**The quick read:** Everett Silvertips goaltender Anders Miller takes a 12-0-1 playoff record, a 1.79 goals-against average, and a .936 save percentage into Game 3 of the WHL Championship Final on Tuesday, May 12, at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert (6:30 p.m. PT). Through two rounds he sat at .948 — no WHL goalie with nine-plus playoff games has ever posted better. With the series tied 1-1 and the next three games on the road, the Silvertips’ chances of winning their first Ed Chynoweth Cup since 2007 depend on whether Miller can carry that work in front of someone else’s crowd.
Hockey playoff series get decided by goaltending. We say that every spring like it’s a fortune-cookie cliché, but in the 2026 WHL Final it’s also literally what’s happening. The Everett Silvertips are tied 1-1 with the Prince Albert Raiders heading into a three-game road swing, and the player most responsible for keeping this dream season alive is wearing pads.
Here’s why Anders Miller’s Game 3 might be the single most important shift of his career, and why Silvertips fans should feel both nervous and weirdly calm.
The Number That Makes the Rest of the WHL Stop Talking
Through two rounds of the 2026 WHL Playoffs, Miller put up a .948 save percentage. That is, per QuantHockey, the highest save percentage ever recorded in WHL playoff history by a goalie with nine or more games played. Not the highest of the year. Not the highest in the conference. The highest, full stop, going back through every postseason the league has ever played.
Through 13 playoff games this spring, Miller now sits at:
- **Record: 12-0-1**
- **Goals-against average: 1.79** (2nd in the WHL playoffs)
- **Save percentage: .936** (2nd in the WHL playoffs)
- **Shutouts: 1** (T-2nd)
- **Wins: 12** (1st)
He’s the Mary Brown’s Chicken WHL Goaltender of the Month for April. He was Goaltender of the Week earlier in the run. He came over from Calgary in a midseason trade and proceeded to author the most efficient playoff goaltending stretch any 16-team WHL has seen.
For fans who weren’t paying attention until the Penticton series: this isn’t a hot streak. This is the structural reason this franchise is two wins from each side of a championship.
What Game 2 Told Us — and What Game 1 Didn’t
In Game 2 of the Final at Angel of the Winds Arena, Miller stopped 37 of the shots he saw and the Silvertips ran away with it 6-2. That’s the version that has the Penticton series fresh in your head: Anders deletes a six-game series with goaltending, the team scores enough, off we go.
Game 1 wasn’t that. The Raiders broke through with three second-period goals and won 4-2 — Mason Sivertson, Lukas Cootes on the power play, and Owen Christensen with the game-winner. Miller wasn’t bad; the second period got away from the entire team. But the gap between his Game 1 line and his Game 2 line is the entire reason this series shifted in 48 hours.
Translation: the Silvertips don’t need Miller to be perfect. They need him to be the version of himself that the 2026 playoff numbers describe, and they need the team in front of him to give him a second period he can actually defend.
Why Art Hauser Centre Changes Everything
The Raiders take a 26-6-2 home regular-season record into Game 3. That is one of the best home environments in the entire CHL. The Art Hauser Centre is older, smaller (roughly 2,800 capacity), and louder than what Everett’s faced in this run — the building is structurally close to the ice in a way that newer arenas have engineered away.
Three games in a row in that environment is the test. Game 3 Tuesday, Game 4 Wednesday, Game 5 Friday if needed. Then back to Angel of the Winds. The Silvertips have been 8-0 on the road through these playoffs — the best road playoff team in the WHL this spring — but that record was built against Wenatchee, Spokane, Penticton’s South Okanagan Events Centre. The Art Hauser Centre is a different room.
What Miller controls on the road is the same thing he controls at home: angle, depth, rebound control. What he doesn’t control: the second-period crowd surge after a Raiders push, the visiting bench getting last change, or the in-between TV stoppages that hand a hostile building its momentum back. Those are the moments where playoff goaltending stops being numbers and becomes character.
What to Watch in Game 3
Three things to track Tuesday night:
Volume on the first 15 shots. Miller has been excellent on the early-game shot volume across the playoffs. If Prince Albert generates 12-15 shots in the first period and Miller is at full credit, expect the Silvertips to find their offensive feet by the second.
The second-period scoreboard. It’s been the franchise’s bête noire of this series — three goals against in the second of Game 1, then the team fixed it in Game 2. If Game 3 features a clean middle 20 minutes, the road games are winnable. If Prince Albert finds another second-period gear with their crowd behind them, the math gets harder.
Power-play goaltending. Lukas Cootes scored on the power play in Game 1. Killing penalties on the road in a 2,800-seat building is one of the most uncomfortable jobs in hockey. Miller’s .948-through-two-rounds work included serious short-handed minutes against Penticton; the road PK in Saskatchewan is the next level of that test.
The 19-Year Drought Context
The Silvertips have not won the Ed Chynoweth Cup since 2007. That’s the entire framing for this stretch. There have been good Everett teams. There have been deep Everett playoff runs. There has not been a championship.
Anders Miller wasn’t on any of those rosters, obviously. He was traded in from Calgary mid-season for exactly the moment Everett is in right now: a deep run in late spring where the path is mostly carved out by goaltending. If the Silvertips lift the cup, the franchise will print Miller’s stat line on a banner.
If they don’t — well, the .948 was still the best save percentage in WHL playoff history at the cutoff, and that doesn’t go away.
Schedule
- **Game 3:** Tuesday, May 12 — at Prince Albert (Art Hauser Centre), 6:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. CT
- **Game 4:** Wednesday, May 13 — at Prince Albert
- **Game 5 (if needed):** Friday, May 15 — at Prince Albert
- **Game 6 (if needed):** Sunday, May 17 — at Angel of the Winds Arena
- **Game 7 (if needed):** Monday, May 18 — at Angel of the Winds Arena
TV: TSN in Canada. Streaming: Victory+ in the United States.
The Silvertips are eight wins from their first championship since 2007. Three of them, maybe more, have to come 1,200 miles from home. The goalie carrying the franchise’s first banner in 19 years is on the bus.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Game 3 of the 2026 WHL Final?
Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. PT (7:30 p.m. CT) at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
What are Anders Miller’s 2026 WHL playoff stats?
Through 13 games: 12-0-1 record, 1.79 GAA, .936 save percentage, 1 shutout. His .948 SV% through two rounds was the highest in WHL playoff history for a goalie with nine or more games played.
Who has home-ice advantage in the WHL Final?
The series follows a 2-3-2 format. Games 1-2 were at Angel of the Winds Arena (split 1-1). Games 3, 4, and 5 (if needed) are at the Art Hauser Centre. Games 6 and 7 (if needed) return to Everett.
Where is the Art Hauser Centre?
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Capacity is approximately 2,800. The Raiders went 26-6-2 there in the regular season.
How can I watch the WHL Final from the U.S.?
Victory+ streaming service is the U.S. broadcast partner. TSN carries the games in Canada.
When was the Silvertips’ last WHL championship?
2007. The franchise has not won the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 19 years.
Who is starting in goal for the Raiders?
Michal Orsulak started Game 1 and stopped 39 of 41. He is expected to be the starter for the home games at Art Hauser Centre.
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