Raiders forward Evan Herman celebrates his first goal of Saturday's regular season finale at the Art Hauser Centre. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

x-Prince Albert Raiders

Raiders turned ‘distant dream’ into reality after clinching the final playoff spot

Apr 16, 2022 | 10:16 PM

After Saturday’s regular-season finale, Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid admitted that at one point this campaign, making the playoffs “seemed like a distant dream.”

But after two months of “playoff-style hockey,” most of which the Raiders had to play without first-round NHL draft pick Ozzy Wiesblatt, they still defied the odds to finally get that all-important “x” beside their name.

The Raiders defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-1 in their last regular-season game Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre, while the Winnipeg ICE defeated the Regina Pats 6-4 on a late empty-net goal. The combination of those two results guaranteed the Raiders a playoff berth. They will now take on the top-ranked ICE in the first round.

The Raiders actually found out they officially made the playoffs minutes after they beat the Wheat Kings. The Raiders were watching the end of the ICE-Pats’ game on Raiders business manager Michael Scissons’ smartphone on the bench.

“We saw Winnipeg score the empty-netter there, so the boys got a little fired up on the bench,” said Raiders forward Keaton Sorensen, who scored twice on Saturday. “It’s awesome, it’s what we work for all year, all the hard work paid off. Now we got to carry it on to the playoffs.”

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But even when the playoffs felt like a longshot, Habscheid said his team dug down and still managed to believe in themselves.

“No matter what, we expect to win and we found a way in,” Habscheid said. “It’s all about ‘team.’ You play structured, you play hard, you care about one another. You have a common goal and great things are bound to happen.”

Just to show how wacky the Raiders’ journey to get to the playoffs was, the Raiders woke up on Friday in 11th place in the WHL Eastern Conference. But after two absolute must-wins, including Friday’s 4-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos on the road and a pair of Pats’ losses, the Raiders jumped from second-last in the conference to a first-round playoff berth.

The last time the WHL was able to hold the playoffs was in the 2018-19 season, of course the Raiders went on to win the championship that year. Evan Herman was a part of that team as a call-up. Even though he didn’t make it in a game, Herman saw how electric the building can get, and said it got to that level on Saturday.

“In ’19, it was an unbelievable place to be and it still is. The fans here, I don’t have a word to describe how awesome they are for us. You know what, I think we look forward to play in front of them every night,” said Herman, after his two-goal performance.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Evan Herman from Sloan Stanick, 11:31

Second Period

2-0, Raiders, Evan Herman from Nolan Allan and Sloan Stanick, 7:42

3-0, Raiders, Keaton Sorensen (unassisted, shorthanded), 9:10

3-1, Wheat Kings, Brett Hyland from Jake Chiasson and Marcus Kallionkieli, 11:11

Third Period

4-1, Raiders, Carson Latimer from Vladislav Shilo and Eric Johnston, 4:14

5-1, Raiders, Keaton Sorensen from Vladislav Shilo, 15:55

Up next

The Raiders will take on the Winnipeg ICE in the first round of the WHL playoffs. The schedule will be determined.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW