Weekend Preview: Welcome to the 2026-27 Raiders season

The Raiders finished the pre-season with a record of 3-2-0 (Wins-Losses-Overtime Losses), with two wins over Saskatoon 6-5 and 5-4 in overtime, plus a third win 5-3 over Moose Jaw. Their losses came from Saskatoon 5-2, and the final pre-season game, when the Raiders lost 3-2 to Regina.

Two teams in the WHL (Portland and Kamloops) are yet to have their rosters updated on Elite Prospects, but the website shows the Raiders with an average age of 17.92 on their roster, which puts them right in the middle of the league when it comes to average age. The Raiders roster has a total of 1,373 games in the WHL coming into opening weekend.

We’ve already covered the changes to the Raiders roster from last season in a previous article you can find by clicking here, and the new guys are all covered here.

The top three scorers returning to the lineup for opening weekend will be Riley Boychuk, who posted 15G-44A-59P last season, Maddix McCagherty with 20G-37A-57P last year, and Alisher Sarkenov with 21G-20A-41P. That excludes Brandon Gorzynski and Jonah Sivertson, who are still away at their respective NHL camps.

During the preseason, McCagherty finished with the team lead in points with 4G-2A-6P, followed by Ben Harvey with 3G-2A-5P, and then Brandon Gorzynski, Carsyn Dyck, Liam Myhre, and Alisher Sarkenov all with three points.

In goal, the Raiders will have Michal Orsulak available after he returned from camp with the Detroit Red Wings. Last year, Orsulak was in the top five of almost every goaltending stat in the WHL, including the league’s best goals-against average at 2.22, a 0.927 save percentage, and a 28-4-4 record.

Steele Bass is also likely to get a start this weekend as he returns to the lineup. Last year he didn’t play enough games to qualify to compare to all goaltenders in the league, but put up an impressive 11-4-1 record, along with a 1.94 goals-against average and a 0.907 save percentage.

Friday vs. Regina

Maddix McCagherty carries the puck during a regular season game against the Regina Pats last season. (Image Credit: Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

Looking to Friday’s opponent, the Raiders won seven of eight games played against the Regina Pats last year, outscoring the Pats 45-23. Only one game went to overtime last year, but the Raiders won it 2-1 in a shootout.

The Pats only play one game this weekend to start the season. Next week, they’ll be in Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings on Friday, then a day off Saturday to travel home before welcoming the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday, Sept. 27, for the Pats home opener.

During the preseason, the Pats went a perfect 7-0-0. They collected five wins in regulation, 3-2 over Swift Current, 6-3 and 6-4 over Brandon, 7-3 over Moose Jaw, and 3-2 over the Raiders. They also picked up two overtime wins 3-2 over Moose Jaw and 7-6 over Saskatoon.

Looking at the Pats roster, they are the next youngest team behind the Raiders coming into the season with an average age of 17.85. Despite being younger than the Raiders, the Pats bring in 1,808 games of experience from their entire roster.

Changes to the Pats playoff roster from last year include:

Out: Shea Rollason, Ruslan Karimov, Caden Brown, Cruz Nicolay, Charlie Leonard, Ephram McNutt

New: Sam Karsay, Parker Trottier, Braden Hordichuk, Jonas Kohn, Tomas Cermak, Marek Schlenker

The Pats have also brought back former Raider Dayce Derkatch, although he’ll be wearing #11 this season compared to the #49 he wore with the Pats last year.

Keets Fawcett was the second-leading scorer for the Pats last year; he’ll be the returning leading scorer this season with 30G-29A-59P last year. Zach Lansard is behind him with 24G-32A-56P last year, and defenceman Reese Hamilton sits third among returning scorers with 7G-36A-43P last year.

As for the preseason scorers, Cohen Klassen led the way with 4G-3A-7P. Then there was a five-way tie for second with Ellis Mieyette, Zach Moore, Liam Pue, Maddox Schultz, and Aiden Wagner all scoring six points.

In goal, Taylor Tabashniuk looks ready to take the starting job after playing 21 games last year. Tabashniuk posted a 0.886 save percentage last year with a 3.79 goals-against average, and a 5-9-0 record. During two games from the preseason, though, he had two wins, a 0.914 save percentage, and a 2.55 goals-against average.

Their backup looks to be Drake Mooney, who played one game with the Pats last season, against the Raiders, where he stopped seven of nine shots faced in the final nine minutes of the game. During this year’s preseason, he played three games and posted a 0.833 save percentage and a 3.90 goals-against average.

Saturday @ Swift Current

Raiders defenceman Brock Cripps battles with Broncos forward Trae Wilke last season. (Image Credit: Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

On to Saturday’s matchup, the Raiders swept the season series with the Broncos last year in dominant fashion, winning all eight games and outscoring the Broncos 47-8. The Raiders shutout the Broncos three times, and held the Broncos to one-goal-or-less on four different occasions.

The Broncos will have Friday off before they open the season here in Prince Albert. The Broncos won’t play again until Friday when they welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors, then play in Regina on Sunday before departing for their B.C. road swing to start October.

During the pre-season, the Broncos went 2-2-1 in five games. They picked up wins over Moose Jaw 5-4 and a shootout win over Medicine Hat 4-3. In their three losses, the Broncos also lost a shootout to Medicine Hat 3-2, lost 7-2 to Saskatoon, and 3-2 to Regina.

With 28 players still on their roster, the Broncos are the eighth-oldest team in the WHL with an average age of 18.07 years old, boasting the second most experienced team in the league with 2,048 games in the WHL.

Changes to the Broncos ‘ end-of-year roster from last year include:

Out: Trae Johnson, Ashton McCann, Brennan Brown, Hudson Darby, Stepan Kuryachenkov, Jamie Kirwan, Jaxen Gauchier, Aidan Sexsmith, Anthony Wilson, Nolan Pilsner, Jackson Gillespie, Josh McGregor, Nathan Gray, Marek Rocak, Lucas Conrad, Easton Laplante, Lincoln Anderson, Archer Cooke, Berney Weston, Delano Pockar

New: Ty Meunier, Hudson Kibblewhite, Tanner Massey, Jacob Beaulieu, Oliver Torkki, Lincoln Ayers Assad, Stepan Farushev, Avi Kasargod, Kayd Ruedig, Hudson Kowalchuk, Yuri Vlasenko

New to the Broncos this year is Ty Meunier, a former Raider who was a piece in last year’s trade to acquire Brandon Gorzynski from the Calgary Hitmen. Meunier was traded to the Broncos during the summer, alongside a seventh-round pick in 2027, in exchange for Brennan Brown, a third-round pick in 2027, and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2029.

As for the top three Broncos returning scorers, Trae Wilke finished second in team scoring last year with 22G-24A-46P. After that, Brendan Rudolph finished fourth with 16G-15A-31P, and finally the returning Sawyer Dingman finished with 13G-14A-27P, tied with Jace McFaul at 9G-18A-27P.

In the preseason, Brendan Rudolph lead the team in scoring with 5G-1A-6P, followed by Ty Meunier with 2G-3A-5P, and finally Hudson Kibblewhite with 0G-4A-4P.

Finally in goal for the Broncos, last year’s starter Aiden Eskit did not play one game during the pre-season this year. He comes in after taking over the starting job partway through the season, posting a 2-16-2 record with a 0.872 save percentage and a 4.88 goals against average.

As for his backup, the Broncos have both Archer Cooke and Cal Conway on the roster. Cooke played 23 games for the Broncos last year with a 4-11-7 record, along with a 0.889 save percentage and a 3.69 goals against average. As for Conway, he played 27 game with the Wenatchee Wild last year, earning a 8-17-1 record, a 0.901 save percentage, and a 3.61 goals against average.

The Raiders drop the puck at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday against the Regina Pats, then head out on the road to take on the Swift Current Broncos. Both games will be broadcast on 900 CKBI and Brandt Raider Radio with the pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m., and puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

Weekend Preview: Welcome to the 2026-27 Raiders season

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