The Raiders have earned the Scotty Munro Trophy as regular season champions for the first time since 1985. That year, captain Danny Hodgson and the Raiders earned the lone Memorial Cup in franchise history.

By Trevor Redden

Hodgson Reflects

Building a winner: Hodgson remembers a difficult process

Mar 24, 2019 | 3:00 PM

It’s taken a lot of work over two difficult years of building, but the Prince Albert Raiders have clawed their way from the basement to the penthouse as Western Hockey League regular season champions.

For just the second time in franchise history, the Prince Albert Raiders have earned the Scotty Munro Trophy for their regular season performance, and much like the first occurrence in 1985, it’s been an uphill climb.

Raider legend Danny Hodgson knows all about that grind. He came to Prince Albert in 1982-83, the Raiders’ first season in the WHL after moving up from Tier II. Before that team could reach the summit in 1985, they had to go through some tough times. He remembers a passionate city, but some tough nights at the rink.

“There was great excitement, great enthusiasm, and that never diminished. We knew that we were going to have a tough road, that was without question,” Hodgson said. “We knew we were going to take our lumps and we definitely did that too…but one of the things is the group of guys that came out of that first year relatively stayed the same throughout all three years.”

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As a 17-year-old rookie, Hodgson led the team with 56 goals and 130 points, but the Raiders finished at the bottom of the East Division with a record of 16-55-1.

The modern Raiders’ rise to the Scotty Munro trophy began back in 2016-17, when the team was coming off a playoff berth and a second-place finish in the division, but saw their season unfurl early on which triggered the front office to rebuild. Altogether, the Raiders made 16 trades as they moved older assets to build a young core around players like Ian Scott, Sean Montgomery, Parker Kelly, Cole Fonstad, Spencer Moe, and Zack Hayes. The team brought in Max Martin, Brayden Pachal, Jordy Stallard, Curtis Miske, and a complement of draft picks to help with the process but finished the year well outside of the playoff picture with just 21 wins.

Back to the Hodgson years, he said the team “kind of evened out” in 1983-84 as the group led by Terry Simpson and Rick Wilson found its way into a playoff spot in the East Division following a 41-win season. Despite a disappointing five-game first round playoff loss to Medicine Hat, the Raiders made great strides that year and set the table for what was to come. Once again Hodgson led the Raiders as he produced 62 goals and 181 points in 66 games played.

In 2017-18, the Raiders saw a similar step in the right direction as a revamped core group fought their way into the playoffs with a 32-win regular season, pushing the league-leading Moose Jaw Warriors to seven games before falling in round one. In the process, the Raiders were able to add some key players via trade or waivers including Sergei Sapego, Brett Leason, Jeremy Masella, and Kody McDonald. Much like Simpson and Wilson back then, the Raiders remained under the steady leadership of Head Coach Marc Habscheid and GM Curtis Hunt.

Of course, Raider fans know what happened after the team’s first playoff berth back in 1984. Once the team returned in the fall, it seemed everything “just fell right into place.”

“We had the right guys on the team, of course the right coaching staff with Simpso and Wils,” Hodgson said. “They were the perfect coaches for that. Once we started rolling the third year, you couldn’t really stop it.”

Hodgson led his team for the third straight year as he set franchise records for goals [70] and points [182] in a single season. Collectively, the Raiders posted 58 wins and 119 points, which was 11 points ahead of second-place Medicine Hat.

Fast forward 34 years, and the Raiders have finished on top in the regular season for the second time, once again leading the next closest team in Vancouver by 11 points.

This year, things have come together for Prince Albert as they’ve complemented the existing group with some key additions like Noah Gregor and Dante Hannoun. Early in the year, the Raiders set a new franchise record with 19 consecutive wins which surpassed a mark that had held since 1984-85. Prince Albert jumped out to an early lead and kept it all year long, culminating in a regular season championship.

Of course, the spring of 1985 brought the city’s lone Memorial Cup Championship, and what lies ahead this year remains to be written.

Reflecting on those days, Hodgson remembers the atmosphere fondly from his playing years, and hopes that it remains the same now.

“Every night we’d almost have sellouts, and a lot of those nights we’d be three or four hundred deep in standing room, especially against Saskatoon or Regina or any of the close teams. It meant a lot to us as players and you could feed off the feeling in the community,” Hodgson said.

Following a pair of victories on the opening weekend of playoffs in front of over 3,000 fans at the Art Hauser Centre each night, the top-seeded Raiders now have a 2-0 series lead on the Red Deer Rebels in their first-round matchup.

The series shifts to Red Deer this week for games three and four, which will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

If necessary, the series will return to Prince Albert for game five on Friday.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden