Former Raiders captain Kaiden Guhle waves to the crowd during a video tribute his former team put on for him at the Art Hauser Centre. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Raider Hockey

‘He’ll be a Raider forever,’ Guhle returns to where he won the WHL cup for first time as an Oil King

Feb 5, 2022 | 10:08 PM

He may wear another team’s sweater now, but Kaiden Guhle will always mean many things to the Prince Albert Raiders. He’ll always be on the Raiders’ 2019 WHL Championship team. He’ll always be a first overall pick of the team, one of just two in franchise history; a leader that gets respect from both sides of the ice every time he takes the ice.

The Raiders and their fans got a chance to thank Guhle for that on Saturday, as he played his first game at the Art Hauser Centre as an Edmonton Oil King—helping his team to a 5-2 victory.

“Class guy, big part of the organization, part of the ‘19 team. He’ll be a Raider forever. He wears that jersey, but he’s still a Raider. That’s the way it is,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said.

During a first-period media stoppage, the Raiders played a video tribute and thanked Guhle for his time as a Raider champion and captain. As the tribute played, Guhle sat on the boards and watched the video, doing his absolute best to not get emotional.

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“It was pretty special. I spent a lot of my career here. I wouldn’t be where I am today without that staff and the guys in the room there, so it was special,” said Guhle, who was traded to his hometown Oil Kings on Dec. 1. “A little recognition from the Raiders shows how first-class of an organization they are.

“It was a lot of memories flashing back, from the championship to being in the room with the guys,” added Guhle. “There were a lot of memories, a lot of good memories that rushed through my mind.”

Scoring Summary

The game itself got chippier the longer it went on, and it was almost always going to be that way. The Oil Kings came into Saturday’s game grumpy after a 6-1 defeat to the Saskatoon Blades, and the Raiders were frustrated when it seemed like they were going to lose their sixth game in a row.

“We lost a bunch recently, we have to battle back somehow out of this slump,” Raiders forward Cale Sanders said, who scored both Raider goals on Saturday. “All of us are a little angry, just looking for a little of the bright side.”

Habscheid liked to see the fire and emotion from the team as they try to claw out of their losing skid, but he didn’t like seeing his players head over to the sin bin. The Oil Kings scored their first three goals of the game on the power play, and finished 3-7 on the man advantage.

“We don’t like losing, that’s a good sign, but we took too many penalties. The guys that take penalties, they’re just not going to play. That’s the way it is,” Habscheid said. “We don’t take penalties. If we take penalties, we take good penalties but not undisciplined penalties. Those don’t work here.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Oil Kings, Josh Williams from Jakub Demek and Jake Neighbours (power play), 6:21

2-0, Oil Kings, Justin Sourdif from Luke Prokop and Jalen Luypen (power play), 9:54

Second Period

3-0, Oil Kings, Justin Sourdif (power play), 5:29

Third Period

4-1, Oil Kings, Jake Neighbours from Jakub Demek, 4:06

5-1, Oil Kings, Jalen Luypen from Josh Williams and Jakub Demek, 9:10

5-2, Raiders, Cale Sanders from Eric Johnston and Terrell Goldsmith, 14:42

Up next

The Raiders will take on the Calgary Hitmen Tuesday at the Art Hauser Centre for their next game, before a couple of games on the weekend. The Raiders will travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors, before returning to the Hauser to face off against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Raiders are running a fan bus package to Moose Jaw for Friday’s game for $65, including the ticket to the game, the bus to and from Moose Jaw, snacks and a $15 food voucher for Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw.

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Jeff.dandrea.pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW