Sweet WHL Eastern Conference title sweep for Ice

Winnipeg advances to league championship series

The Ice celebrate Briley Wood’s winning goal on Wednesday.

The Winnipeg Ice withstood the hurricane they expected was coming.

On Wednesday night, the Ice were trying to capture the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship by sweeping the host Saskatoon Blades out of the best-of-seven conference final at the SaskTel Centre. The Blades, who were down 3-0 in the series, came out on fire and gave every last bit of gas they had in playing their 18^th post-season contest in 34 days.

The host side jumped ahead 1-0 in the opening frame to excite the 5,638 spectators in attendance, but the Ice evened things at 1-1 heading into the first intermission. The Ice led 2-1 after 40 minutes only for the Blades to even the score at the 2:45 mark of the third.

Ice captain Carson Lambos, left, gets a conference title trophy.

At the 6:19 mark of the third, unlikely heroes came through for the Ice in left-winger Carson Latimer and centre Briley Wood. Latimer had the puck at the left side boards in the Saskatoon and fed a pass to the front of the net to Wood. Wood deflected the puck past Blades netminder Austin Elliott to put the visitors up 3-2.

The Ice were able to close out things defensively from there and make that 3-2 score hold up as the game’s final. With the win, the Ice sweep the Eastern Conference Championship Series 4-0.

“It is a great accomplishment,” said Ice captain Carson Lambos, whose club lost last year’s Eastern Conference final to the eventual WHL champion Edmonton Oil Kings in five games. “I think a lot of guys in our room ending last season the way we did it was pretty disappointing.

The Ice are pictured with the Eastern Conference title trophy.

“It left a sour taste for a long time. To get to where we are right now, it is a great feeling, but at the same time, we haven’t accomplished our main goal. We still have a lot of work to do.”

With the series win over the Blades, the Ice advance to the WHL Championship Series to host the winner of the best-of-seven Western Conference Championship Series between the Seattle Thunderbirds and Kamloops Blazers. The Thunderbirds lead that series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Thursday in Kamloops.

If the Blazers prevail in that series, the Ice will earn a berth in the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup – as the WHL representative. The Blazers host the Memorial Cup tournament from May 26 to June 4 at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops, so the WHL’s Eastern Conference Champion would make that event, if Kamloops makes the WHL final.

Blades players digest their Eastern Conference final loss

Ultimately, the Ice would like to win the WHL title and move on to capture the Memorial Cup as their main goal. Still, Ice head coach James Patrick was pumped his team won the Eastern Conference title on Wednesday.

“Right now, I feel proud of the group,” said Patrick. “Last year, we had a good playoff run.

“We didn’t get past this round. From that point on, we talked about what we had to do to be a better playoff team to play the game the right way to be stronger. We made a commitment in the off-season and during the season.

The Ice and Blades shake hands at the conclusion of their series.

“We spent more time in the gym. It was could we get stronger as the year went on, because you know come playoff time it is 50/50 battles. It is paying the price.”

As for the Blades, they went into Game 4 with optimistic hopes. When they faced the Red Deer Rebels in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Blades fell behind 3-0 in that set. In Game 4 of that series in Red Deer, the Blades trailed 2-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second frame. Saskatoon was 20 minutes away from having its season come to an end.

Defensive partners Tanner Molendyk and Aidan De La Gorgendiere hug.

The Blades rallied to take Game 4 by a 4-2 score and ultimately came back to claim a series deciding Game 7 by a 5-2 score again at the SaskTel Centre before 9,489 spectators. Saskatoon 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.

Saskatoon went into Wednesday’s game having won five straight contests in the current WHL post-season where they faced elimination from the playoffs. The streak included four straight wins against the Rebels and a 4-1 victory in Game 7 of a first round series against Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats.

The Blades celebrate a goal by Aidan De La Gorgendiere (#5).

That streak came to an end on Wednesday, but Blades head coach Brennan Sonne loved how his team went down fighting.

“Every ounce of gas that those guys had in the tank they used,” said Sonne. “That tank is completely dry.

“There is no hanging heads in shame at all. (It is) the opposite. (I am) completely and absolutely utterly proud of this team.”

In Wednesday’s encounter, the Blades open the game’s scoring with 4:52 remaining in the first when captain and offensive-defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere fired home a point shot on a delayed penalty call on the Ice. The 1-0 lead marked the first time in the series the Blades were ahead on the scoreboard in the series.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere played his final game for the Blades.

The advantage lasted for three minutes and 32 seconds.

The Ice pulled even at 1-1 scoring on a power play with 1:20 remaining in the first period. Ice star centre Matthew Savoie wired a shot off the crossbar and the rebound was collected by Ice star right-winger Connor McClennon. McClennon tucked the puck into the left side of the Saskatoon net for the equalizer.

Winnipeg exited the opening frame holding an 11-8 edge in shots on goal. The Ice jacked up the pressure in the second holding a 16-4 advantage in shots on goal in the frame, but the visitors only exited the stanza with a 2-1 edge.

Connor McClennon scored twice for the Ice on Wednesday.

The Ice go-ahead goal came when some fatigue was coming over the Blades skaters. Ice standout defenceman Graham Sward had the puck at the right point in the Saskatoon zone, and he fed a pass to McClennon who was somehow alone in front of the Saskatoon net.

McClennon’s initial shot from point blank range was stopped by Elliott, but the Winnipeg winger banged home the rebound from his own shot to give his squad a 2-1 advantage. Patrick was pleased to see how well his squad responded after falling behind on the scoreboard and was impressed by the battle that the opposition presented.

“I felt that this was the best game that they (the Blades) had played,” said Patrick. “I give the Blades all the credit in the world for the resiliency, the no quit and what they had to do to get to this coming back from the deficits they did.

Trevor Wong got a positive bounce third period goal.

“I felt at the start of the series they looked tired. They had some beat up bodies, and they had some injures. I felt this was the toughest game.

“This was what it was like playing them all year long.”

Even after falling behind going into the third period, the Blades didn’t pack it in and kept fighting. At the 2:45 mark of the third, utility player Spencer Shugrue fired a shot from the point that deflected off Blades star centre Trevor Wong at the right side of the Winnipeg goal and found its way into the visitor’s net to tie things up at 2-2.

That set the stage for Latimer’s and Wood’s heroics just under four minutes later. Patrick was pleased to see Latimer and Wood deliver in the clutch.

Graham Sward had an assist for the Ice on Wednesday.

“I think the depth that has been a big part of our success,” said Patrick. “When you have a guy like Carson Latimer who can play anywhere in the lineup, we kind of had him playing with (Conor) Geekie and moved him down to (Briley) Wood.

“The two of them made the big play at the right time.”

Elliott stopped 33 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades. Hauser turned away 16 shots to pick up the win in net for the Ice.

“We did come out hard,” said De La Gorgendiere, who graduated from the junior ranks with the Blades loss on Wednesday. “I feel like we were pretty desperate tonight.

“Aussie (Austin Elliott) was awesome for us. He made some huge saves to keep us in that game. Obviously, we find a way to get a power play or two there.

Austin Elliott made 33 saves in goal for the Blades on Wednesday.

“Everything is still pretty fresh to me right now. I thought our work was there and our desperation. That is all you can really ask for.”

The Blades were without solid defensive-defencemen Blake Gustafson and Ben Saunderson once again as they were both injured in the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Rebels. Saskatoon was also without star import right-winger Egor Sidorov with an undisclosed injury suffered in the club’s Game 2 loss to the Ice.

Had fatigue and injuries not been a factor for the Saskatoon side, it was expected the series between the Blades and Ice would be a competitive one on paper.

Zach Benson distributes the puck for the Ice.

Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.

The Blades finished fourth in the overall WHL regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record and were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Saskatoon appeared in the Eastern Conference final for the first time since 1994. 

The Ice won their first conference title since 2011, when the franchise was still the Kootenay Ice located in Cranbrook, B.C. The Ice franchise also claimed the WHL title in 2011.

The Ice celebrate their win on Wednesday.

While the Blades overcame a lot of adversity to get to this point and tried hard to get past the adversity they faced in the series with the Ice, De La Gorgendiere still had difficulty digesting the season came to an end.

“I’m pretty emotional right now,” said De La Gorgendiere. “It is pretty fresh.

“Our team battled every single night. We go to war with each other every single night, and we love doing it. I was just upstairs, and I was telling (Blades play-by-play voice) Les (Lazaruk) how much I love these guys in our room.

“I’ve been here for five years now, and it is tightest team I’ve played for. It was pretty special what we did coming back from down 3-0 there in the Red Deer series. It is tough right now it really is tough.”

The Ice were without 19-year-old defenceman Wyatt Wilson, who was injured in Game 5 of the team’s Eastern Conference semifinal series win over the Moose Jaw Warriors. 

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

While the Ice had a lot less adversity in the injury and fatigue department to overcome than the Blades, Lambos said having a tough battle with Saskatoon to close out the Eastern Conference final will help the Ice in the rest of their post-season push.

“This is what it is going to look like moving forward,” said Lambos. “(There are going to be) tight games and there is not going to be a lot of scoring especially five-on-five.

“Special teams are huge. That is what it was tonight. To have a tough game was really good for us I think.

“Even our second round, a lot of games with Moose Jaw were tight. We had our backs against the wall there at times. It is definitely helpful to go through some adversity, because it is not going to be smooth sailing here.”

Blades’ Sonne named WHL coach of the year

Blades HC Brennan Sonne is the WHL coach of the year.

Saskatoon Blades head coach Brennan Sonne was feted with an honour a bench boss with the team hasn’t claimed in 29 years.

On Wednesday, the WHL announced Sonne was winner of the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as the WHL coach of the year. The last Blades bench boss to pick up that honour was Lorne Molleken back in the 1993-94 campaign when the club advanced to the WHL Championship Series falling in seven games to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers.

The 36-year-old Sonne is in his second season as the Blades head coach. Under Sonne’s guidance, the Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 record, and they were rated 10^th in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Blades collected 101 standings points marking the fifth time since the club was formed in 1964 they’ve recorded 100-or-more standings points in team history.

“I am very honoured to receive the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy,” said Sonne in a release. “It is truly an organizational award starting with the players.

“This season we’ve had a group of dedicated teammates, fantastic leadership and a work ethic you wouldn’t believe. To management who does everything they can to help these players and us as a staff, a pleasure to work with every day; to my wife, my parents, brothers and in-laws, such a great group of people beside me.

“I would like to thank Mitch Love, Jay Varady and Kevin Constantine for teaching me how to be a coach.”

Blades HC Brennan Sonne tracks the play on the ice.

In one of his previous coaching stops, Sonne was an assistant coach with the Everett Silvertips from 2014 to 2017, and he worked with Constantine and Love. As a left-winger with the Silvertips from 2005 to 2007, Sonne was coached by Constantine and Varady.

Unfortunately for Sonne and his Blades, their season came to an end on Wednesday night a number of hours after the coach of the year announcement. The Blades fell 3-2 at the SaskTel Centre in Game 4 of the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series to the Winnipeg Ice. The Ice swept the best-of-seven set 4-0.

After that loss, Sonne said sadness over the result in Game 4 against the Ice was the prevailing emotion.

“Hockey is all about the team in my opinion, so I’d feel this way whether it was me or anyone else on this group that got an individual award,” said Sonne. “While it is awesome, but hockey is a team sport, and that is why I love it so much.

“That is why I am not a golfer or a tennis player or have any interest in individual sports. That is why I love team sports so much. It is actually a very sad moment that this group is done, because this team has been such a pleasure to coach.

“I’m really proud and my head will not hang or anything, (but) it is a very sad moment. That is how I kind of feel. It is nothing to do with me at all it is sad that this team is over.”

Also on Wednesday, the WHL announced Bil La Forge, who is the general manager of the Seattle Thunderbirds, was named the winner of the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as WHL executive of the year.

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