29 years in the making – Blades unique playoff run memorable

Provided great follow for stellar regular season

The Blades salute their fans at the SaskTel Centre on Wednesday.

It will go down as the “I’m Still Standing” playoff run for the Saskatoon Blades.

When the Blades business brass were putting together plans for game day presentation for the 2022-23 campaign, it is highly unlikely anyone could foresee how fitting the decision would be to make Elton John’s hit tune from 1983 the club’s victory song. No one could have thought the Blades would win five games where they faced elimination from the WHL Playoffs and playing “I’m Still Standing” would be the perfect conclusion for the night’s events.

The Blades entered the post-season having put together a 48-15-4-1 record to sit fourth overall in the WHL regular season standings and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the WHL Playoffs, the Blades eliminated Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in an exciting seven game first round series, came back down 3-0 to take out the Red Deer Rebels in a seven game Eastern Conference semifinal series before being swept 4-0 by the Winnipeg Ice in the Eastern Conference final.

Blades fans cheer their team's Game 7 win over the Pats on April 10.

In total, the Blades played 18 post-season contests in the span of 34 days. The series comeback against the Rebels ensures that this edition of the Blades will be remembered forever.

They joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as the only teams to lose the first three games in a best-of-seven series and rally to take the set. Any time a team falls behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven WHL post-season series, the 2023 Blades will be mentioned alongside the 1996 Chiefs and the 2013 Rockets as the teams that rallied back to win a series from that type of deficit.

The scene after Trevor Wong scores an empty-net goal versus the Pats.

Overall, the Blades made their longest playoff run in 29 years. The last time they were in the Eastern Conference final was in 1994, when they eliminated the Brandon Wheat Kings in five games before falling to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers in the WHL final.

Going into the post-season, there were no thoughts about the Blades making their longest in the WHL Playoffs in 29 years. The single dominant storyline was the Blades versus Bedard.

Spencer Shugrue became “Mr. Game 7” for the Blades.

The Blades final two regular season home games were played against the 17-year-old phenom centre and the Pats. In the current seating configuration for the SaskTel Centre, the Blades sold out both of those contests with 14,768 spectators turning out for each of those games. 

That figure goes down as a Blades home attendance record, and those games were the first sellouts for the team in the SaskTel Centre’s current seating configuration.

Regina claimed the first encounter 4-2 on March 19, while Saskatoon took the second meeting 3-2 on March 24. The sellouts in contests involving Bedard were not a surprise.

Pats C Connor Bedard weaves his way through the Blades.

Bedard’s brand took a huge jump upwards since returning from this past world juniors held in Halifax, N.S., and Moncton, N.B. At that event, Bedard set numerous Canadian team records helping Canada take the gold medal final 3-2 in overtime over Czechia this past January 5 in Halifax. Once he was back in the WHL, any game that involved Bedard was usually sold out and sometimes set a building attendance record.

In the seven games against the Blades, Bedard did his best to win that first round series by himself posting 10 goals, 10 assists and a plus-eight rating in the plus-minus department. He was in on 20 of the Pats 26 goals.

The highlights of every game of that series were shown nationally on TSN and Sportsnet often just showing Bedard’s plays with the final score. Still, the series was getting national attention.

Egor Sidorov (#19) starts celebrating scoring an OT winner.

The Pats won the first two games of the set in Saskatoon. In Game 3 in Regina, it appeared the Blades were going to make a quick post-season exit. At the 9:39 mark of the third period, Bedard scored to give the Pats a 3-1 lead and the sellout crowd of 6,499 spectators at the Brandt Centre was rocking.

Just 53 seconds later, import star right-winger Egor Sidorov scored for the Blades to cut the Pats lead to 3-2. Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky netted the equalizer with 27.2 seconds remaining in the third to force a 3-3 tie and overtime. At the 5:19 mark of overtime, Sidorov got the puck deep in the Regina zone, drove around Pats star import defenceman Stanislav Svozil, cut across the front of the Pats goal and tucked home the winner to give the Blades a 4-3 victory.

Jake Chiasson scored a big OT winner for the Blades.

On night later in Game 4 at the Brandt Centre, Blades star left-winger Jake Chiasson scored the winner in overtime to give the Blades another 4-3 after again rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the contest. The Blades claimed Game 5 at home and the Pats took Game 6 at home to set up a winner take all Game 7.

In Games 1, 2 and 5 at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades drew respective crowds of 10,265 spectators, 10,598 fans and 12,098 onlookers. For Game 7 held on April 10, the Blades would get a sellout crowd to cement their post-season attendance record at home at 14,768 spectators. The host side was facing elimination from the post-season for the first time and skated away with a 4-1 victory.

Pats F Connor Bedard (#98) and Blades F Justin Lies (#43) shake hands.

The joy of the series win against the Pats didn’t last long. In an Eastern Conference semifinal series against Red Deer, the Rebels were poised, businesslike, hard-working and paid great attention to systems play claiming the first three games of the series outscoring the Blades 11-4. Saskatoon’s players looked like they were skating through quicksand trying to work their way up ice against the Rebels.

In Game 4 in Red Deer, it appeared this time the Blades would bow out of the post-season. The Rebels held a 2-0 lead after the first period and were up 2-1 going into the second intermission. Saskatoon was 20 minutes away from playoff elimination.

Egor Sidorov, left, and Tanner Molendyk celebrate a goal in Red Deer.

The Blades proceeded to roll off three straight goals in the third coming off the sticks of hard-working centre Jayden Wiens, Lisowsky and offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk to pull out a 4-2 victory. Following that rally up with wins in Games 5 and 6, the Blades were set to host Game 7 against the Rebels on April 25.

The two clubs were tied 2-2 going into the third period of Game 7, and the Blades rolled off three consecutive goals before a raucous and appreciative crowd of 9,489 spectators.

Blades utility player Spencer Shugrue cemented the fact he would be known as “Mr. Game 7” scoring two goals including the winner in that victory over the Rebels. Shugrue scored his team’s first goal in their Game 7 first round series win over the Pats and assisted on Chiasson’s game and series winner in that contest.

Blake Gustafson was injured in the series win over Red Deer.

While the Blades made history in their 3-0 series comeback against the Rebels, it wasn’t all good news. Saskatoon lost solid defensive-defencemen Blake Gustafson and Ben Saunderson to injuries in the series against the Rebels. Both weren’t available to play in the series against the Ice.

It wasn’t a good situation as the Ice topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Blades dressed Black ace Morgan Tastad, who turned 17-years-old in January, and import rookie Tomas Zizka on the back end. Tastad played most of the 2022-23 campaign with the Saskatoon Contacts under-18 AAA team. In 41 regular season appearances with the Contacts, Tastad had three goals and 24 assists.

The Blades celebrate a series winning goal by Spencer Shugrue (#26).

Zizka suited up for 32 regular season games for the Blades recording two assists and a plus-six rating. Both Zizka and Tastad played limited minutes.

As a result, captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere, Molendyk, Charlie Wright and Shugrue played the bulk of the action it the four games against the Ice.

The Blades proceeded to lose Sidorov to injury in Game 2 against the Ice. Once the Blades back home to host Games 3 and 4 of that set, it was obvious the team was wearing down.

They tried to make one last push in Game 4 on Wednesday. The Blades got out to a good start and De La Gorgendiere opened the contest’s scoring at the 15:08 mark of the first period.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere looks to start a rush for the Blades.

The Ice evened the score at 1-1 heading into the first intermission and the teams were tied at 2-2 early in the third. Centre Briley Wood scored the game and series winner at the 6:19 mark of the third to deliver the Ice to a 3-2 victory before 5,638 spectators.

The Blades received a warm final salute before leaving to their dressing room. The WHL careers of De La Gorgendiere, Gustafson and centre Josh Pillar all came to an end as they were playing out their 20-year-old seasons.

Throughout the playoffs, the Blades received timely big saves from netminders Ethan Chadwick and Austin Elliott. Star centre Trevor Wong topped the team in scoring with 21 points coming off six goals and 15 assists.

Blades HC Brennan Sonne was the WHL’s coach of the year.

Sidorov was second in team scoring with nine goals and 10 assists. De La Gorgendiere was third in team scoring and topped all Blades defencemen with 17 points coming off three goals and 14 assists.

Throughout the post-season, the Blades received gritty performances from Wiens, Vaughn Watterodt, Lukas Hansen, Jordan Keller and Justin Lies in the forward group.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne was named the WHL’s coach of the year, and he long with his staff ensured the team’s players always believed they could rally past whatever adversity they faced. Over the entire campaign, Colin Priestner cemented himself as one of the league’s elite level general managers for his work on all fronts with the club.

The Blades and Ice shake hands after the Eastern Conference final.

The best part about the whole playoff run was that people in Saskatoon started talking about the Blades more than they had in arguably a decade. It became more frequent to see children around town wearing Blades jerseys.

Time will tell if the good vibes and Blades themselves will remain in the minds of the casual fans. 

The team still has to keep putting in the work to keep getting those casual followers out to games.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere hugs a teammate at the Blades bench.

At this moment, the people in Saskatoon are pumped about the memories the Blades gave to the city. They came through with unique moments that many never be replicated in the future.

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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