People-first approach sets tone for Raiders
Prince Albert may be a long way from far flung locales like Miami, Phoenix, Vancouver, or even Vitebsk, Belarus where Raider players spend their summers with family, but the Art Hauser Centre has come to feel like home for those who don the green and gold.
“If I had one word [to describe the current Raider team], it would be brotherhood,” forward Kody McDonald, who came to Prince Albert in early January after spending over three years with the Prince George Cougars, said. “People in hockey say that if you have a team, you’ve got a bunch of brothers out there, but this is one of the first teams from Timbits all the way up where we all really feel it.
“Every single day we come to the rink, we have our little arguments here and there, but we still love each other to the end, so it’s a real tight group and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
While the players in the room deserve considerable credit for creating a welcoming atmosphere for newcomers like McDonald in one of the Western Hockey League’s northern outposts, the established culture goes beyond the dressing room and into the coaches’ office.