It’s January 2004.
The Kelowna Rockets are the defending Western Hockey League champions and will host the Memorial Cup in May – a tournament they’ll win.
Leading the team are future NHLers Shea Weber, Josh Gorges and Blake Comeau. The roster includes several players who have notable professional careers, including Justin Keller, Randall Gelech, Tyler Mosienko and Simon Ferguson.
The coach is Marc Habscheid. The assistant coach is Jeff Truitt.
When Kelowna rolls into town, large crowds flock to see them play. Fans know the home team is in tough when the mighty Rockets visit.
Fast forward 15 years to January 2019.
The Prince Albert Raiders are the talk of junior hockey across the nation.
The Raiders lead not just the WHL, but the CHL in wins, fewest losses and points. They’re also second in the CHL in goals (204), with Drummondville of the QMJHL having the most (233).
The link between Kelowna and Prince Albert: Habscheid is the coach. Truitt is the assistant coach.
Yes, what’s old is new again.
Prince Albert (38-5-0-1, 77 points) is on a six-game road swing through British Columbia. The trip started Wednesday in Prince George and ends next weekend in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice.
And on Saturday night, when Prince Albert rolls into the Okanagan to play Kelowna (17-22-3-1), expect a big crowd to watch the mighty Raiders. Not just for old times’ sake, though Habscheid and Truitt will likely hear loud cheers for them, but also because Prince Albert plays exciting hockey.
“It’s going to be special. It’s almost going to be a reunion,” Habscheid said of Saturday’s game while en route from Prince George to Kamloops.
“Both situations are equal because of good players, but, more importantly, better people.”
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On Wednesday, Prince Albert opened its six-game trip by dismantling Prince George 6-2. The Raiders outshot the Cougars 49-25, and it could have been worse: The visitors were just 1-for-6 on the power play, which equates to 16.6 per cent. Prince Albert’s power play operates around 23 per cent.
The game was 3-2 after two periods, but Prince Albert iced it with a great third, scoring three unanswered goals – a hallmark sign that all great junior teams have.
Up next: Kamloops on Friday night, followed by Kelowna on Saturday. Prince Albert will then trek to Victoria to play the Royals on Tuesday, followed by stops in Vancouver on Thursday and Cranbrook on Saturday.
It’s a long trip, but, all in all, a good one with only one set of back-to-back games.
Habscheid, who also coached the Kamloops Blazers, Chilliwack Bruins and Victoria Royals, is used to these bus trips, affectionately known as riding the iron lung.
However, for Habscheid’s charges, this season is unlike any other they’ve known.
Winning spurs confidence. And confidence, at the junior level, is hard to come by.
Last season, the Raiders were 32-27-9-4, finishing fifth out of six in the East Division. In the first round of the playoffs, P.A. put up a good fight, but fell 4-3 to division-leading Moose Jaw (52-15-2-3).
“Experience is the greatest teacher, whether it’s a good experience or a bad experience,” Habscheid said. “And for a lot of these guys, it’s brand new for them. They’ve never experienced this before. Jeff and I are lucky as we’ve been through that.
“When you look back at Kelowna, or whoever, the first year that it happens, it’s a learning process for everybody – how to handle things, how to go about those types of things.
“The only difference here is that Jeff and I have a little bit more experience. We’ve gone through that before, so maybe we can help them out a little bit.”
If the Raiders continue their torrid pace, they’ll finish with a record of 59-8-0-1, good for 119 points. At one point, Prince Albert had 21 wins out of 22 games, garnering 42 out of a possible 44 points.
As the season goes on, it’s safe to assume the Raiders will attract big crowds when they hit the road.
“Sometimes I’m not sure they understand the season that they’re putting together.”
“It’s a group that’s pretty humble. There are no big-shot artists; they just go about their business. Then they come out and people talk about them, or they come out to watch them practice or play. That’s kind of new to them.
“It’s something that they’re not used to, for sure.”
Habscheid also discussed how Prince Albert missed the playoffs in 2016-17.
“A lot of our core was there and they talk about how close the team is now – and it was a real close team that season, too. That’s what kind of makes this season what it is,” he said.
“Even though we missed the playoffs, we had a good late run and could have made the playoffs had there been another couple of weeks on the schedule.
“That group, they recovered and they learned a lot of lessons from it, too. There were some teams that had powerhouses and they chipped us around a bit and kind of taunted us. Our guys remembered that and now the shoe’s on the other foot.
“But we don’t want to be like that. We still want to win, but we want to do it the right way.”
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