Raiders forward Maddix McCagherty battles for a rebound on the pad of Blades goaltender Evan Gardner during the Raiders 5-4 shootout win over the Blades Feb. 14. (Image Credit: Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

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Weekend Preview: Raiders look for Eastern Conference banner with final series against Blades

Mar 20, 2026 | 11:34 AM

The final weekend of the 2025-26 WHL regular season is here with two games left for the Prince Albert Raiders and for the second year in a row, the team is fighting for a banner in a home-and-home series with the Saskatoon Blades. 

The final regular season edition of the Highway 11 Rivalry begins tonight in Prince Albert; the Blades host the Raiders Saturday. With a record of 50-10-6 (Wins-Losses-Overtime Losses), the Raiders need a win – not two points – but a win to secure the top spot in the Eastern Conference. If the Raiders win just one of the two games this weekend, while Medicine Hat wins both of their games, the Raiders and Tigers would tie in points, but the Raiders would have the tiebreaker with the most wins. Three points out of the weekend secures the Eastern Conference banner for the Raiders. 

As for the Blades, sitting at a 34-25-7 record for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, they have no risk of dropping lower with a 16-point lead over Regina in seventh. The Blades are three points back of the Brandon Wheat Kings though. So, if the Blades win both games this weekend while Brandon loses both of theirs, the Blades could potentially move up a spot. 

The Raiders and Blades have met six times previously this season, and the Raiders have won four of the contests. The Raiders have won the last two meetings, Feb. 1 in Saskatoon 3-1, and the last meeting was 5-4 shootout win for the Raiders on Feb. 14 in Prince Albert. 

As of late, the Raiders have been playing some of their most dominant hockey and have won four straight games. Most recently, the Raiders picked up two wins over Regina, at home 8-4 on Tuesday, and 2-1 in a shootout in Regina on Saturday. Before that, the Raiders put up an 11-0 battering of the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday, and a clutch 4-3 win in Edmonton the previous weekend. 

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For the Blades, they have points in their last five games. Most recently was a 6-2 win at home over Brandon on Wednesday, and a 4-2 win in Swift Current on Saturday.

Looking at special teams, the Raiders are still ranked fifth in the league at 27.8%, while their penalty kill is right in the middle of the league at 11th, sitting at 78.5%. 

As for the Blades, they sit 10th in the league right now at 25.2%. On the penalty kill, the Blades are two spots back of the Raiders, sitting 13th at 76.4%. 

Going into the final weekend, the Raiders leading scorer is Daxon Rudolph with 28G-47A-75P, sitting tied with Josh Morrissey for most goals by a Raider defenceman in a season. Aiden Oiring is second with 28G-41A-69P, Brandon Gorzynski sits third with 27G-41A-68P, and Max Heise sits fourth in points but leads the team in goals with 29G-34A-63P. 

Scoring streaks: 

• Braeden Cootes has 2G-8A in his last four games 

• Max Heise has 4G-1A in his last four games 

• Brayden Dube has 1G-3A in his last three games 

• Ben Harvey has 5G-3A and a shootout goal in his last three games 

On the other side of the ice, the Blades are led by David Lewandowski with 17G-48A-65P. There’s a steep drop-off to Cooper Williams in second with 23G-34A-57P, then Hunter Laing in third with 24G-31A-55P, and Rowan Calvert rounds out the top four with 31G-22A-53P. 

Scoring streaks: 

• Zach Olsen has 4G-3A in his last five games 

• David Lewandowski has 2G-5A in his last five games 

• Hunter Laing has 1G-5A in his last five games 

• Brayden Klimpke has 0G-5A in his last four games 

• Tyler Parr has 1G-2A in his last two games 

• Jordan Martin has 1G-1A in his last two games 

On to goaltending, and the Raiders bring in the pair of Michal Orsulak and Steele Bass. Orsulak has played the last three games and has won them all, improving his record to 27-4-4 which brings him into the league’s top five in wins, a 0.905 save percentage, a second best in the league 2.28 goals against average, and three shutouts this year. 

As for Bass, he comes in with a record of 10-4-1 including a win and a loss to Saskatoon, a 0.908 save percentage, a 2.07 goals against average, and two shutouts this year. 

The Blades goaltending has three options, although Evan Gardner has been the clear starter. Gardner has appeared in 50 games this year with a record of 25-15-6, a 0.903 save percentage, a 2.92 goals against average, and three shutouts this year. 

Ryley Budd has been the main backup this year with a 4-4-1 record, 0.884 save percentage, and a 3.24 goals against average. Lately though, Taye Timmerman has been backing up Gardner and even earned his first WHL career win, he’s 1-0-0 with a 0.846 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average. Looking at Timmerman’s numbers with the Warman Wolverines of the SJHL this year, Timmerman had a record of 6-13-4, a 0.871 save percentage, and a 4.66 goals against average. 

The Raiders host the Blades at the Art Hauser Centre at 7 p.m., and you can listen in starting with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m. on Brandt Raider Radio and 900 CKBI. 

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com