Business Manager Michael Scissons speaks to the crowd at the Prince Albert Raiders Annual General Meeting Tuesday night at the Ches Leach Lounge. (Trevor Redden/paNOW Staff)

By Trevor Redden

Money in the Bank

Raiders report significant profit at Annual General Meeting

Sep 18, 2019 | 1:12 PM

The green and gold are in the black.

At Tuesday night’s Annual General Meeting, Prince Albert Raiders President Gord Broda announced to the gathered membership that the team reported a profit of $633,314 for the fiscal year which ended May 31, 2019.

“It is very exciting. The financial success is a key part of the organization’s long-term viability. This year we had a very successful season with a large profit,” Broda explained after the meeting. “I call it the rainy-day fund; we’ll be able to tuck a few dollars away and have a rainy day fund for future years.”

In addition to setting money aside for future years, the Raiders have invested in a few capital upgrades including a brand-new centre-hung scoreboard at the Art Hauser Centre, and some added technology to be used by hockey operations and management.

Altogether, the team will contribute $100,000 to the score clock over the next five years. Members of the board and management team alike expressed gratitude to the City of Prince Albert for their cooperation and assistance in upgrading the facility.

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“We just witnessed a fantastic season of support from the fans in our community, and this is our way to try to improve the fan experience at least a little bit,” Broda said. “The replays, the game experience, it will all be much better.”

The financial boon was largely fueled by the team’s lengthy playoff run, which included 12 home dates at the Art Hauser Centre as the Raiders marched to their first WHL Championship since 1985. Having said that, regular season revenues were ahead of the previous season by nearly 40 per cent.

Looking ahead, it seems last year’s championship created a lot of momentum for the team as season ticket sales are currently at their highest levels in recent memory, approaching 2,000 sold as of Tuesday night.

Despite a short off-season, the organization has been busy working to keep building on last year’s success, starting with re-signing virtually all the hockey operations staff including reigning WHL Executive of the Year Curtis Hunt and WHL Coach of the Year Marc Habscheid.

Two staffing changes this year are the addition of Goaltending Coach Kelly Guard and Executive Director of Business Operations Cliff Mapes. Guard has six years of experience with the club in multiple roles, while Mapes joins the team from the Saskatoon Blades where he served as vice president of business operations.

Hunt highlighted a number of performances by players during the short off-season, including Kaiden Guhle and Ozzy Wiesblatt at the Hlinka Grezky Cup this summer, along with a strong camp by Jakob Brook before suffering an injury before the roster was announced. At Hockey Canada’s Under-17 Development Camp, the Raiders were represented by defenceman Nolan Allan and forward Tyson Laventure.

Altogether, 11 players from last year’s team have taken part in NHL camps, of which seven remain with their respective teams. Hunt expects Ian Scott [Toronto], Sergei Sapego [Toronto], Parker Kelly [Ottawa], and Brett Leason [Washington] to make the full-time jump to professional hockey this year and not return to the Raiders.

Aliaksei Protas remains in camp with the Washington Capitals, but as an 18-year-old forward drafted out of North America he is only eligible to play at the NHL level or be returned to junior, making it all but certain he will be sent back to Prince Albert.

As overage defencemen, Brayden Pachal [Vegas] and Zack Hayes [Anaheim] could potentially play in the American Hockey League this year, but at this point neither player is signed to a professional contract. Both players remain with their respective clubs and Hunt said their status for opening weekend is still up in the air.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden