There were some strong local connections for the best team in the Western Hockey League (WHL) this season.
The Prince Albert Raiders wrapped up their 2018-19 regular season on Saturday night with a 3-1 victory over the Saskatoon Blades.
The Raiders finished with a 54-10-2-2 record. They were the No. 1 team in the country for a part of this season, and will likely be the second-ranked team in Canada when the playoffs begin.
As the top team in the WHL during the regular season, Prince Albert won the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy.
The Raiders captain, defenceman Brayden Pachal, is from Estevan. In his fourth season of junior hockey, he finished with a career-high 15 goals and 51 points in 66 regular season games.
Forward Cole Fonstad is also from Estevan. He finished the season with 29 goals and 73 points in 67 games, leaving him third on the team in scoring.
Fonstad was a fifth round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2018.
There’s one other local connection for this story: the Munro Trophy is named after the man who was the founder of the Estevan Bruins and was the Bruins first general manager. Munro was also a co-founder of the Western Hockey League.
The Raiders will face the Red Deer Rebels in the first round of the playoffs.
The WHL regular season wrapped up on Sunday.
