I'm continuously jealous of Saskatchewan's defiance of silly Daylight Savings Time, although this evening it bit me in the backside as there wasn't much time between Lepine Saskatchewan and tonight's 7pm puck drop.

My room at the Coronet Hotel helped out though, as I turned on the TV only to find a replay of Tom Brady beating my Chiefs in 2019 to advance to the Super Bowl. The TV was turned back off and I hit the streets.

My walk included running into the Prince Albert Correctional Centre, where thankfully I wasn't flying any kites.

Nature called while walking to the arena and I had to stop at the only business I came upon - a neighbourood grocery store. Thankfully the young cashier happily and helpfully pointed me towards a miniscule washroom which may have actually been an employees' washroom.

The people of Prince Albert were already making a kind and welcoming impression!

The Prince Albert Raiders would probably have been one of the original franchises of the Western Hockey League, as Prince Albert's 1961 population of 24,168 and decade after decade population growth, would have put it on par with Estevan, Weyburn and Moose Jaw, who were all granted franchises.

The only problem was that Prince Albert's main arena, Minto Arena, burned down in 1961.

So WHL hockey had to wait until the Prince Albert Communiplex, now known as the Art Hauser Centre, opened in 1971 and instantly became home to the Prince Albert Raiders.

Built in the 1970s and only having 2 580 seats, I was ready for the Art Hauser Centre to be right up my alley and it didn't take long to fall in love with the little hallways connecting the lobby and the seating area, the old banners hanging not too far above the seats, plus the incredible wood ceiling.

I also loved the paint job on the back wall of the arena. What a great way to add some colour to the building, while also making it feel like you're in Saskatchewan.

Solid poutine offering as well. Could have been a bit bigger, but the curds, gravy and krinkle fries were all great.

During the first intermission, I found what must've been 40% of the arena jammed into the Ches Leach Lounge near the front of the arena. As the local high school girls were putting on a gymnastics show, I decided against taking any photos of the lounge, lol.

Another cool thing about the Raiders experience was once they saw me purchase tickets with a Newfoundland address, I got an email expressing their excitement about "my first Raiders game" and a reward of either 15% off in the team store or a signed puck from any player.

The Raiders had a first round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks and hey, maybe a signed puck from that guy might be worth $9 some day, but I instead went with the fun choice of Prince Albert's backup Belorussian goaltender Tikhon Chaika.

Mr. Chaika actually made it into the game after visiting Saskatoon had a three-goal outburst in the second period to put the Blades up 6-2 on the home Raiders. Chaika stopped all nine shots he faced in relief in the third.

Taking a route home that went south of the Prince Albert Correctional Centre, and wouldn't you know it, I ran into the Northern Lights Casino!

I didn't care for how expensive their tables were with a $25 minimum bet on this Friday night, but the roulette lady was a local and friendly and no one else was playing, so we ended up bullshitting a bunch while I skipped turns as a $25 minimum is way too spicy for me. I appreciated the she kept spinning the wheel so I could size up when to jump in with my black and/or odd bets. She told me about how Prince Albert is a fairly shitty place with little to do, but she was happy that she had one of the good jobs in town.

Finishing up my walk home, I had my eye on the sports bar connected to my motel but working up the gusto to open the door to the Player's Sports Bar, it was really bright inside and there were only four intoxicated people, who were all around my parents' age.

I stepped back outside and headed to my room - which I sort of regret as I now see there's zero reviews for Player's online and no worthwhile mentions of it on Google. Colour me intrigued!

I woke up to find snow on my car and decided against my planned trip north of Prince Albert. I wanted to head that way because of the geographic obscurity, but at the same time I didn't want to put my car into a ditch.

Speaking of my rental, I stopped to get gas this morning and the East Indian dude at Petro Canada was like, "ooooh, Charger! Nice car! How much did that cost you?" I had to let him know that it was a rental, lol.

There was still some joy to be had this morning as I'd never been to Prince Albert prior to yesterday and I was excited to explore its downtown.

The Coronet Hotel was located on 34th Street and I wanted to walk down to 10th Street last night, but even though it was warmer than previous Saskatchewan nights, I still passed on it. Most of this had to do with how I wanted to head downtown to visit the ancient National Hotel, built in 1904, but Friday night near midnight seemed like a daunting time to visit a bar with a seedy reputation in a strange, cold town.

On one hand, there were so many rough people milling about downtown Prince Albert this morning that I couldn't take a photo of the front of the National Hotel, so maybe it was the right decision not to get my ass into a jackpot last night. On the other hand, they tore down the National Hotel just a year and a half later, so there's no going back now. I have to live with my picture of the drive-thru beer store round back.

Also, across the street from the National was a classic pilgrim hat A&W and that burned down in January of 2024 - so this corner of Prince Albert has really changed since my visit.

At the motel last night, I worked away at the problem of snowshoes, not finding any of them on Marketplace and only finding $150 kids snowshoes at Canadian Tire and the local outdoor goods store. This morning I tried a pawn shop near the National Hotel and all they had were brand new ones that someone had pawned - price $110.

I thought about my belief in spending the extra money in spots like this because when will I ever again be in Saskatchewan in the winter checking out abandoned houses and maybe an abandoned dam? Although, I was now heading south and soon the snow would get to depths where it wouldn't pose any threat to my sneakered feet.

I was already spending enough money, so I left the pawn shop without making a purchase.

There were quite a few abandoned buildings downtown and reading up on this library later, I see the owner has been trying to save and renovate it for over two decades. He's had many break-ins and faced plenty of vandalism over the years, but he remains steadfast in trying to keep an old Prince Albert building going and improving downtown.

A few years prior to this trip, I was on a boat and there was a guy decked out in Prince Albert Raiders gear. It bothered me because it was one of the geographic places I couldn't talk about, but it now bothers me more as I'd have like to heard another local's two cents on Prince Albert.

Taking a turn onto the main strip of downtown, there was a guy up ahead yelling and smashing his hand into pulldown roller doors like Darrell Sheets. Not seeming like someone I wanted to meet, I crossed the street only to hear that my ancestors were murderers and "fuck Gabriel Dumont!"

Tilting my head and thinking I maybe should have paid more attention to Canadian history as I didn't have a clue who Gabriel Dumont was, that was then interupted, "no, fuck that, Dumont was a real one. Fuck Louis Riel!"

At least I'd heard of Louis Riel, but at this point I hooked a right on some side street. About ten feet later all I heard was, "keep fucking walking cowboy!" as he passed, lol.

Following a pleasant 1030 a.m. walk around Prince Albert, it was now time to hit the dusty trail south.

Continue to Part 4...