It should come as no surprise that three players were selected from the Prince Albert Raiders to assist Team WHL in it’s quest to win both games of the CIBC Canada Russia Series.
This year the games will be played in Kamloops and Vancouver, B.C. on November 5th and 6th. This will mark the first two of six games, the Russian team will then move on to face the OHL and then the QMJHL.
All three players from the Raiders were born in the 1999 age group and all three of them have taken 
different paths to be selected to this prestigious team.
Ian Scott has been a stalwart in net for the Raiders over his four plus WHL seasons. As a rookie, Scott played in 26 games and would finish out the season with a 13-9-2-0 record. In each of the next two season he would see action in 50 games. The team in front of him was less than stellar in his second season, but he still performed well enough to earn a selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2017 NHL draft. He would follow that selection up by having a stellar season, winning 24 games. This year, he’s again the starting netminder, winning nine of his ten starts while sporting a 1.60 goals against average and .943 save percentage.
Forward Parker Kelly made his way on to the roster after having himself a good 2017-18 season, scoring 29 goals and adding 30 assists. He’s also on a point-per-game pace for the 2018-19 season with six goals and five assists over his team’s 11 games. Kelly was inked to a free agent contract by the Ottawa Senators on September 19th, 2018 after being passed over in the draft. The Team Canada brass would like to get a good look at him through these couple of games and will have a tough decision to make as players don’t often get skipped over in their draft year, get invited to rookie/training camp and then signed to an entry level deal while still being 18-years-old.
Finally, Brett Leason has also been invited to play for Team WHL. He leads the league in scoring with 26 points through 11 games. Coming off of a 33 point campaign, he certainly has found some motivation after being dealt from the Tri-City Americans, then going through the NHL draft without being selected and not even earning a training camp invite. He is the only player on the roster who has not been selected or signed to an NHL team that has yet to be eligible. Leason was named the first star in back-to-back nights this week from the DUBNetwork, a first.
It is little wonder the Prince Albert Raiders are the CHL’s top ranked team. They also play seven of their next eight games on home ice. The trio of players will be missed, but as a developmental league, this is another way for the players to get in front of a group of scouts and make the decisions for the Team Canada staff difficult. The World Junior Championships are little more than two months away and this is the best chance to get the players together for one more look before the training camp.
