Prince Albert Raiders forward Connor Howe, who put up 5 goals during the preseason, stands out as one of many reasons to be excited for this year's team. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

tone set for season ahead

Preseason shows lots of promise for upcoming Raiders season

Sep 16, 2025 | 6:10 AM

The six preseason games are in the books for the Prince Albert Raiders, and now the anticipation turns to the season opener against the Saskatoon Blades on Friday. That’s also when the Raiders will raise their East Division Championship banner.

After a great camp that showed a lot of compete and skill from young stars, Raiders General Manager Curtis Hunt has some difficult decisions ahead to make the final tweaks to the roster for opening night. That said, based on how competitive this preseason has been both internally and against Saskatoon and Regina squads, Hunt said this year is looking bright early.

“There’s always questions at the end of the day, but I thought our camp was competitive. I thought our leadership and older players were tremendous ambassadors for the young kids before we really broke into camp. Probably the last four games, there was different aspects of our game that I thought shone in different areas, which is nice to see because you know that it’ll come together. It’s always a moving target early in the year, but I think it’s been a good two to three weeks here and I’m excited about Friday night and getting the season going and seeing what we’re really all about, especially when our guys return from the National Hockey League.”

One new face that Raider fans can expect to see on opening night is Owen Corkish, who the Raiders officially signed last week. The 18-year-old from Cottage Grove, Minnesota put up five assists in five preseason games, finishing on a line with Aiden Oiring and Brayden Dube in the spot that was occupied by Tomas Mrsic last year.

With his unique skillset of speed and a knack for setting up one touch plays, Hunt is excited to see what the American High School hockey player can bring to the team this year.

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“He’s energy. When you watch a face-off, his jump is fantastic. I’m hoping that’s contagious throughout our lineup, but his puck recovery, his give and go plays, his quickness, he thinks the game extremely well, and it’s just gotten better every single day and when we hit the regular season, it’s another level as the rosters thin out and the younger players go home. But he’s certainly made an impact, that’s why we signed him, and we’re excited to see how he fares as we advance along.”

The biggest question to answer going into the season has been the matter of who would replace the graduating Max Hildebrand as the Raiders starting goaltender. Between the 17-year-old Steele Bass looking to break into the WHL, 18-year-old Michal Orsulak who the Raiders brought in from Czechia, and returning 19-year-old WHL Champion Dimitri Fortin, the competition for the starting job has been fierce, and fans won’t find out who will get that opening night start until that day arrives.

“I guess just like the NFL or CFL, we’re not going to tell you who the starting quarterback is, at least not today,” Hunt said with a laugh. “With the six games, we’ve been able to get the guys in lots of situations. Obviously, the two older players had whole games on this past weekend against Regina just to have that feel heading into this week, but I wouldn’t say there’s been a lockdown decision made at this point in time. But we’re happy with the competition and we’re happy with how they’ve played, and that’s the best part is that they make it tough for us.”

With the earlier mentioned Orsulak and defenceman Matyas Man looking like big additions to the team already, there’s still a glaring omission from the imported lineup in Alisher Sarkenov. The soon to be 18-year-old and first ever Kazakhstani born player the Raiders have had is supposed to help add some scoring touch for the Raiders, but will likely be absent from the team for the first few weeks of the season.

Based on what happened with his brother Asanali in Spokane last year, Hunt expected to start the season without Sarkenov.

“So his brother plays in Spokane, and when we drafted him, I was on the phone that day and I was told it took a while for him to get his visa to get into the US and he missed the first week of the season. So we were prepared for this, I guess, on the inside. As of right now, his visa has been accepted, they’ve tracked it, except you have to actually send the actual booklet away and it has to be stamped. So they’re just waiting on that. Once it arrives, we’ll have him on the next plane and then try to get him acclimated as quickly as possible.”

Finally there’s the matter of the young guns coming to join the Raiders. Highlighted by the likes of Brock Cripps, Ben Harvey, and the local Connor Howe, there’s an influx of young talent that the Raiders had invited to camp, but a lot of those players were further ahead than what the Raiders scouting staff thought going into camp.

“I like the way the kids have played. I think we need to keep in mind that they’ve played five and six games as well, and also against some younger players, but Saturday night Regina was short, not a lot of their veteran guys, so you see how they play and perform in that environment. They execute, they work, they compete, they’re paying attention to detail, and they’re good young players. We let a veteran player go earlier in the week, and one of the reasons was those young players have put pressure on the older guys to perform. The nice thing for the coaching staff is you can throw them out in any situation and they’ve shown they can execute.”

The Raiders open the season on Friday against the Saskatoon Blades at the Art Hauser Centre.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com