In 1972, the SJHL expanded into the city of Prince Albert, as the league grew to eleven teams. The first season they played, they won 33 of their 48 games. No one realized they would go on from there to be one of the most dominant teams in the history of Junior A hockey, as they took the SJHL by storm.

Their first two seasons, they lead the North Division in the regular season but come the playoffs, weren’t able to claim the league title.

In their third year, they broke the drought. The 1973-74 season saw the Raiders top the Estevan Bruins in the league final to take the Hanbidge Cup, which the SJHL title used to be called, and their first of what would be eight league titles over the course of nine years.

In 1975, the Raiders lost in the final to Swift Current, but then it would be Prince Albert dominating from that point on in the SJHL. There would be seven consecutive Anavet Cup titles as well, awarded to the winner of the series between the SJHL champion and MJHL champions. The real magic began in the 1976-77 season for Prince Albert.

Now the assistant general manager of the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL, Kelly McCrimmon was a rookie on the Prince Albert roster that year.

“I think that era, for junior A hockey, that PA was the place where everybody wanted to play,” McCrimmon explains.

He had started his junior career playing Junior B hockey in Melfort, then moved to the Raiders at the beginning of the season. He was following in the footsteps of his brother Brad McCrimmon, who the year prior was named the SJHL’s Defenseman of the Year, before moving on to the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL.

“They had a tremendous tradition of winnings, and a successful, well-run organization that you pretty much had the confidence that year in, year out, was going to find a way to be a contending team to win a championship.”

And win championships they would.

It started with the league title, which they captured when they beat Melville Millionaires. Qualifying for the Anavet Cup as the SJHL champs, they faced the Dauphin Kings who they topped in five games. In the Abbott Cup, they dispatched the Calgary Canucks in five games as well, setting up a meeting against the Pembroke Lumber Kings in the Centennial Cup finals. The best of seven series was played in Prince Albert, as it was the West's turn to host the championship series. The Raiders scored no fewer than four goals in each game, as they swept the team hailing from the small community outside Ottawa.

As they raised the trophy over their heads, McCrimmon explained they didn’t realize the legacy which would begin with the national title.

“When you're a young player playing junior hockey, you’re living in the moment,” McCrimmon said as he described the memory. “I remember just how exciting playoff hockey was, which was a real good taste for all of us in terms of the competitiveness, the excitement, the satisfaction of winning and moving on.”

The Raiders would go on to win the Centennial Cup another three times over the next five seasons, a dominance which has yet to be surpassed.

Many attribute the successes of the team to the coaching. Terry Simpson was the bench boss for the Raiders, a man who McCrimmon speaks highly of.

“Terry is a very respected hockey person, and so many of the players who played there I think became better players, better people, by being associated with him,” said McCrimmon, adding Simpson went on to the professional ranks, where he saw time behind the bench of the Winnipeg Jets, and other teams.

For McCrimmon, he doesn’t have any specific memories, looking back those forty years. It is more the impressions and feelings of all the experiences of being part of a championship team.

From their SJHL days, to the time in the WHL, the Prince Albert Raiders have gone on to produce a number of players who moved up to professional hockey, not just as players, but coaches, and scouts. Their decade of dominance in the SJHL, though, will go down in the history books as one of the most successful periods of hockey for any team at the Junior A level.