The Raiders were founded as a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) club in 1971, playing out of the newly constructed Prince Albert Communiplex, later renamed the Art Hauser Centre.1 The Raiders quickly established themselves as one of the most successful Tier II junior clubs in Canada. The team won seven consecutive Anavet Cups from 1976 to 1982, defeating Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions for the right to play for the national championship. Prince Albert went on to win the national championship, the Centennial Cup, four times between 1977 and 1982.23 In this era, the Raiders competed against a number of future Ontario Hockey League teams, including the Guelph Platers and the Belleville Bulls. The team's early success came under manager and coach Terry Simpson—former player James Patrick called the coach "synonymous with winning and competing"4—and he remained coach when the team moved up to the top junior ranks by joining the WHL in 1982.5
The Raiders' first year in the WHL was a challenging one—the team finished last in the East Division and missed the playoffs.6 However, Dan Hodgson was named the league's rookie of the year, and the team rapidly improved under Simpson's guidance. The Raiders made the playoffs in their second season, and were a bona fide contender by their third year in the league, boasting a defensive star in Manny Viveiros and future National Hockey League players such as Dave Manson and Ken Baumgartner. Hodgson, now captain, finished second in the league in scoring in 1984–85, and helped pace the Raiders to 58 wins and the league's best regular season record. In the playoffs, the Raiders lost only one game en route to their first league championship, securing the President's Cup with a sweep of the Kamloops Blazers.7 The Raiders thus earned a spot in the 1985 Memorial Cup.
The Memorial Cup tournament also featured the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the Verdun Junior Canadiens, and the Shawinigan Cataractes. In an opening game that featured 108 minutes in penalties, Prince Albert lost 6–2 to Shawinigan.8 The second game saw the Raiders beat Verdun 5–3 with 2 goals from defenceman Dave Goertz.9 In their third game, the Raiders defeated Sault Ste. Marie 8–6; Hodgson had 5 assists in the match.10 The Raiders and Greyhounds would play each other again in the semi-finals, and Prince Albert would prevail again by a score of 8–3. The Raiders became national champions by defeating the Cataractes 6–1 in the final.11 The Memorial Cup victory capped off a decade-long run in which the Raiders won five national championships.
The following season, the Raiders finished second overall before losing the Division Final in seven games to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Simpson won his second coach-of-the-year award, and then left the team to coach the New York Islanders, marking the end of an era. Simpson would return for a single season in 1989–90 before leaving again for the NHL.12
The Raiders remained competitive for much of the next decade, including another four runs to the division playoff final between 1990 and 1996. However, despite boasting future NHL players such as Mike Modano, Shane Hnidy, Scott Hartnell, Kyle Chipchura, and Josh Morrissey, the next 22 seasons would see the Raiders win only four playoff series—and none between 2005 and 2019—missing the playoffs altogether eleven times.
Marc Habscheid joined the team as coach in 2014, and he worked to rebuild the team into a contender. That work paid off by 2018, when the Raiders began their most successful season in more than two decades. Led by Brett Leason, Noah Gregor, and Ian Scott, 2018–19 saw the Raiders put together their first 100-point season since 1995–96 and their best since 1984–85, securing their second Scotty Munro Trophy as regular season champions. They had a longer road in the playoffs than in 1985, culminating in a seven-game championship series against the Vancouver Giants, a series in which they led 3 games to 1.13 The Raiders won their second WHL title with a 3–2 game 7 overtime win over the Giants, with Dante Hannoun scoring the overtime winner.14 The win sent the Raiders to their second Memorial Cup tournament, where they were knocked out in the preliminary round.15
Led by the team's first 18-year old captain in Kaiden Guhle, the Raiders had another strong season in 2019–20; however, with the team atop the East Division, the season was cut short and the playoffs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ending the Raiders' hopes of repeating.16 The team participated in a shortened 2020–21 campaign featuring only East Division opponents.17 Due to the modified campaigns, the Raiders were the last team to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup at when the 2021–22 campaign began.18
The Raiders originally wore green and yellow uniforms with a logo featuring a skating hockey player.19 From 1985 until the mid-1990s, the team adopted imagery featuring an Arab mascot wielding a scimitar. Although the team moved away from this look in 1996—adopting black as its primary colour and a new logo featuring a pirate's head—the Raiders stirred controversy in the twenty-first century by bringing back elements of branding from the era.20 In 2014, the team faced criticism for introducing a mascot that was a caricature of an Arab man;21 the team ultimately retired the mascot and would late introduce a parrot mascot in its place.22 In 2021, the team forced the WHL to apologize when it brought back its 1980s jerseys as a third-jersey; the move was called "insensitive and offensive".23
The Raiders re-adopted green as the primary colour in 2013, and ditched the pirate logo in favour of a sword-and-shield logo featuring "PA" initials.24 A new third jersey introduced in 2022 paid homage to the pirate era.25
Like many junior teams, the Raiders frequently adopt limited-edition and special-event jerseys. In 2024, the team temporarily re-branded as the Cobra Chickens, unveiling a new jersey featuring a Canada goose logo.26
Memorial Cups
Ed Chynoweth Cups
Playoff Division/Conference Champions
Scotty Munro Memorial Trophies
Regular season Division Champions
Centennial Cup Champions
Abbott Cup Champions
Anavet Cup Champions
Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League Champions
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties OTL = Overtime losses Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
The following list includes alumni from the Prince Albert Raiders of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) and the Western Hockey League (WHL) who went on to play in the National Hockey League.
Numbers retired by the Raiders:27
Four Broncos Memorial Trophy (WHL player of the year)
Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy (WHL rookie of the year)
Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy (WHL top defenceman)
Del Wilson Trophy (WHL top goaltender)
Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy (WHL coach of the year)
Doc Seaman Trophy (WHL scholastic player of the year)
WHL Playoff MVP (Awarded since 1992)
Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy (Memorial Cup MVP)
Hap Emms Memorial Trophy (Memorial Cup top goaltender)
George Parsons Trophy (Memorial Cup sportsmanship)
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"Raider History". Prince Albert Raiders. Archived from the original on 2023-09-30. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://chl.ca/whl-raiders/raider-history/ ↩
Lapp, Richard M.; White, Silas (1993). Local Heroes: A History of the Western Hockey League. Madeira Park, British Columbia: Harbour Publishing. pp. 145–147. ISBN 1-55017-080-5. 1-55017-080-5 ↩
Mahon, Rob (2023-03-21). "'One of the greatest years of my life': Former Raider Patrick recalls lone season in Prince Albert". PA Now. Archived from the original on 2023-05-08. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://panow.com/2023/03/21/one-of-the-greatest-years-of-my-life-former-raider-patrick-recalls-lone-season-in-prince-albert/ ↩
"Terry Simpson given big honour by WHL". PA Now. 2011-03-18. Archived from the original on 2024-05-11. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://panow.com/2011/03/18/terry-simpson-given-big-honour-by-whl/ ↩
Provost, Kelly (2019-05-10). "Prince Albert Raiders on the verge of a WHL championship". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2019-05-11. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/prince-albert-raiders-whl-championship-series-1.5130364 ↩
Lapp, Richard; Macaulay, Alec (1997). The Memorial Cup: Canada's National Junior Hockey Championship. Madeira Park, B.C.: Harbour Publishing. pp. 219–220. ISBN 1-55017-170-4. 1-55017-170-4 ↩
"1985 Memorial Cup winners celebrate 30th anniversary in Prince Albert". CBC News. 2015-03-13. Archived from the original on 2015-03-14. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/1985-memorial-cup-winners-celebrate-30th-anniversary-in-prince-albert-1.2992651 ↩
"Raiders beat Giants in overtime to win WHL title in seven games". Sportsnet. Canadian Press. 2019-05-14. Archived from the original on 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/raiders-beat-giants-overtime-win-whl-title-seven-games/ ↩
Larson, Scott (2019-05-22). "'No one picked us to be here,' Raiders coach says as Prince Albert ousted from Memorial Cup". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2019-05-23. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/no-one-picked-us-to-be-here-raiders-coach-says-as-prince-albert-ousted-from-memorial-cup-1.5144639 ↩
Bidwell, Derek (2021-03-05). "Prince Albert Raiders return as one of the favourites in shortened WHL season". Global News. Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://globalnews.ca/news/7677639/prince-abert-raiders-2021-season/ ↩
D'Andrea, Jeff (2021-05-13). "Looking back at the time the Raiders won it all". PA Now. Archived from the original on 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://panow.com/2021/05/13/looking-back-at-the-time-the-raiders-won-it-all/ ↩
Creamer, Chris (2013-05-16). "Back to Green: Prince Albert Raiders Unveil New Look". SportsLogos.net. Archived from the original on 2021-07-25. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://news.sportslogos.net/2013/05/16/back-to-green-prince-albert-raiders-unveil-new-look/hockey-2/ ↩
"Prince Albert Raiders unveil new mascot, stir public controversy". CTV News. 2014-11-18. Archived from the original on 2014-11-21. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/prince-albert-raiders-unveil-new-mascot-stir-public-controversy-1.2108421 ↩
Vecchio, Jaryn (2021-12-21). "P.A. Raiders unveil new mascot". PA Now. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://panow.com/2021/12/21/p-a-raiders-unveil-new-mascot/ ↩
"'Insensitive and offensive' Prince Albert Raiders jersey to be discontinued immediately". CBC Sports. 2021-10-02. Archived from the original on 2021-10-03. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/whl-prince-albert-raiders-offensive-jersey-discontinued-1.6198071 ↩
Craddock, Derek (2022-03-19). "'I'm very happy': Designer of new Raiders jersey can't wait to see them on the ice". PA Now. Archived from the original on 2022-03-19. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://panow.com/2022/03/19/im-very-happy-designer-of-new-raiders-jersey-cant-wait-to-see-them-on-the-ice/ ↩
McLernon, Will (2024-01-25). "Prince Albert's WHL Cobra Chickens the latest in a trend of lighthearted 1-day rebrands". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2024-01-25. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/prince-albert-whl-team-cobra-chickens-1.7092324 ↩
Kowal, Nolan (2024-12-23). "Year in Review: Dan Hodgson's number 16 retired by Raiders". PA Now. Archived from the original on 2024-05-11. Retrieved 2024-02-07. https://panow.com/2023/12/24/year-in-review-dan-hodgsons-number-16-retired-by-raiders/ ↩
"Team Record Book". Prince Albert Raiders. Archived from the original on 2023-09-30. Retrieved 2024-05-11. https://chl.ca/whl-raiders/raider-history/ ↩