Team Green got out to a 4-0 lead, but Team White managed to come back to win the final game of camp 5-4. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Raiders camp recap

Raiders camp finishes as one of the most competitive yet

Sep 1, 2025 | 9:04 PM

Training camp for the Prince Albert Raiders 2025-26 season is officially in the books, and now decision time is ahead for General Manager Curtis Hunt. When it comes to the level of compete and how the veterans welcomed the young guns, Hunt said he couldn’t be happier.

“I was tickled by camp. I thought the players came in in great shape. I thought our young guys were able to relax after a ‘burn the nerves’ practice and play their own games within the structure. I thought our veterans did a tremendous job of showing the way and what it means to be a Raider and how lucky we all are to be a part of this organization and it went smooth.”

The camp saw four teams of Raiders veterans and prospects come together to play in three games against each other. Team Protas, lead by Raiders veterans Riley Boychuk and Harrison Lodewyk, and young prospects Athens Shingoose and Kyle Obobaifo went 3-0 in the round robin series before facing Team McAmmond in the Parker Kelly Cup with a 3-2 win.

Each game was competitive for camp this year, with six of the eight games being decided by one goal, and the remaining two games were close enough to see the goaltender be pulled. Hunt credited the level of compete to the leadership of the returning veterans.

“Even in our final game, we call it the Parker Kelly Cup, the guys were complaining about calls and offsides, and we ended up with a one goal game and the intensity was fantastic. I think that’s a reflection of our leadership, and it certainly shows our young guys, what it means to be a player here.”

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That lead to the Green vs. White game on Labour Day Monday, and fans were treated to another great one-goal-game. Every veteran from the Raiders roster was absent from the lineup, meaning the crowd was treated to a battle between young prospects vying for what few potential spots are left on this year’s team.

“There’s two things I loved, Green jumps to a 4-0 lead, and there’s no quit in White. They ended up outshooting them, and they end up with five unanswered, and another one goal game and another goalie pulled at the end of that. But as to the work our scouts do, lead by Bruno Zarillo, Tyler Wagner, and Wylie Riendeau, and we had 14 of them here to evaluate. We knew this was going to be a good camp…I didn’t think it would be this good and competitive, which is exciting for the organization and it should be exciting for the city as the future looks really bright for the club.”

In the Green and White game, Owen Dyck opened the scoring for Team Green off a great 2-on-0 feed from Athens Shingoose, and Liam Hamre scored on the game’s next shot to make it 2-0 Team Green. After that, Brock Cripps ripped home a great wrist shot around traffic to extend their lead, and finally Kyle Obobaifo held the puck in on the right corner, walked down the wall, and fired a wrist shot off the bar and in to help Team Green out to a 4-0 lead.

Steele Bass shutout Team White through the first period and a half to help get Green out to the 4-0 lead.

Then Team White came alive and started to create more chances. Gavin Hamelin went on a 2-on-1 rush, but decided to shoot the puck himself to put White on the board. Then on the powerplay, Knox Burton potted a rebound after a shot from the point by Walker Bergen. Then after the goaltender made a mistake behind the net, a scramble ensued and Hamelin scored his second of the game after finding the rebound.

Tripp Fischer would find a rebound in front to tie the game for Team White, and then defenceman Darius Hordal would get the puck on the right point, then walk down the wall and cut to the net before putting the puck in the net himself for the game winner for Team White.

Evan Wandler, who the Raiders drafted this year, posted a shutout in his period and a half of play to give Team White the chance to come back, and they did with the final 5-4 score.

With training camp done, now comes the tough decisions to whittle the roster down to the 25 players the Raiders will start the season with. It starts on Tuesday when the Raiders head to Saskatoon for a mid-afternoon all rookie matchup against the Blades before welcoming them to the Art Hauser Centre on Wednesday.

With such a high level of competition within their own camp, Hunt is excited to see what the Raider rookies can do against a team wearing a different jersey.

“We’ve got big numbers here still today, and the next two days with these two rookie games against Saskatoon, we’ll be really young in game one, and then we’ll start to sprinkle in some of our older players. Some teams start rookie camp and main camp on the same day, I would say we play everybody together, so our young guys experience with our older players. Now is where the scouters will evaluate the list, see what we need, what we’re missing, we’ll discuss who our guys are that we’re going to keep an eye on the next little while, and who we want to possibly sign in the next little while.”

The Raiders play four preseason games against the Saskatoon Blades, September 2 in Saskatoon, Sept. 3 and 5 in Prince Albert, and finally Sept. 6 in Warman. Then the Raiders will finish off the preseason against the Regina Pats, first playing in Yorkton on Sept. 11, and finally back in Prince Albert on Sept. 13.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com