Raiders 16th overall pick Athens Shingoose and 62nd overall pick Brady Filmon were teammates last season with the RHA Winnipeg. (CSSHL/Jordan Martin)

By Nick Nielsen

Teammates and family connections

Director of Player Personnel shares thoughts on Raiders picks

May 9, 2025 | 5:00 PM

Over the course of the last two days, the Prince Albert Raiders added 11 new players through their regular draft, along with two players from the U.S. Priority Draft. To find the stats and see the draft order, you can check Thursday’s article here.

READ MORE: Raiders select 11 players during WHL Draft, two during U.S. Priority Draft

For the draft as a whole, the Raiders are happy with who they got. With a young core of players like Daxon Rudolph, Riley Boychuk, and Ty Meunier already active with the team and young prospects like Brock Cripps and Ben Harvey waiting to make their full time roster debuts, Director of Player Personnel Bruno Zarillo said that the main thing the scouts were looking for in this year’s draft is a competitiveness that can keep up with who the Raiders already have.

“The number one thing we look for in a player is they’re competitive and they come to the rink and they’re going to work. As a fan and a coach, that’s what you want. You want to see a player that’s working and trying his best and is competitive and fighting for the Raiders.”

Starting with the Raiders only pick of the first round, 16th overall, Athens Shingoose may be small, but he is a player that could wow Raiders fans when he does get to wear the Green and Black. The Waywayseecapo, Man. product led the CSSHL in powerplay goals this past season.

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“The skating is off the charts, and his edge work, and he’s a fearless player. You can’t knock him off the puck, and he’s able to think at a high speed and make things happen at a high speed. No, it’s an exciting player for sure.”

Shingoose was joined by his RHA Winnipeg teammate in the third round when the Raiders selected Brady Filmon 62nd overall. While Filmon has a lot of good things going on his own, having that chemistry with Shingoose already established made picking up Filmon all the more exciting.

“Filmon’s brother played in the league, and Filmon is a real thinker. He’s able to complement Athens, and they have very good chemistry, and they’re like best of friends. So it’s a good fit for us, and we’re very happy to get Filmon. There’s a lot of upside we believe there.”

Filmon’s older brother is Josh Filmon, who played with the Swift Current Broncos for four seasons before jumping to the pros last year with the AHL’s Utica Comets and the ECHL’s Adirondack Thunder.

Another professional hockey connection came to the Raiders in the fourth round when the Raiders took Calder Fraser 84th overall. Calder’s father is two-time Stanley Cup Champion Colin Fraser, but it isn’t just the family championship pedigree that earned Calder the pick.

“It doesn’t hurt, but I think at the end of the day, this player is the ultimate competitor. His team won the championship this year. Everybody knows when he’s on the ice, and he’s a guy you want to have on your team when you get into playoffs like we did this year. When there’s a seven-game series, you want him on your side.”

Like Shingoose and Filmon earlier, Fraser will also have a teammate joining him at Raiders camp thanks to the Raiders final selection of the draft in the 11th round, Noah Ulry at 246th overall. Ulry and Fraser won a U15 Alberta Elite Hockey League championship this year as members of the Red Deer Rebels U15 AAA squad, and both were big parts of that championship-winning team.

“They provided what a team needs to win a championship. They provided the heart and soul, and they provided it every shift, so we’re excited to get all these guys.”

Ulry and Fraser also have a connection to one of the third-round picks the Raiders made, goaltender Evan Wandler, who was taken 59th overall in the third round. Wandler was between the pipes for the Calgary Northstars U15 AAA against Ulry and Fraser in Red Deer, and he comes off a recommendation from Raiders goaltending coach Bryan Ferguson.

“We’re really excited to get him, he’s an Alberta Cup first All-Star team goalie. His team was in the finals against Fraser and Ulry. He comes very highly recommended from our goalie coach. He reviewed all the goalies, and he was the guy he wanted. So we were very happy that we got him for him.”

Bouncing back up in the second round, where the Raiders selected Walker Bergen with the 39th pick, a near local boy from just down Highway 11 in Hague. Along with some size at 5’11, 176 lbs, Bergen also plays a game that will complement the likes of Daxon Rudolph and Brock Cripps as potential future defensive partners.

“A well-rounded defenseman, good size, good feet, has a little bit of offence in this game, is able to join the rush, and he can do multiple things. He can defend and he can create some offence.”

The Raiders had three picks in the third round, and that started at the 52nd overall pick with Tripp Fischer. He led his team in the CSSHL playoffs last year with nine points to lead his team to a championship, and he made it clear that he can play in the big moments.

“He’s a Delta Hockey Academy player, he was their captain, can really shoot the puck, scored a lot of big goals for them. They won the CSSHL championship, has that going for him. High compete. We’re excited, he’s got great energy in this game.”

For their first fifth-round pick, Louis Judd, who the Raiders got 108th overall, the Raiders scouting staff looked at him as a fairly safe risk. The talent is clearly there, and teams in Saskatoon fought over the rights to draft him to their team, but an injury sidelined him last year. If Judd continues to develop the way it’s expected he will, he may become the steal of this year’s draft.

“He was a top pick in their draft this year, and we’re really excited to get him. He had some injury issues. So I think him coming to round five was really, really very fortunate.”

Also selected in the fifth round was Chayse Fedoriuk at 112th overall. He was nearly a 2-point-per-game player from the blueline last year, and Zarillo has high hopes for the young, skilled defenceman.

“He’s the top defenseman at OHA Edmonton. He has such strong upside. His vision on the ice, really it’s special. Really, a high top-scoring defenseman.”

The final picks to discuss came in the ninth round, Will Owens, 186th overall, and Paxton Hale, 200th overall. With the two of them standing at 5’9 and 5’8 respectively, Zarillo is hoping to see these guys grow a little bit into next season, but they both have great skill that gave the Raiders plenty of reason to pick them up.

“I think these are just guys who need a little more time. They are great hockey players who just need to grow. They’re small right now, but I really like their game.”

In the U.S. Priority Draft, the Raiders also brought in Texas native Gavin Hamelin and Minnesota native Mason Schemenauer.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com