Kyle Obobaifo carries the puck during a preseason game with the Raiders. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders.)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders representing all 4 provinces

Five Raiders prospects heading to WHL Cup

Oct 3, 2024 | 1:11 PM

The annual WHL Cup is coming up in Red Deer with four teams representing their home provinces, and five prospects from the Prince Albert Raiders will be heading to the tournament.

The annual tournament, scheduled to start Oct.22, sees teams representing B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba with rosters made of prospects from the most recent WHL Draft, and the Raiders will have a representative on each team with Alberta’s team having two.

Starting off with team Saskatchewan, Prince Albert local Connor Howe is set to represent both his hometown team and his home province. Drafted by the Raiders in round two at 31st overall, Howe played in two preseason games with the Raiders this year and has since moved on to playing with the Prince Albert Mintos U18 AAA team for the second straight season. Howe’s Mintos are 1-1 to start the season with Howe scoring a goal in the first game of the season, and he added 3G-2A in three games during the preseason.

Moving to Manitoba, Knox Burton is the lone prospect of the Raiders heading to the WHL Cup that was not here in Prince Albert for the preseason. Playing out of the RINK Hockey Academy in Winnipeg in the Canadian Sports Schools Hockey League (CSSHL), Burton has appeared in three games this season for the U17 prep squad and was also called up for a 7-5 win with the U18 prep team. In three games with his U17 team, Burton has 1G-2A so far this season. Burton was originally drafted by the Raiders in the fifth round.

The next Raider heading to the WHL Cup is Brock Cripps who will be playing for team B.C. Cripps impressed scouts and fans alike during his three games he played during the preseason with the Raiders where he earned an assist. During the regular season, Cripps is playing with St. George’s School in Vancouver in the CSSHL who have started the season with a 2-3 record through five games. Cripps has appeared in all five games and his five assists have him tied for the team lead in scoring. Last year in U15 in the CSSHL, the young defenceman lead the entire league in scoring with 25G-45A-70P, 12 points ahead of the next player behind him.

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Finally moving on to team Alberta, both Ben Harvey and Kyle Obobaifo will represent the Raiders at the WHL Cup.

For Ben Harvey, he got into three games during the preseason with the Raiders and he scored in two of them. He played in the CSSHL last year with the Northern Alberta Xtreme U15 and finished tied for fourth in league scoring with 19G-33A-52P in 25 games, but this year he’s moved on to the Edmonton Jr. Oilers Orange U18 AAA team in the Alberta Elite Hockey League (AEHL). In two games, Harvey’s Oilers have outscored their opponents 10-0, and Harvey has both a goal and assist to his name including the first goal of the season and eventual game winner for his team. Harvey was drafted in the first round fourth overall for the Raiders.

Finally is Kyle Obobaifo, who is still only 14 years old despite playing in two preseason games with the Raiders this year where he earned an assist. Taken in the third round at 54th overall by the Raiders, Obobaifo is also playing in the AEHL with the Calgary Flames U18 AAA team after spending last year in the CSSHL with the Burnaby Winter Club. With two assists in two games so far, Obobaifo’s season has started off similar to Harvey’s in the sense that Obobaifo also picked up a point on the first goal of the season that would go on to be the game winner, and Obobaifo’s Flames are also undefeated.

Last year, Ty Meunier, Riley Boychuk, and Daxon Rudolph all finished as runners up in the WHL Cup as part of Team Alberta during their 6-5 shootout loss to Team Manitoba.

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Nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com