“Teddy Bear Toss” game, Raiders equals relief for Blades

The Blades celebrate their teddy bear goal from Tristen Robins (#11)

    Playing the Prince Albert Raiders appears to be the thing that cures all that ails the Saskatoon Blades in the 2019-20 campaign.

    The Blades entered Sunday’s WHL regular season contest against the Raiders at the SaskTel Centre posting a 2-7-0-1 record in their previous 10 games. “The Bridge City Bunch” had three regulation losses and an extra time setback in their last four outings entering play on Sunday.

    Still, they seem to have good fortune this season anytime they play their archrivals and defending WHL champion Raiders. Sunday was the Blades “Teddy Bear Toss” game, and they came out flying playing front of a crowd of 5,344 spectators.

Tristen Robins (#11) had a goal and an assist for the Blades on Sunday.

    Right-winger Tristen Robins scored the teddy bear goal at the 10:44 mark of the first period to give the Blades a 1-0 lead. They skated away with a 4-1 victory and have beaten the Raiders in three out of four head-to-head encounters.

    The win allowed the Blades to improve to 15-15-1-2 to sit third in the WHL’s East Division. The Raiders,who are rated sixth in the CHL Top 10 rankings, remain first in the East Division falling to 20-9-3-1 with the setback.

    “We were kind of I guess not really down on ourselves, but you know a little disappointed at the same time just because we haven’t been stringing the wins together that we’d have liked to,” said Robins, who had an assist to go along with his goal. “We haven’t been getting the bounces.

The Blades teddy bear goal enters the Raiders net.

    “Going into the break with this big win against a good rival for sure is a good feeling.”

    On the Robins’ teddy bear goal, Blades overage offensive defenceman Scott Walford got the puck deep on the left side of the Prince Albert zone. Walford fed a backdoor pass to Robins, who buried his 11^th of the season into an open cage.

    After Robin’s goal went in, the ice surface at the SaskTel Centre was littered with stuffed toys.

    Robins has scored the Blades teddy bear goal for two straight seasons. He had the only tally last season’s “Teddy Bear Toss” game for the Blades when Saskatoon blanked the Raiders 1-0. 

Stuffed toys are cleaned up from the SaskTel Centre ice surface.

    All the stuffed toys that were collected at Sunday’s game will be given to the Saskatchewan chapter of the Children’s Wish Foundation.

    “It was kind of a joke going around the room that if I scored that goal I would be fined,” said Robins. “It was kind of ironic that I actually got that goal.

    “It was joke going around the room, but I didn’t think it was going to be me. I thought the ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ goal was going to be passed on. I’m super happy it was me.”

    With the teddy bear goal out of the way, the Blades turned their focus towards getting a win to finish off a stretch of four straight tough home games. 

The Blades players help with the “Teddy Bear Toss” clean up.

    In each of their last four home games, the Blades faced four teams that sit inside the top 10 of the WHL standings in the Kelowna Rockets, Medicine Hat Tigers, Kamloops Blazers and Raiders. Those four clubs sport a combined 81-38-7-4 record.

    With both clubs heading into their respective Christmas breaks after Sunday’s encounter, Robins said his club really wanted to head into that break on a high note.

    “It is always important to win that last game just so you can keep that fresh on your mind of what it is like,” said Robins. “At some points, you forget what winning feels like, when you go on those losing streaks.

Ozzy Wiesblatt scored for the Raiders in the third period.

    “We finished just the way we wanted to, and we were very to have that outcome.”

    Still holding a 1-0 lead late in the second period, Blades captain Chase Wouters stole the puck just inside of the blue-line of the Prince Albert zone and blew home his 13^th of the season to give the host side a 2-0 edge.

    The Raiders got some life scoring at the 2:59 mark of the third period, when star 17-year-old centre Ozzy Wiesblatt put a shot home that ended up floating over top of Blades star netminder Nolan Maier to cut the Saskatoon edge to 2-1.

    Just 58 seconds later, the Blades when ahead 3-1, when right-winger Zach Huber got the puck off an offensive zone draw, took a stride and roofed home a shot to the top right corner of the Prince Albert goal.

Zach Huber has five goals in his last six games with the Blades.

    “Obviously, these past few weeks haven’t gone the way we liked,” said Huber, who has five goals in his last six games. “A few home games we lost, and you never like to lose at home.

    “We knew it was going to be a big crowd today, a big game with the ‘Teddy Bear Toss,’ and we just knew we had to give it all we had. It was one last game before the break, and I thought the guys did a good job.”

    Centre Eric Florchuk sealed the Blades win with a power-play goal with 7:27 remaining in the third period.

    Walford finished the contest with two assists and a plus-one rating in the plus-minus department.

Maier stopped 24 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Boston Bilous turned away 24 shots to take the setback in net for the Raiders.

Riley McKay (#39) and Chase Wouters (#44) enjoy Sunday’s Blades win.

    Sunday’s game marked the first head coaching win for Blades associate coach Ryan Marsh. Marsh is holding down the head coaching duties as Blades head coach Mitch Love is serving as an assistant coach for Canada’s world junior hockey team.

    “It was a good atmosphere tonight for sure,” said Marsh. “It is nice when the lower bowl is full.

    “There was buzz in the air obviously for a great cause with the teddy bears tonight, which was great. You pair that up with beating our archrival, this was an exciting hockey game. Our players were looking forward to that, and they responded well.”

    Marsh was pleased his players pulled out a win before departing for their Christmas break.

    “It was important to take care of business on home ice, which we did,” said Marsh. “It is nice to have a win when you go into a break for sure.”

    When the Blades are Raiders return to action, they will once again be facing each other, and they will go at it on Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.

Bears down Stars 3-1 with late surge in third, other notes

The Bears improved to 9-6 after a win over the Stars on Sunday.

    The Saskatoon Stars weren’t able to make a first period lead last against their archrivals the Prince Albert Northern Bears.

    During a SFMAAAHL regular season game on Sunday at Merlis Belsher Place, the Stars took a 1-0 lead over the Bears with a goal by Anica Gauthier.

    The Bears responded with a goal in the second and two goals late in the third to skate away with a 3-1 victory.

    Kailey Ledoux scored for the Bears in the second to even things up at 1-1.

    Jasper Desmarais and Paris Oleksyn tallied goals 73 second apart from each other late in the third to allow the visitors to pull away with their 3-1 win.

    Dani Day stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Bears. Arden Kliewer turned away 38 shots to take the setback in goal for the Stars.

    The Bears improved to 9-6 with the win. The Stars fell to 5-9-2.

    The Bears return to action on Thursday when they travel to Battleford to take on the 6-9 Battlefords Sharks (7:15 p.m., Battleford Arena).

    The Stars resume play on Friday, when they host the SFMAAAHL leading 11-0-1 Regina Rebels (7:30 p.m., Merlis Belsher Place).

• The race for the SFMAAAHL scoring title appears like it will be a heated one between Neena Brick of the Regina Rebels and Sara Kendall of the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats. Brick, who is a 16-year-old forward, has appeared in 12 regular season games collecting 15 goals and 12 assists for 27 points. Kendall, who is a 17-year-old forward, has also appeared in 12 regular season games posting 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points. Brick and Kendall hold down the top two positions in the SFMAAAHL scoring race.
• Veteran referee Adam Byblow was given the WHL Milestone Award before Friday’s game at the SaskTel Centre, when the visiting Kamloops Blazers downed the host Saskatoon Blades 5-2. Byblow, who is a high school teacher, has officiated in the WHL for the past 21 seasons beginning in 1998 including the past 16 campaigns as a referee. He has worked over 650 regular season games.
• Veteran linesman Sean Dufour was given the WHL Milestone Award before Sunday’s game at the Brandt Centre in Regina, Sask., when the visiting Winnipeg Ice downed the host Pats 5-4 after a tiebreaking shootout. Dufour, who is a school teacher, is in his 16^th season officiating as a linesman in the WHL and has worked over 400 regular season games.
• Medicine Hat Tigers overage captain James Hamblin is the leading scorer in the WHL. In 33 regular season games, the skilled centre has 18 goals and 34 assists for 52 points, and he has a plus-nine rating in the plus-minus department.
• Medicine Hat Tigers 16-year-old centre Cole Sillinger is the leading scorer among rookie players in the WHL. The Regina, Sask., product has appeared in 28 regular season games collecting 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points and a plus-11 rating in the plus-minus department.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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