus and being a father figure to the players.

A self proclaimed “Jack knife carpenter” Peneff also constructed the original visitors dressing room and team office.

John Holash – Builder

John Holash has been an avid Raider fan and supporter from the early days of the organization. Through his job as a representative of Molson he ensured they were major corporate partners of the team for many years, giving above and beyond time and commitment from his required obligations.

In 1991 Holash was asked by the Board of Directors to chair a committee to bring two World Junior games to Prince Albert. He was instrumental in bringing the Soviet Union Vs the United States December 26, 1990 and then Sweden vs. Norway January 4, 1991.

It took well over a year to organize everything for this event for Holash from ticket sales, souvenirs, programs, media relations, organizing volunteers to accreditation for all volunteers. Holash would tackle every issue head on and always had the clubs best interest at heart. The Raider Hockey club made a sizeable amount of money through these events thanks to the efforts of John Holash.

Bring Back the Magic Campaign Committee – Builder

The community owned Prince Albert Raiders were in a precarious position in the early 2000’s with a building that was constructed in 1971 in need of renovations to bring it up to newly established Western Hockey League standards. Led by Ab Pellegrini, Vic Lemieux, Gary Anderson, Craig Mitchell, Joe Barczai and Bob Twyverthe Bring Back the Magic Campaign Committee was formed after many meetings in 2003.

With the leadership of the Committee many volunteers worked tirelessly to solicit hundreds of donations from the community for the project. In the end the campaign exceeded expectations raising over $6.5 million for the upgrade of the Comuniplex which was completed in 2006. The community would pledge $3.5 Million to the campaign plus a contribution of $3 Million from the City of Prince Albert. The late Art Hauser was the Champion Donor of the campaign donating $1 Million, hence the renaming of the building in his honour.

Construction to the building included: upgrade to the Raider Dressing room and weight room, new offices for the Raiders and City, new seating, an elevator, additional concession space, additional media box space, installation of new lights, a new score clock, addition of 50 feet to the front of the building for a new entrance, expansion to the Ches Leach Lounge, additional washroom space and many other upgrades through out the building.

These 8 will be inducted onto the Raider Wall of Honour in a special pre-game ceremony to take place on Friday, February 18th before the Raiders host the Moose Jaw Warriors at 7 PM.

The following night, Saturday, February 19th, the 40th Anniversary season will be celebrated with a special Alumni Gala. A banquet and dance featuring up and coming CCMA recording artists Wyatt will be featured. Tickets for the Gala will be available early in January.

by paNOW Staff

Raider Wall of Honour to grow by 8 in 40th Anniversary Season

paNOW Staff

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