Raiders bring home league awards

“It’s a huge honour. You see the names that have went before and to be a part of that is pretty special,” Scott said.

“[This year has] been unbelievable. My past four years here we’ve had ups and downs, it’s been just a crazy ride and I just can’t thank everyone enough for everything they’ve done and helping me grow on and off the ice.”

Scott is the first Raider to ever be named as the WHL’s top goaltender.

For the second time in his career, Habscheid won the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as league coach of the year. In his 15^th season as a WHL head coach, he led the Raiders to the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champion with a record of 54-10-2-2. He also registered his 500^th career WHL regular season victory and coached in his 1000^th regular season game.

Habscheid offered a glimpse of why he’s been so successful in Prince Albert after receiving the award, pointing to the players in the room as the reason for his recognition.

“I’m happy obviously, but I wish I could have brought my coaches with me and especially the players with me. It sounds cliché but it isn’t. You have to have good players but above all else you have to have good people to have a cohesive group,” Habscheid said.

“That’s what they are, they’re great people that look out for their teammates and so this is a tribute to all the players in the room and the staff that I work with.”

The coach also pointed to past leaders such as Josh Morrissey, Sawyer Lange, Tim Vanstone, Curtis Miske, and former coach Dave Manson as those who played a big role in building a winning culture in Prince Albert.

Terry Simpson is the last Raider head coach to earn the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy, doing so in 1984 and 1986.

In his fourth season as a WHL general manager, all in Prince Albert, Curtis Hunt has overseen the building of this year’s regular season champion. Over the last several years, Hunt acquired players like Brett Leason, Brayden Pachal, Max Martin, Sergei Sapego, Noah Gregor, and Dante Hannoun who have become key players this year. Furthermore, he’s kept an eye to the future as evidenced by the rookie performances by Jakob Brook, Ozzy Wiesblatt, Aliaksei Protas, and Kaiden Guhle this season.

Hunt was recognized with the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as WHL Executive of the Year and expressed gratitude to his colleagues for the honour.

“That’s pretty special when the guys that you work with throughout the league recognize the job you’ve done,” Hunt said. “I think [the award is a] reflection of our community here, our front office staff and the job they do, the job that Marc does with our players, and then our scouting and I’m obviously the guy that just gets to go up there and accept the award.”

Hunt is the first Raider to win the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy in franchise history and said there was added meaning to the award after the loss of the late Ron Gunville, the team’s former director of player personnel.

“On a personal level, I share this with Ronnie Gunville, he’s been in my thoughts lately around the draft here and his family. Then of course my family, my wife and my two boys, in order to do these jobs, it takes a lot of sacrifice and you need a great support system at home, which I know we both had.”

Finishing as a finalist for the Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Memorial Trophy as WHL Scholastic Player of the Year was Raiders forward Jakob Brook, who was the Eastern Conference nominee.

Brook maintained an impressive average of 92 percent in his Grade 11 year in Prince Albert, while appearing in 61 games with the Raiders and registering 12 points as a rookie.

The award was won by Everett Silvertips goaltender Dustin Wolf.

A busy week for the organization continues Thursday with the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft which will be held in Red Deer. On Friday, it’s back to the ice as the Raiders host the Vancouver Giants in game one of the Rogers WHL Championship Series.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden

by Trevor Redden

Raiders bring home league awards

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