Vladislav Shilo and Tikhon Chaika practice with the Prince Albert Raiders, as the team prepares for their two-game set in Alberta this weekend. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D’Andrea

From Belarus with Love

Raiders get big Belarusian boosts ahead of weekend trip to Alberta

Oct 20, 2021 | 4:14 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders have been a Belarusian hockey player factory since the 2017-18 season.

Their recent success with players hailing from Belarus started when the Raiders picked up ‘the Sniper of Vitebsk’ Sergei Sapego off waivers, then paired him with ‘the Viper of Vitebsk’ Aliaksei Protas the following year. The two became important pieces of the Raider team that won the 2019 WHL Championship.

Then in the 2019-20 season, the Raiders even managed to shoehorn in three Belarusian national players in Protas, Daniil Stepanov, and Ilya Usau when WHL teams are only allowed two European import players. Usau has dual citizenship between Belarus and the United States, so he was considered an American even while he represented Belarus at the World U18 level while he was a Raider.

“When I come here, I can feel this power of Belarusian players — they’re all there,” said Tikhon Chaika, the newest Belarusian player to sign with the team. “The coaches, the teammates, they know about our Belarusian players here in the [past] times. I’m so excited to play in this club.”

But due to the pandemic, it took a long while for Raiders to officially continue that pipeline. They drafted Chaika in the 2021 CHL Import Draft, a year after picking his countrymate and forward Vladislav Shilo, but couldn’t welcome the pair to the team’s dressing room until this week.

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Only after a long struggle of trying to get a visa and get clearance to come into Canada, and after one of the longest flights of all time, Chaika and Shilo finally arrived in Prince Albert to join their new team.

Vladislav Shilo. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

On Sunday, the Raiders announced that Chaika and Shilo flew from Minsk to Moscow, then to Amsterdam, then a bit too far west to Calgary, and then back east to Saskatoon. After all that, they were picked up from the airport and settled in at the unofficial Belarusian consulate in Prince Albert, the Pagé billet family early in the week.

“It was pretty long, we knew it would be challenging. We had 23 hours in a row but now it’s pretty good,” Chaika said.

Both Chaika and Shilo represented Belarus at the 2021 U18 World Championships in Frisco, Texas, back in April and May. Chaika was 2-1 in his three appearances with a .911 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average. Shilo captained the team and had three assists in five games.

The two were also on Belarus’ U18 club that played against men in the second-tier of Belarusian professional hockey. Chaika had a .870 save percentage and 3.60 goals against average, while Shilo had 10 goals and 22 points in 38 games.

During Wednesday’s practice with their new team, Shilo skated on a line with overager Michael Horon and Tyson Laventure, who eyes a return to the Raiders’ lineup after suffering an upper-body injury.

At the moment, Chaika is the spokesman for Shilo, who is still learning the language.

Tikhon Chaika makes a stop during Wednesday’s practice. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

“Vlad is pretty bad at English, but I’ve tried to study with him. After a couple times, he can speak with you,” Chaika said.

The Raiders will take on the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday at Co-Op Place, before heading over to the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge for a Saturday night affair against the Hurricanes.

“I can’t explain how much I’m excited. I’ve been preparing all this season, all last season for that. I’ve prepared all pre-season for this time,” Chaika said.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW