It was a series that could have gone either way between the Prince Albert Raiders and the top team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) during the 2017-18 regular season.
The opening-round series between the Raiders, who grabbed the last playoff spot, and the Moose Jaw Warriors was decided in the seventh game by a single goal.
For Prince Albert, the 5-4-loss was a tough one, but one head coach Marc Habscheid said will make them a tougher team to beat this season.
“We were just disappointed we weren’t able to have the chance to move on and play Swift Current in the next round, but with everything good or bad it creates experience and we’ve got experience off that,” Habscheid said.
“Our players got to a taste of the building being full and the energy in Prince Albert and they want to re-establish themselves now and keep that feeling going into this year.”
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Prince Albert opened the 2018-19 season with victories in their first two games, beating the Regina Pats twice by scores of 7-2 and 3-1.
Junior teams have a lot of turnover as players grow too old, but the Raiders roster wasn’t hit hard after last season.
Seven of their top-10 scorers have returned, led by forward Cole Fonstad who has two goals and three assists in his first two games.
“We’re really excited for this year. We got a good veteran group coming back with lots of experience and we’re a really close group,” Fonstad said.
“My first couple years here, it’s kind of taken a bit to get going and to get off to a good start there, it just builds momentum and you can just roll from there so it’s good to get the confidence up early.”
“Close-knit. That’s one thing that we’ve tried to do since I’ve been here is have that culture that the players love coming to the rink and they’ll play hard for one another … when you’re a close-knit group, you have a greater chance for success,” Habscheid said.
Prince Albert is back in action on Friday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers at the Art Hauser Centre.
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