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People-first approach sets tone for Raiders

Sep 20, 2018 | 8:00 AM

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.

“What we try to do here is really worry about the people,” said Head Coach Marc Habscheid. “In the end you can have all the bells and whistles, the 10,000-seat building, the million-person population, but everything in life comes down to people.

“We understand that there’s players and coaches, but no one is better or worse than anyone else, we just have different jobs. We respect each other’s territory and each other’s jobs, but there can also be integration with those things too.”

Habscheid was able to experience a winning culture early in his professional playing career when he was a part of one of hockey’s greatest teams, the early-1980s Edmonton Oilers. While the oldest players on this year’s Raiders squad were born nearly two decades later, the lessons learned by the bench boss in Edmonton stand the test of time.

“Probably half that room is going to end up in the Hall of Fame, and yet the greatest players in the world that were in that room made me feel like I was important, even though I was the youngest and probably contributed the least, and I think that’s something I always carried and wanted to instill when I got into coaching,” he said.

The objective of any hockey team is to be successful on the ice, but a big part of the recipe takes place in the room, on the road, at billet houses, or elsewhere, like the Raiders’ annual pre-season camping trip to Montreal Lake.

Over Labour Day weekend, while some other WHL teams were competing in pre-season tournaments, the Raiders loaded the bus and headed North to spend time together outside fishing, canoeing, and competing in a variety of ways that didn’t include a stick and puck.

Goaltender Ian Scott said the annual trip has been an exciting way to start each of his four years in Prince Albert.

“I really like it. It’s always a fun trip to look forward to at the start of the season. I think everyone on the team enjoys it, too. It’s just a way for us all to joke around and build relationships,” Scott said.

Habscheid echoed Scott’s comments, saying the players and coaches learn a lot about each other on the trip.

“We call it accidental team building. We take staff and players, and we put them in a position where maybe they haven’t experienced things before,” Habscheid said. “It’s a new experience, you get to see true personalities, the guards are let down in terms of what they’re all about, their strengths and weaknesses and those are all positive things. You understand what makes them tick, what’s important to them and what isn’t, and now you can help them grow as people.”

Of course, junior hockey doesn’t hand out points for culture or team building, so the Raiders will need results on the ice for the season to be considered a success. First on the schedule is a home-and-home set with the Regina Pats, the defending Memorial Cup finalists who were undefeated against Prince Albert last year.

Many are predicting this to be a season where the balance of power in the East Division switches away from last year’s frontrunners in Regina, Moose Jaw, and Swift Current, and toward the other three franchises in Prince Albert, Saskatoon, and Brandon.

Within the Raider room, the focus is on building off last year’s first round loss to Moose Jaw and pushing towards the top of the standings.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re excited for the chance to give a little payback to some teams this year,” Scott said.

The season gets underway Friday at 7 p.m. as the Pats come to the Art Hauser Centre before the two teams meet in the return match Saturday night in Regina.

 

trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden