Sidorov delivers for family in Blades 4-2 victory

Import RW gets hat trick and assist in win over Rebels

The celebrate a first period goal from Egor Sidorov (#19).

Egor Sidorov has come up with many clutch performances for the Saskatoon Blades, but there was a little bit of a special extra feeling with his play on Friday night.

When the Blades took the ice before 3,758 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, Sidorov, who is now in his third season in the WHL, would be playing for the first time with his parents in the building during his time on the circuit. Sidorov’s parents flew out from Belarus and sat with his billet family in Saskatoon for the Blades WHL regular season contest with the Red Deer Rebels.

The 19-year-old skilled right-winger came through with a hat trick and an assist to go with a plus-three rating in the plus-minus department to power the Blades to a 4-2 victory. Sidorov was named the game’s first star.

Egor Sidorov had a hat trick and an assist on Friday.

When he came out for the first star recognition where the Blades players toss souvenir sticks to the home faithful, Sidorov skated right to where his parents, extended family and friends were and ensured they got the souvenir stick he tossed into the crowd.

In the postgame media scrum, Sidorov delivered a message for his parents in Belarusian and followed up by proceeding to say what that message was in English.

“I said thank you for everything, for your support and I’m happy you guys came to Canada and support me here,” said Sidorov, who was selected in the third round and 85^th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the NHL Entry Draft held this past June. “I love them so much.”

Some of Egor Sidorov’s family, extended family and friends.

Sidorov, who stands 6-feet and weighs 180 pounds, came over from Belarus and joined the Blades as a 17-year-old rookie at the start of the 2021-22 campaign. Life plans changed for Sidorov due to Russia’s war with Ukraine that started on February 24, 2022, which saw Belarus face sanctions due to supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Due to the instability that existed back home, Sidorov elected to remain in Saskatoon during the off-season and live with his billet family. With the Blades as a rookie in 2021-22, Sidorov appeared in 58 regular season games posting 23 goals, 12 assists and a minus-two rating. While he had strong statistics for a 17-year-old rookie, Sidorov went unselected in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

Egor Sidorov, right, is presented a player of the month award.

As an 18-year-old sophomore in 2022-23, Sidorov blossomed into one of the WHL’s elite players. He appeared in 53 regular season games collecting 40 goals, 36 assists and a plus-25 rating.

Sidorov played a big role in helping the Blades finish fourth overall in the WHL with a 48-15-4-1 record. In the post-season, Sidorov came up with numerous clutch performances in helping the Blades advance to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time since 1994. Appearing in 16 playoff contests, Sidorov posted nine goals, 10 assists and a plus-three rating.

His stellar play and improvement resulted in him being selected in the third round by the Ducks in the NHL Entry Draft held this past June. After having a good showing at the Ducks rookie and main training camps in September, Sidorov was returned to the Blades for his third WHL campaign.

Egor Sidorov has 28 goals and 11 assists in 27 games.

With his big outing on Friday, Sidorov now has 28 goals, 11 assists and a plus-nine rating in 27 games. The four-point outing allowed him to hit another milestone. Sidorov now has 150 career points in the WHL coming off 91 goals and 59 assists in 138 regular season games.

Since the start of the war between Russia and the Ukraine, Sidorov finally was able to go back to Belarus this past summer, and his parents hadn’t been able to get out to Canada until arriving in Saskatoon on Monday. While Sidorov had a great outing personally, he was pumped his team could get the win with his parents seeing him play live for the first time in the WHL.

The Blades celebrate a second goal from Egor Sidorov (#19).

“It is nice we win,” said Sidorov, whose Blades have won four straight games. “It doesn’t matter how many I score.

“That is good we win. That is very nice when our parents watch that. I am really happy.”

Before the opening faceoff of Friday’s game, Sidorov accepted an award as the Blades player of the month for November.

Once the puck was dropped, he proceeded to open the game’s scoring at the 7:58 mark of the first period. Positioned by the right side of the Red Deer net, Sidorov received a slick backhanded pass from star centre Fraser Minten and popped the puck into the empty side of the cage to give the Blades a 1-0 edge.

Trevor Wong had a goal and two assists for the Blades.

Minten was recently acquired by the Blades in a trade with the Kamloops Blazers and made his home debut with the Blades in Friday’s win.

The Blades proceeded to control play after Sidorov’s first goal of the contest, but momentum swung to the side of the visitors shortly before the first intermission. With 2:16 remaining in the first and working on the power play, Rebels Czech import centre Samuel Drancak wired home a shot near the top of the left faceoff circle to even the score at 1-1.

The hosts proceeded to jump back in front 2-1 with a vintage Sidorov power-play goal coming at the 6:14 mark of the second period. Positioned in the right slot, Sidorov one-timed home a smooth setup pass from Blades star offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk for his second goal of the night.

Samuel Drancak had a pair of goals for the Rebels on Friday.

The Blades hit a bump at the 11:58 mark of the second, when left-winger Easton Armstrong was given a double minor for boarding due to a hit he threw on Rebels defenceman Jace Weir. The offence will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension. The Blades killed off the double minor.

Red Deer is known for never giving up, and the Rebels battled back to even the score at 2-2 with 8:17 remaining in the third. Working on the power play, Rebels import right-winger Frantisek Formanek had the puck down low at the left side of the Saskatoon goal.

Formanek passed the puck across the face of the net to Drancak, who popped home his second tally of the game for his second equalizer of the contest. Momentum wouldn’t stay on the visitor’s side for long.

Tanner Molendyk had an assist for the Blades on Friday.

Just 1:45 later, Sidorov had the puck going on a rush in the Red Deer zone. He slipped a smart pass through the Rebels defence that allowed Blades 20-year-old captain Trevor Wong to head to the Red Deer net on a breakaway.

The star centre popped the eventual winning goal to the top left corner of the Rebels net to give the Blades a 3-2 lead.

After the Rebels pulled netminder Rhett Stoesser for an extra attacker, Sidorov was able to complete his hat trick. With 6.7 seconds remaining in third, Sidorov fired a puck from the front of his bench into the vacated Red Deer goal for his third tally of the night that round out the 4-2 final score in the Blades favour.

The Blades celebrate a hat trick goal from Egor Sidorov (#19).

Sidorov was wiped out by a Rebels checker on his final shot, but the hit wasn’t able to prevent the hat trick goal from being scored. After the puck went into the Red Deer net, Sidorov was helped to his feet by his teammates, and the goal celebration included a number of hugs as hats rained down on to the ice surface. 

It all wrote a great conclusion for a storybook night for Sidorov.

Austin Elliott stopped 17 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who continue to top the Eastern Conference with a 20-8-1 mark. Stoesser turned away 20 of 23 shots to take the setback in net for the Rebels, who fell to 13-12-0-3.

Wong has a pair of assists to go with his goal along with a plus-two rating.

The Blades return to action on Saturday when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).

Egor Sidorov sets to throw a souvenir stick to his family.

The Rebels also get back at it on Saturday traveling to Prince Albert to take on the Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Overall, Friday night belonged to Sidorov and his family. During his time in Saskatoon, Sidorov has become the Blades best big game player. His latest big game had a fairytale feel to it with his parents on hand to see him play for the first time as a member of the Blades.

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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Nogier took big strides as a rookie pro with Moose and Jets

Nelson Nogier signs autographs as part of a charity event in Saskatoon.

    Nelson Nogier couldn’t ask for much more in his rookie year of professional hockey.

    The 21-year-old defensive defenceman spent most of rookie campaign playing for the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose appearing in 60 games collecting two goals, 11 assists and a minus-five rating in the plus-minus department. The Moose are the farm club of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets
    On March 21, the Saskatoon product made his NHL debut with the Jets, and he helped them pull out a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

    Nogier appeared in 10 games with the Jets posting a minus-one rating.

    “It was an unreal experience,” said Nogier, who played four complete seasons in the WHL with his hometown Saskatoon Blades and Red Deer Rebels. “The learning curve and the development process was sped up so much throughout those 10 games that I was up there.

    “I was able to soak in and learn a lot to try and set myself up here for a good summer.”

    Nogier experienced his first big highlight in his first professional regular season game. On Oct. 14, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa, Nogier fired home his first goal helping the visiting Moose down the Iowa Wild 3-1. He scored by keeping things simple.

    “Ryan Olsen passed me the puck out of the corner, and I just pulled it to the middle and threw it on net,” said Nogier. “Sure enough, it went in.”

Nelson Nogier during his days with the Saskatoon Blades.

    Like he did during his time with the Blades and Rebels, Nogier, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 191 pounds, focused on being solid in his own zone and becoming more consistent in his defensive game. He performed well enough that near the end of the campaign he received the break all rookie pros hope for.

    As injuries piled up on the Jets blue-line, Nogier received his call up to the big club.
    The night before he made his NHL debut he called his father, Pat, and mother, Lori, to tell them about the news. Both were able to make it to Winnipeg to see their son play his first regular season game with the big club and also receive some air time on TSN’s broadcast.

    The son will never forget that day.

    “It was amazing,” said Nogier. “For me, that was a dream come true, but to be able to share that with my parents who have had such an important role in my life, it is something that I will cherish forever.

    “Everything about it was kind of a whirlwind. It happened so fast. You’re kind of star struck at times, but you just try to be comfortable about it and go out there and play your game.”

    Another memory wasn’t a total highlight, but it was something Nogier laughs about afterwards. In the second period of a Jets 4-3 home ice overtime victory over the Anaheim Ducks, Nogier had his first NHL fight taking on veteran heavyweight forward Jared Boll.

    Boll nailed Jets defenceman Mark Stuart with a high elbow, and Nogier came to the aid of his defence partner. The fight was a short one as Nogier walked into a right hand punch from Boll and went down.

    The rookie came out of that tussle unscathed despite being schooled by the veteran.

    “That was a tough situation,” said Nogier. “It was kind of a high hit on my D-partner, and I tried to step in for him and show the boys that I would be willing to step in for him when I needed to.

Nelson Nogier during his days with the Red Deer Rebels.

    “I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, but I just tried to hang in there for as long as I could, even though it was a pretty short while.”

    Overall, Nogier was satisfied with his first professional season.

    “It was a good development year for me,” said Nogier, who collected eight goals, 42 assists and 196 minutes in penalties in 235 career regular season games in the WHL. “I came in there from making the jump from junior into the AHL.

    “I did real well and kind of got comfortable with the role I was set to play with the Moose and then obviously earn myself an opportunity where I could try and show that I could play at the next level as well. I just tried to make the most of the opportunity and go from there.”

    Now the hope will be to have a longer stay at the NHL level in his second season of professional hockey.

    “You don’t want to get your hopes to, too, high,” said Nogier. “You never know what you are going to get thrown at when you come into camp.

    “It is just going to be a matter of me making sure I have a strong summer of training here and setting myself up to be in a good position when I come into camp.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. It should be noted that Nogier is my young cousin, and I do cherish the opportunities to write a piece like this.

Blades sign top three WHL Bantam Draft selections

De La Gorgendiere and Crnkovic introduced to local media

Aidan De La Gorgendiere, left, and Kyle Crnkovic signed with the Blades.

    The Saskatoon Blades two newest first round WHL Bantam Draft picks were looking pretty wide eyed on Wednesday afternoon.

    During a news conference at the SaskTel Centre, the WHL club introduced defenceman Aidan De La Gorgendiere and forward Kyle Crnkovic to a sizable gathering of local media. The gather also included a large contingent of Blades coaches, staff and management, seven other players that were selected by the team at the May 4 draft held in Calgary and a large representation of parents.

    De La Gorgendiere and Crnkovic looked a little overwhelmed by the number of people in attendance at the conference. The two 15-year-olds had smiles when they signed their WHL Standard Player Agreements with the club.

    The Blades also announced they signed forward Braden Plaschewsky to a WHL Standard Player Agreement too, which meant the team got commitments from their top three picks from this year’s WHL Bantam Draft. The Blades selected Plaschewsky, who is from Calgary, in the second round and 31^st overall.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere, left, signs his WHL Standard Player Agreement.

    “It is just a fun day,” said Blades general manager Colin Priestner. “We spend a lot of time in rinks at bantam games all year.

    “Our scouts spend hundreds of hours each at the rinks. To get a couple first round picks like this signed so quickly, it is a big relief for me. It is a huge thing.

    “I can go on vacation now and enjoy my summer a little more. It is one of those things where we really wanted these two players.”

    The Blades selected De La Gorgendiere in the first round and fifth overall. The Langley, B.C., product, who stands 6-feet and weighs 169 pounds, played with the Abbotsford, B.C., based Yale Hockey Academy bantam squad netting five goals and 21 assists in 30 games. His parents, father Graham De La Gorgendiere and mother Marla Meginbir, are both from Saskatoon.

    De La Gorgendiere still had a lot of family in Saskatoon including grandparents and aunts and uncles. 

Kyle Crnkovic signs his WHL Standard Player Agreement.

    He was pumped to sign with the Blades.

    “It is a great opportunity for me,” said De La Gorgendiere. “I’m looking forward to the future here.

    “I knew I wanted to play here once I got drafted. That was my decision.”

    De La Gorgendiere said one of his favourite WHL players was defenceman Ty Smith, who just wrapped up his 16-year-old rookie season with the Spokane Chiefs, and the NHL players he tries to model his game after are Brent Seabrook of the Chicago Blackhawks and Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers.

    “I feel I am a 200-foot defenceman,” said De La Gorgendiere. “I have a little bit of offensive ability I can put towards the Blades, and I also have a good first pass out of my own zone.”

    Crnkovic was selected in the first round and 10^th overall by the Blades. The Chestermere, Alta., product played for the Kelowna, B.C., based Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy team racking up 40 goals and 39 assists in 30 games.

Colin Priestner, left, gives a jersey to Aidan De La Gorgendiere.

    He was amazed by the welcoming he received at the press conference.

    “It is pretty overwhelming, but it is also pretty cool at the same time,” said Crnkovic, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 149 pounds. “I’m just very excited to be part of the organization.

    “I’m really looking forward to it. When Saskatoon picked me, it was a huge honour. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the organization.”

    Crnkovic said he tries to model his game after Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he loves to be a playmaker. The speedy forward said he enjoyed meeting the Blades coaches, management and staffers in person.

    “They’ve been so nice and so welcoming,” said Crnkovic. “I’m just really looking forward to it.

“I just need to get bigger and stronger and just work as hard as I can this summer.”

    The Blades WHL Bantam Draft picks from this year won’t be able to play with the club on a full-time basis until the start of the 2018-19 season. 

Colin Priestner, left, gives a jersey to Kyle Crnkovic.

    They can play in five games in the upcoming campaign as 15-year-olds.

    Blades head coach Dean Brockman was having his initial in person meetings with many of the draft picks and said he doesn’t want to place too many expectations on the newcomers.

    “For us, it is just take your time with the development and make sure that they are ready to come when they are ready to come,” said Brockman. “I don’t want to put the pressure on them that they have to be the guys right off the bat.”

    The bench boss just had a simple hope for the most recent bantam picks in their first visit to the city.

    “You just want them to feel welcomed,” said Brockman. “You also want them to know that this is what it is going to be like.

    “I don’t think there is anybody that has been over the top or out of the ordinary.”

Pats’ Mahura signs with Ducks

Pats D Josh Mahura signed with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.

    Josh Mahura had an outstanding post-season for the Regina Pats, and he was rewarded for his efforts with an NHL contract.

    On Wednesday, veteran defenceman signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks selected Mahura in the third round and 85^th overall in last year’s NHL Entry Draft.

    The St. Albert, Alta., product, who turned 19 earlier this month, was acquired by the Pats in a blockbuster deal on the WHL’s trade deadline day on Jan. 10 from the Red Deer Rebels. Between the Rebels and the Pats, Mahura appeared in 73 regular season games recording 17 goals, 36 assists and a plus-17 rating in the plus-minus department.

    He came through during a number of key moments for the Pats in the post-season as they advanced to the best-of-seven WHL Championship series for the first time since 1984 before falling in six hard fought contests to the Seattle Thunderbirds. Mahura, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 185 pounds, recorded eight goals, 13 assists and a plus-seven rating in 23 playoff games.

    The National Lacrosse League’s Saskatchewan Rush will recognize the Pats for their WHL playoff run on Saturday at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. The Rush are hosting the Colorado Mammoth in Game 2 of the best-of-three West Division Final at 7:30 p.m. that night, and they lead the series 1-0.

    Four members from the Pats, who claimed the WHL’s Eastern Conference championship, are from the Saskatoon area including star offensive defenceman Connor Hobbs and forwards Dawson Leedahl, Wyatt Sloboshan and Jake Leschyshyn.

    While the Rush have successfully branded themselves as a provincial team, the Pats should get an interesting reception considering the SaskTel Centre is the home of their traditional long-time rivals, the Saskatoon Blades.

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