Ryley Prediger (7) and Chase Lehner celebrate a goal earlier this season. (Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

By Nick Nielsen

playoffs start Saturday

Predators lacrosse looking for third straight PGLL title

Jul 16, 2025 | 2:41 PM

Playoffs are now looming after another dominant regular season for the Prince Albert Predators. They finished their season with a record of 11-0-1, their lone tie coming in the first game of the season before going on an 11-game winning streak.

Because of their record, the Predators earned a bye to the finals where they will play the Moose Jaw Mustangs starting in Moose Jaw on Saturday, July 19, and then again in Prince Albert on Saturday, July 26. Head Coach Lucas Wells said that the team having that tie near the start of the season may have been a good thing as it gave the Predators a little adversity to build their season on.

“If you were to look back at our record over the last two years leading into this season, we haven’t had much adversity, so it was nice to see a tie the very first game. The older guys were obviously disappointed and they hated that feeling, and the younger guys didn’t really know what to expect, but then then just seeing the older guys being upset that early in the season and wanting to put the work in made a huge difference.”

This year the Predators were far and away the most offensive team, outscoring their opponents 212-86 throughout the season, and the Predators have four of the five top scorers in the league. Matthew Cudmore leads the league with 32G-35A-67P, and Brayden Rieger sits third in points but leads the league in goals with 37G-25A-62P, and Talon Sandry is also tied for third in points with 31G-31A-62P.

Cudmore, Rieger, and Sandry are all veteran players for the Predators, so seeing them be so dominant was not a surprise to Wells. It’s how his rookies like Chase Lehner, who sits fifth in league scoring with 27G-20A-47P, have developed this year that has really elevated the Predators into the powerhouse team they’ve been.

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“When those (veteran) guys aren’t in the lineup or they’re injured or they’re having one of those games where things just aren’t going right, we’ve had young guys step up and Tucker Prodaehl, he stepped up a ton, Chase Lehner on offense just to name a few, and then you’ve had Oliver Volek in net who has kind of taken the reigns from Mason Hawkes from last year and he just kind of developed into his own style, and it’s working for him.”

When it comes to the head to head matchup, the Predators beat the Moose Jaw Mustangs in both meetings this year, first winning 21-14 at home and then 19-3 in Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw also had to win a playoff game against Swift Current to reach the final, so combine the extra competition with a full week of planning for Prince Albert’s game and a desire for some revenge, and Moose Jaw could be poised for an upset.

Wells believes that it won’t matter though as long as his team keeps their heads and plays the game that’s already brought them so much success.

“It’s going to be just business as usual, to be honest with you. We’re going to play our game, run-and-gun, in your face, take what you give us, but also force you to give us our own opening. Whether that’s on defence or on offence. We’re going to play physical, very fast, transition the ball well, and we’re going to make Moose Jaw play our style of game, or at least try to play our game. I don’t think that there is a team in our league that can play our style or play with us when we do play our game.”

While Prince Albert has four of the top five scorers in the league, Moose Jaw has the other in the form of Ryder Gilroy, who sits second in league scoring with 36G-29A-65P on the year, with 12 of those goals coming on the powerplay. Wells said they will have to gameplan for him a bit, but they’ve already had good success against him.

“If we can take away those passing lanes, play a little bit more aggressive on his hands, just the little things to get in his head a little bit. He is a younger kid so I think if we are able to play aggressive in his face, we’re going to kind of hopefully get him rattled a little bit. I believe the first game he played against us, he was effective but I thought we did a very good job of shutting him down and shutting Braxton MacAngus down.”

The Predators start the push for their third straight PGLL Championship starting in Moose Jaw on Saturday, July 19, and then again in Prince Albert on Saturday, July 26. If the two teams manage to tie the two game total point series, a mini-game is scheduled to take place right after the game in Prince Albert on July 26.