Looking at the Minnesota-to-Raiders pipeline

Hunt continued, “We’ve been recognized, and certainly we’ve proven, that we are the best development league in the world. There’s an opportunity for those players that they can finish their high school, have that opportunity to play for a state championship, which is very important, and then come to our league at 18 and 19 to develop for next steps.”

Even before the changes to the NCAA rules to now allow players from the WHL to go play college hockey, typically American players coming to the WHL are typically breaking into the league around 18-19-years-old, while Canadians are entering at 16-17-years-old.

Hunt believes that patience to get to the next level is what has made a lot of Americans in the league successful. One of the reasons is that players who play that high school career in Minnesota have had more time to grow both physically and mentally.

“The second part, and this is a real hard one for a lot of parents I believe, and a lot of players for that matter, is you don’t always get to be a star. So when you’re playing at 18 and a program that ends at 18, there’s a real chance, especially for these players that come to our league, they are the stars in that league, and if they jumped the year before, they might have been 10-minute players versus 18-minute players.”

Despite all living fairly close to each other, the three Minnesota born Raiders didn’t play with or against each other growing up, and all have come from different walks.

For the 19-year-old Owen Corkish, he came straight from high-school hockey to join the Raiders for his 18-year-old season. Now in his second season with the Raiders, he’s had some time to find the similarities and differences in hockey culture between Saskatchewan and Minnesota.

“I think it’s pretty similar. I think just the style, I think Minnesota gets a rep of more skilled, not hard-nosed I guess hockey, and then Saskatchewan is probably the other way, but I think within guys there’s a mix of both and it’s pretty cool.”

For Eli Molde, also 19, he played high school last year but also made a couple appearances in the BCHL with the Okotoks Oilers. He started this year with the Oilers before coming to the Raiders. Although his time in Canada has been short, Molde has said the culture here feels the same.

“It’s always hockey first, whether you’re in Canada or Minnesota. I’ve been talking with a lot of the guys. They’re asking me like, how is this similar to Minnesota? It’s like same thing, it’s just like hockey’s everywhere, rinks are everywhere. The passion here for the game is just same thing with Minnesota. Everybody loves hockey. Everybody knows about it.”

For the newly added Henry Chmiel, he spent last year in the USHL with the Des Moines before coming to the Seattle Thunderbirds this year, and then recently getting traded here. After spending a year in the USHL, Chmiel thought the better opportunities were here in the WHL.

“I started talking to them after the year last year, thought it would be the best route for me to involve as a player, get ready for college, and then get more exposure for NHL teams.”

All three Minnesotans on the Raiders have commitments to play in the NCAA after their WHL careers are over.

by Nick Nielsen

Looking at the Minnesota-to-Raiders pipeline

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