Ben Harvey during his rookie lap in his first of five games with the Raiders earlier this season. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Prospect pipeline

Raiders prospects heading into playoffs

Mar 1, 2025 | 12:00 PM

With the WHL regular season less than a month away from finishing up this year, most AAA leagues in the country are getting set for their playoffs as well. The Raiders have players signed all across Western Canada between Saskatchewan AAA (SMAAAHL), Alberta AAA (AEHL), and Canadian Sport Schools Prep Hockey (CSSHL).

Here’s a look at how the players signed by the Raiders seasons have gone and what their playoff picture looks like.

Brock Cripps (D, 2009) – St. George’s Prep School (CSSHL)

The Raiders second overall pick from the 2024 WHL Draft has had a great year. Along with four games with the Raiders as a 15-year-old across two stints with the Raiders this year, Cripps also picked up his first assist in the WHL, earned Tournament MVP honours at the U18 Robertson Invitational Tournament where his team also won, and he led all defencemen in the WHL Cup this year as a member of Team B.C.

This season as a member of the St. George’s School U18 Prep team in Vancouver, Cripps lead the entire CSSHL in points as a defenceman at 6G-38A-44P, which also ties him for 17th overall in league scoring.

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His team currently sits seventh in the CSSHL rankings with a record of 20-11-3 on the year with two games left to play against the 11th-ranked Shawinigan Lake School, which is one of the teams St. George’s is likely to meet in their championship weekend.

When it comes to the playoffs, the CSSHL U18 Prep Division puts on a tournament in the Okanagan that takes the top 16 ranked teams and places them into four pools across a five day tournament. Each team plays three games against their pool, and the top team in each pool goes to a semi final game, and finally the championship Sunday.

Assuming there’s no changes in the CSSHL rankings ahead of the final weekend, Cripps and his St. his St. George’s School will be in a pool with the 2nd ranked Edge School U18 Prep, the 11th ranked Rink Hockey Academy Kelowna., the 15th ranked Rink Hockey Academy Winnipeg. Against those teams this season, St. George’s is 1-0 against Edge, 1-0 against RINK Kelowna, and they have not played Winnipeg yet.

Ben Harvey (F, 2009) – Edmonton Jr. Oilers Orange (AEHL)

Playing with the Edmonton Jr. Oilers Orange U18 AAA team in the AEHL, Ben Harvey has also been called up to the Raiders for a five game stint before Christmas, and he looked like he already belongs at the WHL level while picking up an assist. Harvey also captained Team Alberta to their first championship in eight years at the WHL Cup. He also managed an assist in two games with the Bonnyville Pontiacs of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

Individually, Harvey has posted 16G-20A-36P in 30 games this year, which would tie him for 24th in the league overall, and he lead his team in scoring despite playing eight less games than the rest of his team in the regular season.

The AEHL season has already finished now, and Harvey’s Jr. Oilers Orange finished fourth in the North Division. The top six teams in the two divisions of the AEHL make the playoffs with the top two teams in the divisions getting a bye to the second round.

Playoffs have already started and Harvey’s fourth-ranked Jr. Oilers Orange are taking on the fifth-ranked Fort Saskatchewan Rangers in a best-of-three series, and the two teams split the first two games with 5-2 scores in both. Harvey didn’t play in either game.

The two teams played four times this season with the Oil Kings coming away with a record of 2-1-0-1 (Wins, Losses, Overtime Losses, and Ties) with the final game of the season being between the Jr. Oilers and Rangers ending in a 3-3 tie.

Connor Howe (F, 2009) and Liam Myhre (D, 2009) – Prince Albert Mintos (SMAAAHL)

The Prince Albert local was selected 31st overall by the Raiders in the 2024 WHL Draft, Howe spent this season playing with his hometown Prince Albert Mintos in the SMAAAHL. Also this year, Howe also represented the Raiders at the WHL Cup with Team Saskatchewan.

The regular season is over in the SMAAAHL and Howe finished the season in a three-way tie for the top scorer on the Mintos with 20G-15A-35P. Compared to the rest of the league he sits tied for 58th in scoring overall, and 20th among rookies.

As for Liam Myhre, he is also playing this season with the Prince Albert Mintos, and the 49th overall pick from last year’s draft was also called up for one game for the Raiders earlier this season.

Offensively, Myhre put up 2G-9A-11P from the blue line this season.

The SMAAAHL playoffs are a simple top eight teams make the playoffs, and each team plays a best-of-five-game series.

The Mintos finished eighth in the standings of the SMAAAHL and will take on another Raiders prospect Jonah Sivertson and the league-best Regina Pat Canadians at the start of playoffs. Against the Pat C’s this year, the Mintos have a record of 1-2-1 on the year.

The Mintos start their playoffs against the Pats on Sunday.

Kyle Obobaifo (F, 2009) – Calgary Flames U18 (AEHL)

Selected 54th overall last year, Obobaifo is playing for his hometown Calgary Flames U18 AAA team in the AEHL. He was another member of the WHL Cup-winning Team Alberta with Ben Harvey earlier this season.

Personally, Obobaifo finished 10th in team scoring for the Flames with 10G-16A-26P on the best team in the AEHL through the regular season.

The Calgary Flames U18 finished at the top of both the South Division and the AEHL at the end of the regular season with a record of 27-6-4-1 (W-L-OTL-T), one point ahead of the North Division’s St. Albert Raiders.

They will wait for their first opponent as they get a bye into the second round.

Bennett Kelly (D, 2008) – Calgary IHA U18 Prep (CSSHL)

Kelly is the 27th overall pick from the 2023 WHL Draft, and this year he made the switch from the AEHL to the CSSHL with the Calgary IHA U18 Prep team. This season he has also been called up to play three games with the Raiders, and he also picked up an assist in a two-game stint with the Olds Grizzlys in the AJHL.

With his regular team in Calgary, Kelly has posted 8G-14A-22P from the blueline this year. Overall, Kelly is tied for 26th among defencemen in the league, and 13th overall on his team.

This season the Calgary IHA is ranked sixth in the CSSHL heading into the playoff tournament with a record of 25-9-2 on the year.

In the playoff pool, Kelly and the Calgary IHA will face off with third-ranked Pacific Coast Hockey Academy, the 10th-ranked Prairie Hockey Academy, and the 14th-ranked North Shore Warriors.

Against those three teams, Calgary IHA is 1-1 against the Prairie Hockey Academy, 1-0 in a shootout against North Shore, and they haven’t played Pacific Coast this season.

Steele Bass (G, 2008) – Okotoks Oilers (AEHL)

The 49th overall pick in 2023, Steele Bass appeared in one game for the Raiders this year where he stopped 12 of 13 shots faced on the road against the Brandon Wheat Kings. During his regular season, however, he’s been the starting goaltender for the Okotoks Oilers of the AEHL.

Bass also has a 0.923 save percentage during the regular season after appearing in 24 games this season, good for the third-best in the league. His record sits at 15W-8L on the year, and his 15 wins on the year have him tied for the most in the league.

His Okotoks Oilers finished with a record of 23-12-1-2 (W-L-OTL-T), which put them in a tie for second in the AEHL’s South Division with the Calgary North Stars, but the North Stars had the tiebreaker and as a result, Bass and the Oilers will have to play in the first round of the AEHL’s playoffs.

The Oilers will face off with the sixth in the South Division Calgary Royals in the first round. On the year, the Oilers picked up three wins and one tie against the Royals. Bass was in net for two of those games where he won both, stopping 64 of 70 shots faced for a 0.914 save percentage.

The Oilers lost game one 4-2. Bass stopped 36 of 40 shots faced for a 0.900 save percentage.

Jonah Sivertson (F, 2008) – Regina Pat Canadians (SMAAAHL)

After starting the season in the WHL a little slow, the Raiders’ 71st overall of the 2023 WHL Draft Jonah Sivertson went back to the SMAAAHL with his hometown Regina Pat Canadians where he has been lighting things up ever since.

Playing on a line with the expected first overall pick in 2025 Maddux Schultz, Sivertson finished second in league scoring behind Schultz with 32G-45A-77P in only 30 games, a full 14 games less than Schultz had played. That’s over a goal per game, and an average of about 2.6 points per game.

During the regular season, the Pat Cs are the top team in the SMAAAHL at the end of the season with a record of 35W-7L-2OTL.

As mentioned earlier, the Pat Cs will be taking on the Prince Albert Mintos in the first round of the playoffs. The Pat Cs won the season series with a record of 3-0-1 on the year. Their series starts on Sunday.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com