I am out of here outside of cameo on Wednesday

Break time has come again which will seem short

A picture of myself outside The Arena in Medicine Hat.

That time has come again where I take time away from creating content for this blog for an extended stretch.

The break will be interrupted for one story on Wednesday. The Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame is announcing its class for 2025 in the main hall of the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds that day. I will write about that announcement here, and then I don’t plan to be in this space until the CJFL season starts for the Saskatoon Hilltops.

Even for me, that season is going to come way too fast when I see their Alumni Game is set for July 31 at 7 p.m. at Ron Atchison Field.

Over the past couple of years, the pressure has been mounting on my shoulders to be present at home more from my family. There was a time I felt family was “all in” when it came to my involvement in covering sports.

The real truth is that when someone is involved in sports it creates an unfair situation with their relationships in their blood family. Basically, the family members that are not involved with sports have to shoulder extra responsibilities in the home and the family. In a lot of cases, that unfair relationship gets challenged where it does need to evolve.

I’ve been more involved in planning fun family things, but even those fun things have their stress. There are other things that take up time.

During winter, I am hands on with snow clearing in my household as well as trying to get out to clear the snow from the homes of the seniors in the family. Last winter was a hard one on that front in Saskatoon, and I estimate I spent 106 total hours involved in snow clearing. When that happens, it pushes off and cancels other things.

The list of things I need to do around the home keeps getting larger. I have things on the hobby side I want to get to as well, but it seems impossible to get to those things.

These breaks I take from this blog coincide with the hockey off-season. The past two hockey off-seasons before this one I spent a tonne of time archiving photos from the games I worked in the WHL Playoffs and that ate away time at trying to focus on other things.

All the photos on that front this year have been looked after, so I am hoping that helps with the home life and maybe getting a break.

The Tigers run to winning the WHL title was big in Medicine Hat.

Last season, I basically cut out working University of Saskatchewan Huskies live events. The only one I worked was when the Huskies Men’s Hockey Team won the Canada West Conference title on March 9 at Merlis Belsher Place. The Huskies blanked the Mount Royal University Cougars 3-0 in a series deciding Game 3 of the Canada West final.

For the WHL Playoffs, I was going to fall off that road once both the Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders were eliminated. I stayed on that trail as the Medicine Hat Tigers, who I have a lot of links to, marched on to win their sixth WHL championship.

The Tigers made it to the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion. In that title clash played last Sunday at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec, the Tigers fell 4-1 to the OHL champion London Knights.

I do admit my trips to Medicine Hat were super valuable on numerous levels. I don’t even think I know how many levels of my life the trips to Medicine Hat positively affected me on the personal and work fronts.

I was thinking about following the Saskatoon Valkyries 2025 campaign to a conclusion on this blog. I shot photos today of their 16-12 regular season victory over the Manitoba Fearless for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex social media lines. I also did interviews for their teams’ videos to be used on their various platforms.

The Valkyries finished the WWCFL regular season with a 4-0 record and will host a WWCFL semifinal at a date and time to be announced. I decided I needed to use the time I would put into the Valkyries on this blog into other things.  

With that said, the Valkyries are one of my favourite teams in the whole city of Saskatoon. Best part is the Valkyries players, coaches and staffers are very understanding when other things come up that take you away from the team.

The other thing I want to get back into is regular workouts. I got my regular workouts done for a week in the last week of May. Before that week, I hadn’t worked out since March.

My body physically feels like it is in the worst shape it has ever been in since I became an adult. With that said, I think I am still doing better than 80 per cent of the population.

Also, it is on my mind that the sports media industry is cut as bad as it has ever been, and there are tonnes of sports organizations that don’t get the coverage they deserve including a number of CFL teams. I also accept I can’t fill that void, and I do have to be mindful of looking out for myself.

The Valkyries do a cheer after their victory on Sunday.

Along with that, I don’t mind getting a break from all the fallout of what it will look like this off-season as players from the three CHL leagues can join hockey teams in the NCAA this coming season if that is the path they want to pursue. I’ve already seen freak outs in cases where it appeared potential returning WHL players are leaving for the NCAA for the start of the 2025-25 campaign.

Anyways, it is time to go, but I will be back. I will be involved in the sports world, but that involvement will depend upon what the cards are that life deals my way.

Elliott is forever a CHL championship goalie

Austin Elliott with the Memorial Cup. (Photo by Vincent Ethier/CHL)

With my past links to the Medicine Hat Tigers, it would come as no surprise that I really wanted to see them win the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions.

The WHL champion Tigers made the final of the Memorial Cup tournament that determines a CHL champion and fell 4-1 to the OHL champion London Knights last Sunday at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec. While the Tigers didn’t win that title game, I was happy that the Knights winning goalie was overager Austin Elliott.

When the 2024-25 campaign began, I didn’t think Austin Elliott would be a WHL castoff having played two complete seasons from 2022 to 2024 for the Saskatoon Blades. In the 2024 WHL Playoffs, he lost the job as the Blades starting netminder to Evan Gardner, who would be selected in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets and would later sign an entry-level contract with that club.

If Elliott wasn’t starting for the Blades as an overager, I thought he would be a starting goalie in the WHL in the 2024-25 campaign. I believed you could argue that only about six other goalies were better than Elliott, and I likely should have pushed that point during the 2024 off-season.

I did have a couple of WHL observers come to me and say that Elliott was done as far as major junior hockey goes.

At the start of the 2024-25 regular season, Elliott made three starts with the Blades collecting wins in all three outings posting a 2.33 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. When Gardner returned from camp activities with the Blue Jackets organization, Elliott became a victim to the numbers game. He was released by the Blades and cleared WHL waivers.

In most cases when that happens to a player in the WHL, that player ultimately ends up playing junior A.

The Knights, who have been the top franchise in the CHL for the last 21 years, had other ideas. They were about to show why they are arguably the smartest organization in the CHL, which results in their continued winning ways resulting in dismay for their ever growing number of haters. The Knights haters are there, because the Knights always win.

Elliott was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but that didn’t deter the powerhouse Knights. On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott. The puck stopper never played a game for the Colts.

Elliott, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 180 pounds, played in 33 regular season games for the Knights posting a 32-1 record, a 2.10 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and three shutouts. Thanks to Elliott’s work, the Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25.

He started all of the 17 games the Knights played in the OHL Playoffs posting a 16-1 record, a 2.46 goals against average and one shutout as London claimed a second straight league title.

Elliott’s roll continued at the Memorial Cup tournament. During London’s five games at the Memorial Cup tournament, Elliott posted a 4-1 record, a 1.59 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. He went 55-3 including play in the WHL regular season, the OHL regular season and post-season and the Memorial Cup tournament.

When he was with the Blades, Elliott, who is from Strathmore, Alta., was an extremely likeable person. He was someone you wanted to see succeed.

It was cool to see him post a dream conclusion to his CHL career. When Elliott became an OHL and Memorial Cup champion, it showed there are times that good things do indeed come to good people.

Habscheid back in WHL with Rebels, other notes

Marc Habscheid raises the Ed Chynoweth Cup on May 13, 2019.

Marc Habscheid is back in the WHL.

On Thursday, Red Deer Rebels general manager, president and owner Brent Sutter announced that Marc Habscheid had been hired as the team’s new head coach. Habscheid, 62, replaces Dave Struch, 54, who stepped down on May 9 for personal family reasons.

Habscheid last coached in the WHL as the head coach for the Prince Albert Raiders from November 1, 2014 to July 14, 2022. He guided the Raiders to first overall in the WHL’s regular season standings in 2018-19 and WHL championship in the 2019 post-season.

He proceeded to coach two seasons of professional hockey in Austria. Last season, Habscheid had surgery on both hips, travelled a lot and bought a house in Spain.

From 1997 to 2022, Habscheid served as a head coach in the WHL for 18 seasons with the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets, Chilliwack Bruins, Victoria Royals and Raiders. He piled up 582 career wins in 1,166 regular season games coached. Habscheid’s wins and games coached total in the regular season rank as the sixth most in both departments in the history of the WHL.

In the WHL Playoffs, Habscheid posted 75 wins in 139 games coached. He guided the Rockets to a WHL championship in the 2002-03 season and a Memorial Cup title as the tournament’s host team in 2004.

Habscheid was named the WHL coach of the year twice in the 2002-03 and 2018-19 campaigns. He claimed honours as the CHL’s coach of the year for the 2002-03 season.

In 2024-25, the Rebels posted a 26-34-6-2 mark finishing ninth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and 13 points back of the Swift Current Broncos (35-30-1-2) for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the conference.

Bringing Habscheid aboard was a huge addition for the Rebels. During his introductory press conference on Friday in Red Deer, Habscheid already started setting the steps to rally the people in the city and area around the team he is coaching, which is a characteristic he successfully accomplished in his past WHL stops.

“To win in the end, it doesn’t take just one player, one line, one coach, one trainer, one owner, it takes everybody, and that includes the city,” said Habscheid. “Everybody in Red Deer and area is important, if we’re going to win in the end and be successful.

“I want the city and the fans to know that they’re going to be a part of it, and we need their support.”

Sutter was pleased that Habscheid decided to join the Rebels.

“We coached against each other,” said Sutter. “We’ve both had success as coaches, and one thing that always stuck out with me that I kept going back to was I knew when I had to coach against him that his team was going to be very well prepared.

“I’m thrilled that ‘Habby’ wanted to be in Red Deer and wanted to coach the Red Deer Rebels. There’s an identity that we have here, and his teams played with the same identity.”

• During the Medicine Hat Tigers run to winning the WHL championship and falling in the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament, I loved the work that was put in covering that run by Tigers play-by-play voice Will Bryant and Medicine Hat News sportswriter James Tubb. Just to note, I listed them by last names in alphabetical order. Anyways, both did an outstanding job. I am also proud of the fact that in the 11 years since I left the Medicine Hat News and relocated to Saskatoon that the coverage and storytelling of the sports scene in “The Gas City” is in good hands.
• On Wednesday, it was announced the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades will open the 2025-26 campaign playing a home-and-home series against each other. The two sides go at it on Friday, September 19 at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert and on Saturday, September 20 at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
• On Wednesday, it was announced the defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers will open their 2025-26 regular season hosting the Regina Pats on Saturday, September 20, at Co-op Place in Medicine Hat.
• On Thursday, 22-year-old forward Conner Roulette committed to playing for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey Team starting with the 2025-26 campaign. Last season, Roulette played for the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL, and he posted 17 goals, 17 assists and a plus-14 rating in the plus-minus department in 59 regular season games. From 2019 to 2024, Roulette played in 259 career WHL regular season contests with the Seattle Thunderbirds, Saskatoon Blades and Spokane Chiefs posting 118 goals, 170 assists and a plus-69 rating.

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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Not to be for Tigers, Knights win Memorial Cup

Experience gave London slight edge in CHL final

Experience matters.

In Sunday’s Memorial Cup championship game between the OHL champion London Knights and the WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers in Rimouski, Quebec, the Knights had an edge due to falling 4-3 to the host Saginaw Spirit in last year’s tournament final. A total of 13 players from the 2023-24 Knights returned to play for the 2024-25 Knights.

That included stars like Easton Cowan, captain Denver Barkey, Jacob Julien, Sam O’Reilly, Sam Dickinson and Oliver Bonk. While it can be argued the experience factor gave the Knights a slim edge over the Tigers, it was still an edge.

The Knights took a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, pushed their advantage out to 4-0 in the second and posted a 4-1 victory over the Tigers before a sellout crowd of 4,512 spectators at Coliseum Sun Life Financial.

Another difference in the contest came down to the fact the Knights capitalized on their scoring chances. The Tigers had their scoring chances and weren’t able to finish them off. They outshot the OHL champs 32-24 in the contest.

The Knights benefitted from getting another stellar outing from overage netminder Austin Elliott, who came up with 31 saves. During the 2024-25 campaign that began with three games with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, Elliott had a spectacular 55-3 record including play in the WHL regular season, the OHL regular season and post-season and the Memorial Cup tournament.

During London’s five games at the Memorial Cup tournament, Elliott posted a 4-1 record, a 1.59 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. Between his time with the Blades and Knights, Elliott had a 7-1 career record against the Tigers.

Elliott’s journey to the OHL started after he was cut by the Blades and cleared WHL waivers. He was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but the powerhouse Knights wanted to bring him to their squad.

On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott. The puckstopper never played a game for the Colts and had a sensational run with the Knights that concluded with a Memorial Cup title win.

In Sunday’s game, London broke through on the scoreboard with 8:39 remaining in the first period. Knights defenceman Henry Brzustewicz fed a pass from his own blue line to spring Julien into the Medicine Hat zone on a breakaway. The 19-year-old centre went forehand to backhand and tucked the puck in behind Tigers star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers came with a big push back after Julien’s goal which included veteran right-winger Ethan Neutens ringing the crossbar. The teams went into the first intermission with the Knights holding on to their one-goal edge.

In a crazy second period, the Tigers outshot the Knights 17-9 in the frame, but London outscored Medicine Hat 3-0 in the stanza.

At the 3:13 mark of the frame, O’Reilly had the puck down low in the right corner of the Medicine Hat zone and centred a pass to Cowan, who was streaking to the front of the Tigers goal. The star right-winger tapped the puck home to push the Knights edge out to 2-0.

Just 1:40 later, Dickinson poke checked the puck off the stick of Tigers star captain Oasiz Wiesblatt at the London blue line. Dickinson knocked the puck up ice enough to spring Barkey on a breakaway. Barkey went forehand to back to tuck the puck home to make the Knights advantage stand at 3-0.

At the 10:01 mark of the stanza, Cowan appeared to net his second goal of the contest, but the tally was waived off after the officials ruled O’Reilly bumped into Meneghin before setting up Cowan for the tally. The officials made an incidental contact ruling on O’Reilly, which nullified the goal.

With 7:52 remaining in the second, Barkey tallied on the power play for his second goal of the night. He fired home a mid range shot from the left side boards past a screened Meneghin to the top right corner of the Medicine Hat net to give London a 4-0 edge.

Just 2:43 into the third, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna was finally able to solve Elliott. McKenna snapped home a shot from the front of the London net to trim the Knights lead to 4-1.

Gavin McKenna had the Tigers lone goal on Sunday.

The Knights at that point proceeded to trap things up through the centre ice zone and lock down the game defensively. While the Tigers were only able to hold a 4-3 edge in shots on goal for the frame, the Knights close out wasn’t all smooth.

With 5:21 remaining in the third, McKenna fired home a shot to the top left corner of the London net off a chance from the front of the goal. The officials reviewed the goal and determined Tigers star right-winger Ryder Ritchie knocked the puck down with a high stick earlier in the play causing McKenna’s tally to be disallowed. The officials added nine seconds to the clock before play resumed.

After that scare, the Knights closed out the contest.

Meneghin turned away 20 shots in the final major junior game of his career. The Tigers netminder had a remarkable post-season playing heroically after finding out his father, Derek, passed away after Medicine Hat’s final game of the regular season.

Cowan won the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as the MVP of the Memorial Cup tournament. In the five games the Knights played, he recorded three goals, four assists and a plus-three rating in the plus-minus category.

On top of being named the tournament MVP, Cowan was named to the tournament all-star team along with Barkey, Dickinson and Elliott. McKenna and star defenceman Tanner Molendyk were named to the tournament all-star team from the Tigers.

The Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25. They advanced through the OHL Playoffs with a 16-1 record.

Medicine Hat finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark and posted a 16-2 record in the WHL Playoffs capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. The Tigers were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

The Tigers overcame their share of adversities this season. They started out 1-4, and as they started to turn things around on the ice, the Tabbies had to battle through a massive amount of injuries.

Just when it looked like things were all ready to go full speed ahead at the end of the regular season, Meneghin’s father passed away. The Tigers rallied around their netminder, who was named the MVP of the WHL Playoffs. When the Tigers were being presented the Ed Chynoweth Cup, Wiesblatt waved Meneghin in to accept and be the first to lift the trophy.

Including play in the WHL regular season, the WHL Playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament, the Tigers won 47 of their last 56 games.

For the Knights, they captured their third Memorial Cup title in team history with the two past victories coming in 2005 and 2016. Dale Hunter was the head coach for all of those Knights wins.

Over the past 21 years, the Knights are considered the standard in the CHL having won six OHL titles to go with their three Memorial Cup championships over that period of time. Whenever they make the Memorial Cup tournament, they are usually the favourites to win it.

The Tigers topped the round robin standings of this year’s Memorial Cup tournament with a 3-0 record earning a bye into the event’s championship game. It appeared they might be destined to be the team that ends the WHL’s Memorial Cup title drought.

After Sunday’s final, the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014 remain the last squad from the WHL to win the Memorial Cup. They also took the WHL title that year too.

The WHL’s drought of not winning the Memorial Cup now spans the last nine tournaments marking the longest the circuit has gone without winning the biggest prize in major junior hockey. Since the Spokane Chiefs dropped the Memorial Cup after winning it in 2008, the Oil Kings have been the only WHL club since that time to claim that trophy which leaves the feeling the “Curse of the Drop” still lingers over the circuit.

Still, the Knights’ experience – however slight it may have been – from losing the Memorial Cup final last season pushed them over the edge this season.

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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Dreaming about the Blades keeping the band together

Saskatoon ultimately did right thing with reload

Tanner Molendyk in action for the Blades on March 22, 2024.

What could the Saskatoon Blades have done had they kept the band together in 2024-25?

As the CHL post-season has gone by, that thought does cross through a person’s head.

On Sunday, the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament, which determines a CHL champion, will be held at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec. The WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers will take on the OHL champion London Knights in the tourney final (5 p.m. Alberta and Saskatchewan time, TSN).

That contest features three players who started the 2024-25 campaign with the Blades.

Tanner Molendyk has been playing defence at an all-world level for the Tigers. The Blades defenceman of the year team award is named after him. 

Misha Volotovskii has become a shutdown checking centre for Medicine Hat who has chipped in goals and points at opportune times.

Austin Elliott is the netminder seemingly the entire WHL gave up on. In combined play in the WHL regular season, OHL regular season and post-season and Memorial Cup tournament, Elliott, who is in his overage season, has a 54-3 record. He went 3-0 with the Blades and has been 51-3 for the Knights.

Tanner Molendyk in action for the Tigers on April 13.

In 2023-24, the Blades had a stellar season finishing first overall in the WHL with a 50-13-2-3 mark. They advanced to the WHL Eastern Conference Championship Series falling in seven games to the eventual league champion Moose Jaw Warriors.

That epic series saw six games decided in overtime. In Game 7 at the SaskTel Centre on May 7, 2024, Warriors right-winger Lynden Lakovic got a positive bounced goal 36 seconds into overtime to deliver a 3-2 victory to Moose Jaw.

Lakovic put a backhand shot towards the Saskatoon net that deflected off the skate of Blades utility winger Tyler Parr into the net for the winning tally. Parr was covering Warriors star right-winger Atley Calvert on the play.

At the start of the 2024-25 campaign, Molendyk, Volotovskii, Elliott, Parr, Brandon Lisowsky, Rowan Calvert, Evan Gardner, Lukas Hansen, Ben Saunderson, Grayden Siepmann and Morgan Tastad were all part of the core of the 2023-24 squad that was returning. 

Unfortunately for the Blades, they dealt away a lot of key draft capital to load up for the 2023-24 campaign.

They also had five significant losses after the completion of the 2023-24 campaign. Captain Trevor Wong, standout right-winger Easton Armstrong and sturdy defensive-defenceman Charlie Wright all aged out of the circuit. Star import right-winger Egor Sidorov joined the San Diego Gulls of the AHL, who are the affiliate of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, and star centre Fraser Minten started the campaign as property of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs before being dealt to the Boston Bruins.

Misha Volotovskii in action for the Blades on April 3, 2024.

Minten saw action for the Maple Leafs, their AHL affiliate the Toronto Marlies, the Bruins and their AHL affiliate the Providence Bruins.

On July 25, 2024, the Blades dealt steady defenceman John Babcock to the Regina Pats in an effort to get down to three overage players.

Elliott lost his spot as the Blades starting goalie to Gardner during the 2024 WHL Playoffs. 

When Gardner returned from NHL training camp activities with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Elliott was cut by the Blades and cleared the WHL waiver wire.

He was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but the powerhouse Knights wanted to bring him to their squad. 

On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott. The puckstopper never played a game for the Colts.

Elliott would go on to have a sensational run with the Knights.

As the early part of the campaign moved on, the Blades sat first overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and third overall in the league with a 17-6-1-2 mark going into action on December 6, 2024. It was decision time when it came to keeping the band together.

Misha Volotovskii in action for the Tigers on May 9.

Blades general manager Colin Priestner looked at what the team could potentially look like the next two seasons after the 2024-25 campaign if the band stayed together and decided to make deals to ensure the team didn’t bottom out.

Hansen, Lisowsky, Volotovskii and Molendyk were all dealt to bring in a haul of younger players and draft capital leading up to the WHL’s trade deadline on January 9. Overage left-winger Tanner Scott was the one veteran that came to Saskatoon in those deals.

Before the 2024-25 season started, the Blades acquired 19-year-old centre Ben Riche in a trade with the Victoria Royals. Riche was looking for a fresh start with a new club and had a major breakout half season with the Blades. He was dealt to the Prince George Cougars for two younger players and draft capital.

The Blades didn’t plummet down the WHL standings after the trades. They slowly dropped out of contention for top spot in the Eastern Conference but were battling for first place in the WHL’s East Division.

They closed the regular season with a home-and-home series against their archrivals in the Prince Albert Raiders and were looking to gain the East Division title. 

On March 21 at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime. One night later at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert in a winner take all battle for first place, the Blades fell 4-3 after the Raiders star defenceman Lukas Dragicevic netted the winner late in the third period.

Austin Elliott in action for the Blades on April 5, 2024.

Saskatoon finished third in the East Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 37-23-4-4 mark. The Blades were swept in a best-of-seven first round series by the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL Playoffs.

Still, the Blades are looking wise going into the future with the likes of Hunter Laing, Hayden Harsanyi, Jack Kachkowski and Kazden Mathies. They will go well together with returnees like Gardner, Ethan McCallum, Zach Olsen, Parr, Calvert, Cooper Williams, David Lewandowski and Isaac Poll.

In 2025-26, the Blades should still be a club that will be in a solid post-season spot. Still, it is fun to dream about what could have happened had Molendyk, Volotovskii, Elliott, Lisowsky, Hansen and Riche all stayed.

Knights claim 5-2 win over Wildcats in Memorial Cup semi

The London Knights weren’t going to be denied a return trip to the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament.

On Friday, the OHL champion Knights found themselves locked in a 2-2 after 40 minutes with the QMJHL champion Moncton Wildcats in the Memorial Cup semifinal at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec. The Knights rolled off three straight goals in the third period to pull out a 5-2 victory before a sellout crowd of 4,512 spectators.

Left-winger Blake Montgomery scored the winner at the 3:35 mark of the third. Import left-winger Jesse Nurmi netted a dagger insurance tally with 6:49 remaining in the third. Knight star right-winger Easton Cowan scored into an empty net to complete the surge with 1:49 remaining in the frame.

With the win, the Knights advance to the title game of the Memorial Cup tournament, which decides a CHL champion, to take on the WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers on Sunday at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial (5 p.m. Alberta and Saskatchewan time, TSN).

Last year when the Memorial Cup tournament was held in Saginaw, Michigan, the Knights, who were the OHL champions, fell to the host Spirit 4-3. Spirit 20-year-old left-winger Josh Bloom scored the winner with 21.7 seconds remaining in the third to break a 3-3 tie.

In Friday’s clash between the Knights and Wildcats, left-winger Landon Sim gave the Knights a 1-0 lead at the 4:07 mark of the first period. Wildcats centre Caleb Desnoyers scored on the power play with 1:40 remaining in the opening frame to even the score at 1-1.

Knights captain Denver Barkley tallied at the 5:24 mark of the second to put London up 2-0. Just 2:16 later, Wildcats defenceman Dyllan Gill fired home a power-play goal to even the score at 2-2. That set the stage for the Knights surge in the third period.

Austin Elliott stopped 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Knights. During the 2024-25 campaign that began with three games with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, Elliott has a 54-3 record including play in the WHL regular season, the OHL regular season and post-season and the Memorial Cup tournament.

Mathis Rousseau turned away 32-of-36 shots to take the setback in net for the Wildcats. The Wildcats downed the host Rimouski Oceanic 6-2 in the final round robin game on Wednesday to advance to the semifinal.

The Wildcats were 1-2 in round robin play, while the Oceanic were 0-3. The Tigers topped the round robin standings at 3-0, while the Knights were second with a 2-1 mark.

The Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25. They advanced through the OHL Playoffs with a 16-1 record.

The Wildcats topped the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-9-2 mark and were rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the QMJHL Playoffs, the Wildcats went 16-3 to capture the league title.

Medicine Hat finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark and posted a 16-2 record in the WHL Playoffs capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. The Tigers were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings that came out on March 25.

The Oceanic were second overall in the QMJHL’s regular season standings with a 46-14-2-2 mark. They posted a 14-9 record in the QMJHL Playoffs falling in six games in the league championship series to the Wildcats. Rimouski was rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

McDonald remains Raiders head coach, other notes

Ryan McDonald, centre, works the Raiders bench on March 18.

Ryan McDonald will remain the head coach of his hometown Prince Albert Raiders heading into the 2025-26 campaign.

On Tuesday, the Raiders removed the interim tag from McDonald’s job title as head coach. The 37-year-old first joined the club as an assistant coach in 2020-21.

McDonald was named the team’s interim head coach on March 10 after Jeff Truitt was dismissed as the club’s head coach. The Raiders went 5-1 in their last six regular season contests under McDonald allowing them to finish first in the WHL’s East Division with a 39-23-5-1 mark.

Following the team’s WHL Christmas break, McDonald took over for Truitt as interim head coach as Truitt left the team for medical reasons to have eye surgery. McDonald went 10-4-0-1 over that stretch to post a 15-5-0-1 mark in 21 regular season contests working the Raiders bench as head coach.

In the WHL Playoffs, McDonald saw his Raiders eliminate the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-3 in a best-of-seven first round series after trailing the set 3-1. The Raiders were then swept in a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series by the eventual WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers.

Way back in the 2002-03 campaign, McDonald suited up full time for the Prince Albert Mintos under-18 AAA team as a 14-year-old underage player. He played one more campaign for the Mintos before moving up to the WHL with the Regina Pats.

He was acquired by the Raiders from the Pats in a trade part way through the 2006-07 campaign. McDonald would play the next two full seasons with the Raiders before graduating from the WHL. In 2013-14, McDonald played in the U Sports ranks with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey Team.

• London Knights star right-winger Easton Cowan leads the Memorial Cup tournament in scoring with six points coming off two goals and four assists in four games.
• Medicine Hat Tigers star right-winger Ryder Ritchie leads the Memorial Cup tournament with four goals coming in three games.
• London Knights star goaltender Austin Elliott has the lowest goals against average at the Memorial Cup tournament at 1.74 and the highest save percentage at .936 over four games. He is tied with Medicine Hat Tigers star netminder Harrison Meneghin for the most goaltending wins at this year’s tournament at three.
• On Friday, Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald reported that the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks Men’s Hockey Team in the NCAA Division I ranks got verbal commitments from centre Cole Reschny and defenceman Keaton Verhoeff, who were both members of the WHL’s Victoria Royals, to play starting in the 2025-26 season. Reschny turned 18-years-old in April and had 92 points coming off 26 goals and 66 assists to go with a plus-42 rating in the plus-minus department playing 62 regular season games for the Royals in 2024-25. He is a top prospect for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. Verhoeff will turn 17-years-old on June 19. As a 16-year-old rookie with the Royals in 2024-25, he appeared in 63 regular season games recording 21 goals, 24 assists and a plus-23 rating. Some believe he has the potential to be selected second overall in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.
• Nathan Reiter, who is a sports reporter for the Prince Albert Daily Herald, put together a column on the latest developments on the landscape between the CHL and NCAA. That piece can be found by clicking right here.

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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Tigers down Knights 3-1, move on to Memorial Cup title game

If there were any doubts, the Medicine Hat Tigers proved they can win by gaining three yards in a cloud of dust.

On Tuesday night at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial in Rimouski, Quebec, the WHL championship Tigers downed the OHL champion London Knights 3-1 in the final round robin contest for both sides at the Memorial Cup tournament which crowns a CHL champion. The win allowed the Tigers to finish on top of the round robin standings with a 3-0 record and advance directly to Sunday’s tournament championship game (5 p.m. Alberta and Saskatchewan time, TSN).

The Knights posted a 2-1 mark to place second in the round robin portion of the event. They will play in a semifinal contest on Friday (5 p.m. Alberta and Saskatchewan time, TSN).

In the semifinal, London will take on the winner of Wednesday’s final round robin game between the QMJHL Moncton Wildcats and host Rimouski Oceanic (5 p.m. Alberta and Saskatchewan time, TSN). The Wildcats and Oceanic are both 0-2 in round robin play.

In the Tigers win over the Knights on Tuesday, the Medicine Hat side had to grind out victory. The Knights held a 36-29 edge in shots on goal. Both sides were changing things up on the ice to counter each others’ offensive attacks.

Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna wasn’t able to record a point.

Medicine Hat pulled out victory winning battles for the puck and blocking shots. The Tabbies were also powered by a spectacular 35-save performance by star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin in picking up the win.

The Knights got out to the fast start on Tuesday. Just seconds into the contest, Meneghin stoned Knights centre Jacob Julien on a two-on-one break into the Medicine Hat zone.

At the 3:34 mark of the opening frame, the Knight struck on the power play taking a 1-0 lead. Knights star defenceman Sam Dickinson floated a shot from the point that was deflected home by star right-winger Kasper Halttunen to give their side a one-goal edge.

Mathew Ward scored the winning goal for the Tigers.

London held a 9-2 edge in shots on goal at one point in the first period before heading into the first intermission holding a 10-7 lead in that department.

Just inside the first two minutes of the second, Knights star left-winger Blake Montgomery was sprung into the Medicine Hat zone on a breakaway only to be turned away by a blocker stop from Meneghin.

The Tigers broke through on the scoreboard netting a gritty goal thanks to a positive bounce at the 5:11 mark of the second. Star defenceman Tanner Molendyk fired a shot from the point that deflected off a Knights player to Tigers veteran right-winger Ethan Neutens at the left side of the London net. Neutens quickly put the puck into an open left side of the London cage to even the score at 1-1.

The Knights came with a push back after the Tigers pulled even on the scoreboard, but the London side was kept at bay by Meneghin.

Just seconds into the third, Meneghin stoned Knights captain Denver Barkley, who fired a shot on goal from the front of the Medicine Hat net on an offensive rush.

Following that chance, the Tigers were buzzing in the London zone at the 1:17 mark of the frame. Tigers 19-year-old defensive centre Misha Volotovskii poked the puck down to overage left-winger Mathew Ward at the right side of the London net.

Ward quickly looped around the front of the London net and popped home his first of the tournament to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. That tally marked the first time the Knights trailed in the third period at any point in this year’s Memorial Cup tournament.

After going ahead on the scoreboard, the Tigers proceeded to focus on defensive structure. With 10:45 remaining in the frame, Knights star right-winger Easton Cowan put a shot off the post of the Medicine Hat net that Meneghin proceeded to gather up.

Harrison Meneghin made 35 saves in goal for the Tigers.

Late in the frame with the Knights on the power play, Cowan was stoned on a close in chance by Meneghin. After that power play expired, Tigers star captain Oasiz Wiesblatt came up with a big shot block on Dickinson with 71 seconds remaining in the frame to help prevent the Knights from pulling even on the scoreboard. At the time of that shot block, the Knights had star overage netminder Austin Elliott pulled for an extra attacker.

With 11.6 seconds remaining in the third, Wiesblatt sprung star right-winger Ryder Ritchie on a break down the right wing into the London zone. Ritchie fired the puck into an empty net to round out the 3-1 final score in favour of the Tigers.

Neutens had an assist to go with his goal finishing with a two-point night to go with a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department for the Tigers.

Elliott turned away 26-of-28 shots to take the setback in net for the Knights. In action combined in the CHL regular season and post-season, Elliott saw his record in net fall to 53-3.

The veteran puck stopper started the 2024-25 campaign in the WHL with the Saskatoon Blades winning all three of his starts with “the Bridge City Bunch.” Elliott was cut by the Blades and cleared WHL waivers.

Elliott was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but the powerhouse Knights wanted to bring him to their squad. On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott.

The puck stopper never played a game for the Colts. He has a 50-3 record playing for the Knights.

During his time in the WHL with the Blades, Elliott won all six of his career starts against the Tigers.

Oasiz Wiesblatt had a big shot block and an assist for the Tigers.

Medicine Hat finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark and posted a 16-2 record in the WHL Playoffs capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. The Tigers were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings that came out on March 25.

The Tigers have won 47 out of their last 55 games including play in the WHL regular season, the WHL Playoffs and the Memorial Cup tournament.

The Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25. They advanced through the OHL Playoffs with a 16-1 record.

The Wildcats topped the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-9-2 mark and were rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the QMJHL Playoffs, the Wildcats went 16-3 to capture the league title.

The Oceanic were second overall in the QMJHL’s regular season standings with a 46-14-2-2 mark. They posted a 14-9 record in the QMJHL Playoffs falling in six games in the league championship series to the Wildcats. Rimouski was rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Now, the Tigers have four days off where they will wait to see who they will play in the Memorial Cup title game. They were last in the championship game of the Memorial Cup tournament on May 27, 2007 falling 3-1 to the host Vancouver Giants. The Tigers went into that tournament as the WHL champions.

The Tigers have won the Memorial Cup twice with the victories coming in 1987 and 1988. In 1987, the Tigers downed the host and OHL champion Oshawa Generals 6-2 in the Memorial Cup title game on May 15 of that year. 

In 1988, the Tigers outgunned the OHL champion Windsor Spitfires 7-6 in the championship contest on May 14 of that year with the event being hosted in Chicoutimi, Quebec.

Medicine Hat is also trying to become the first WHL team to win the Memorial Cup since the Edmonton Oil Kings downed the OHL champion Guelph Storm 6-3 on May 25, 2014, when the tournament was held in London, Ont.

Ethan Neutens had one goal and one assist for the Tigers.

If the Tigers take the Memorial Cup title game on Sunday, they would make history on numerous fronts.

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Tigers take on “Curse of the Drop” at Memorial Cup

Gavin McKenna has had a spectacular season for the Tigers.

The Medicine Hat Tigers are now on the clock to see if the “Curse of the Drop” still lingers.

For the superstitious types, that event took place on May 25, 2008 after the WHL champion Spokane Chiefs downed the host Kitchener Rangers 4-1 in the Memorial Cup tournament’s championship game. After receiving the trophy, Chiefs captain Chris Bruton had the Memorial Cup fall apart in his hands as he attempted to give it to veteran defenceman Trevor Glass.

Since that drop, the WHL has only won the Memorial Cup once coming with the Edmonton Oil Kings win in 2014. In 2014, Edmonton captured the WHL and CHL titles that year playing to honour the memory of former player Kristians Pelss, who was with the Oil Kings 2012 WHL championship team and passed away in June of 2013 due to a recreation diving accident.

In the championship game of the 2014 Memorial Cup tournament played in London, Ont., on May 25 of that year, the WHL champion Oil Kings downed the OHL champion Guelph Storm 6-3. At the moment, that marks the last time a team from the WHL has won the Memorial Cup to become CHL champions.

The Tigers enter this year’s four-team tournament to be played in Rimouski, Quebec, as WHL champions. They will begin play on Friday taking on the host Rimouski Oceanic at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial (5 p.m. Alberta and Saskatchewan time, TSN).

Medicine Hat finished second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 47-17-3-1 mark and posted a 16-2 record in the WHL Playoffs capturing the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. The Tigers were rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings that came out on March 25.

The Oceanic were second overall in the QMJHL’s regular season standings with a 46-14-2-2 mark. They posted a 14-9 record in the QMJHL Playoffs falling in six games in the league championship series to the Moncton Wildcats. Rimouski was rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

Currently, the WHL as a league is going through its longest drought of not winning the Memorial Cup. That drought stretches across the last eight straight Memorial Cup tournaments. That includes the tournaments played from 2015 to 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The Memorial Cup tournament wasn’t contested in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

During the drought, there were a few times the WHL champion was worn down by the grind of the WHL post-season, and while the players tried, they just didn’t have gas in the tank. That included the Swift Current Broncos in 2018 and the Prince Albert Raiders in 2019.

In 2023, the Seattle Thunderbirds made the championship game, when the tournament was played in Kamloops, B.C. On June 4 of that year, the QMJHL champion Quebec Remparts blanked the Thunderbirds 5-0 in the tournament final. That allowed then Remparts head coach, general manager and overall hockey icon Patrick Roy to raise the Memorial Cup for a second time.

Harrison Meneghin has been incredible in the WHL post-season.

For whatever reason, it seems like a dark cloud hangs over WHL representatives at the Memorial Cup since the Chiefs drop back in 2008.

This time the WHL sends one of its most storied legacy franchises to the CHL championship tournament in the Tigers. The Tigers and the Kamloops Blazers hold the distinction of collecting the most WHL title wins at six. Medicine Hat has won the Memorial Cup twice coming back in 1987 and 1988.

The Tigers head into the Memorial Cup guided by their legendary head coach and general manager in Willie Desjardins. He is aided by a high caliber staff that works behind the team’s bench.

Of course, Tigers superstar 17-year-old left-winger Gavin McKenna will be the player most hockey fans will be watching at the Memorial Cup. McKenna finished second in the WHL regular season scoring race piling up 129 points coming off 41 goals and 88 assists to go with a plus-60 rating in the plus-minus department in 56 appearances.

McKenna was third in scoring in the WHL Playoffs piling up 38 points on nine goals and 29 assists to go with a plus-14 rating in 16 games.

Overage captain Oasiz Wiesblatt has vaulted his way to legendary status in the history of the Tigers franchise. He finished fifth in the WHL regular season scoring race with 103 points coming off 36 goals and 67 assists to go with a plus-47 rating in 66 appearances. Wiesblatt also had 148 penalty minutes during the regular season.

He was seventh in the scoring race in the WHL Playoffs posting 29 points coming off 14 goals and 15 assists to go with a plus-15 rating in 18 games.

Seemingly, everyone amongst the Tigers forward unit has skill with the big names including Andrew Basha, Cayden Lindstrom, Hunter St. Martin, Ryder Ritchie, Liam Ruck and Marcus Ruck.

Medicine Hat’s starting six on defence are as good as anyone’s in major junior hockey in Tanner Molendyk, Veeti Vaisanen, Bryce Pickford, Jonas Woo, Josh Van Mulligen and Niilopekka Muhonen.

The Tigers have received rock solid play in goal from star 20-year-old netminder Harrison Meneghin, who signed a three-year entry-level contract with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Meneghin played one regular season game with the Lethbridge Hurricanes before being dealt to the Tigers.

In the 36 total regular season games he has played, Meneghin posted a 23-10-1-1 record, a 2.58 goals against average, a .900 save percentage and three shutouts. In 16 appearances in the WHL Playoffs, Meneghin posted a 14-1 record, a 2.35 goals against average, a .906 save percentage and three shutouts. He was named MVP of the WHL Playoffs.

Oasiz Wiesblatt (#7) is the Tigers fearless captain.

Back when the Oil Kings won the Memorial Cup in 2014 to be the only WHL club at the moment to beat the “Curse of the Drop,” they played with special emotion aiming to honour Pelss.

The Tigers might have a similar situation this season. When the Tigers closed their regular season schedule back on March 23 with a 5-2 victory over the Hitmen in Calgary, Meneghin found out about the passing of his father, Derek. Derek’s passing came in an unexpected fashion.

During the post-season, it was obvious Meneghin was playing for his father, and the rest of the Tigers were playing for him. Perhaps what seems like the dark supernatural forces that are haunting WHL teams at the Memorial Cup tournament will take a pass in haunting this year’s Tigers.

Maybe, just maybe, fate will look favourably on Medicine Hat.

Former Blades goalie Elliott spectacular with Knights

Austin Elliott has been a man on a mission after continuing his major junior career in the OHL.

The Strathmore, Alta., product, had been a star netminder for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades playing two complete seasons for “The Bridge City Bunch” from 2022 to 2024. He struggled in the 2024 WHL Playoffs and the Blades turned the starting job over to Evan Gardner. With Gardner in net, the Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series falling in seven games to the eventual WHL champion Moose Jaw Warriors.

As an overager in 2024-25, Elliott started the campaign with the Blades winning all three of his starts with the team posting a 2.33 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. When Gardner returned from NHL training camp activities with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Elliott was cut by the Blades and cleared the WHL waiver wire.

Elliott was actually claimed on CHL waivers by the Barrie Colts, but the powerhouse Knights wanted to bring him to their squad. On October 16, 2024, the Knights dealt a 14^th round selection in the 2026 OHL Draft and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2027 OHL Draft for Elliott. The puck stopper never played a game for the Colts.

Elliott, who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 180 pounds, played in 33 regular season games for the Knights posting a 32-1 record, a 2.10 goals against average, a .924 save percentage and three shutouts. Thanks to Elliott’s work, the Knights topped the OHL standings with a 55-11-2 mark and were rated second in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings released on March 25.

Austin Elliott in action for the Blades on March 22, 2024.

He started all of the 17 games the Knights played in the OHL Playoffs posting a 16-1 record, a 2.46 goals against average and one shutout as London claimed a second straight league title.

Now, Elliott will try to backstop the storied Knights to a Memorial Cup title. The annual CHL championship tournament is being held in Rimouski, Quebec, and the Knights begin play on Saturday taking on the QMJHL champion Moncton Wildcats at the Coliseum Sun Life Financial (4 p.m. Alberta and Saskatchewan time, TSN).

The Wildcats topped the QMJHL regular season standings with a 53-9-2 mark and were rated first in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. In the QMJHL Playoffs, the Wildcats went 16-3 to capture the league title.

Saturday’s battle between the Knights and Wildcats is viewed as a contest that you have to watch. Elliott might prove to be the difference again for the Knights in that contest in what has been an unbelievable run for him in 2024-25.

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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Blades outgun Rebels 8-5

Saskatoon takes commanding 3-0 series lead on Red Deer

Ben Saunderson (#2) battles on the boards. (Photo: Taylor Lachance)

It hadn’t been this easy to score since the original Woodstock in 1969.

On Tuesday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium, the goals came in bunches as the Saskatoon Blades faced the host Red Deer Rebels in Game 3 of a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. The game was an entertaining one for the 4,411 spectators in attendance, but it was also likely a nightmare for the coaching staffs of both teams.

When the dust settled, the Blades skated away with an 8-5 victory and a seventh straight win in the WHL Playoffs. With the win, the Blades take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Saskatoon will attempt to close out the series in Game 4 set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. local time at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

Game 3 began with a surprise as associate player call up Taylor Tabashniuk, who turned 17-years-old in March, started the contest in goal for Red Deer. Tabashniuk was playing his first career WHL game in either the regular season or post-season. He played this season with the Regina Pat Canadians under-18 AAA team before joining the Rebels.

Peyton Shore suited up as the Rebels backup goalie as an associated player call up. Shore, who is 15-years-old, played this season for the Rink Hockey Academy’s Under-17 team in his hometown of Winnipeg, Man.

The Rebels had to dress the associated player call ups as both of their regular netminders were out of the lineup. Second-year netminder Rhett Stoesser was out due to an undisclosed ailment. Stoesser has yet to dress for a game in the series against the Blades.

Breakout rookie puck stopper Chase Wutzke was out with an undisclosed injury. In the Blades 2-1 overtime victory in Game 2 on Sunday in Saskatoon, Wutzke was bowled over by Blades overage star left-winger Easton Armstrong on an offensive rush at the 5:59 mark of the third when the contest was tied 1-1.

Armstrong was given a major penalty for charging and a game misconduct. On Monday, he was suspended by the WHL with the length of the suspension to be determined.

Tanner Molendyk (#24) controls the puck. (Photo: Taylor Lachance)

Wutzke finished Game 2 playing heroically making 47 saves in the extra time setback.

In Game 3, the Rebels were thwarted on the first scoring chance of the contest just 13 seconds into the game. Rebels gritty left-winger Carson Birnie backhanded centred a pass from the right wing of the Saskatoon zone to the front of the Blades net to Rebels star centre and captain Kai Uchacz.

The puck deflected off Uchacz’s skate towards the Saskatoon net, but Blades breakout star rookie netiminder Evan Gardner made a sharp stop to keep the game scoreless. No one could have suspected the goal gusher that was to come at that time.

Shortly after that stop, the flood of goals started. Just 2:36 into the opening frame, Blades 20-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright fired home a shot from the left faceoff dot to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

The Rebels responded 14 seconds later when overage winger Carson Latimer, who was a one-time member of the Prince Albert Raiders, slid home a low shot to the right side of the Saskatoon net to even the score at 1-1. The officials video reviewed the tally and confirmed the goal did indeed count.

At the 7:31 mark of the first, Blades centre Rowan Calvert fired home a shot from the left faceoff circle to put the visitors back in front 2-1. 

Just 20 seconds later, Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov blew down the right wing and got in alone on the Red Deer net. He snapped home a shot to the low left side of the Red Deer goal to give the Blades a 3-1 advantage.

With 8:24 remaining in the first, Birnie scored a short-handed goal off a midrange shot from the right wing boards to cut the Blades lead to 3-2.

The offensive surge continued in the second. Just 2:16 into the frame, Rebels second-year defenceman Quentin Bourne, who was playing right wing, fired home his first career WHL goal in either the WHL regular season or post-season to even the score at 3-3.

Kai Uchacz (#19) gets tied up. (Photo: Taylor Lachance)

The Blades jumped back out in front 4-3 just 41 seconds later on the smart play by captain Trevor Wong. Rebels offensive-defenceman Mats Lindgren was slow to get possession of a loose puck in his own zone, and Wong stole the puck right out from under the rearguard. Wong quickly snapped a shot past Tabashniuk to give the visitors a one-goal edge once again.

With the teams playing four-versus-four hockey due to off-setting penalties, Sidorov scored his second of the contest to push the Blades lead out to 5-3.

As is a traditional Rebels trait, they didn’t quit. With 4:58 remaining in the second, Rebels star winger Kalan Lind scored on a wraparound to cut the Blades lead to 5-4.

After Lind’s goal, the Blades elected to pull Gardner. He stopped 16-of-20 shots sent his way. Austin Elliott turned away 16-of-17 shots playing the rest of the way in relief and would end up picking up the win in goal for the visitors.

Following the goaltender change, Sidorov proceeded to complete his hat trick tallying with 1:25 remaining in the second to give the Blades a 6-4 advantage heading into the second intermission.

The Blades pushed their edge out to 7-4 at the 6:27 mark of the third. Blades star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky received a smart pass in the left slot from Wong and fired home his third of the post-season to give the visitors their three-goal edge.

At that point, the Rebels appeared to be sinking in quicksand. With 10:42 remaining in the third, Rebels import right-winger Frantisek Formanek pitch forked Blades defensive centre Lukas Hansen in the gut.

Formanek was given a major penalty for spearing and a game misconduct. His infraction will be automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

The Rebels proceeded to show more resilience as gritty left-winger Talon Brigley elected to make the highlight reels. While working the kill for Formanek’s major, Brigley took the puck away from Sidorov in the Red Deer zone.

Talon Brigley had a sweet goal. (Photo: Taylor Lachance)

Brigley jetting down the ice into the Saskatoon zone down the left wing, put a spinorama move on Blades offensive-defenceman Tanner Molendyk and roofed home a shot to the top right corner of the Saskatoon net for a short-handed goal to trim the visitor’s lead to 7-5. The Blades finished 1-for-4 on the power play in the contest, while giving up two short-handed goals.

A short time after Brigley’s goal, Uchacz had a dangerous chance to score, but he was stopped by Elliott, who was able to freeze the puck. Blades head coach Brennan Sonne called a timeout after that chance to settle his players down and get them to refocus for the rest of the frame.

With 3:13 remaining in the third, the Rebels pulled Tabashniuk for an extra attacker. Hansen scored his first of the post-season into an empty net with 1:20 remaining in the third to round out the 8-5 final in favour of the Blades.

Tabashniuk turned away 31-of-38 shots to take the setback in goal for the Rebels.

Wong collected three assists to go with his goal for a four-point night. Lisowsky had a pair of assists to go with his goal for a three-point night.

If the Blades are able to wrap up the series in Game 4 on Wednesday, they will ensure the Eastern Conference Championship Series will be an all-Saskatchewan battle for the first time since 1993. The winner of the series between the Blades and Rebels will face the winner of the other Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Swift Current Broncos.

On Tuesday, the Warriors downed the Broncos 5-3 in Swift Current in Game 3 of that series to take a 2-1 lead in that set.

Back in 1993, the Broncos swept the Regina Pats 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Championships Series. Swift Current advanced to the WHL Championship Series where they got past the Portland Winterhawks in seven games.

Coming into the series between the Blades and Rebels, the Blades were tabbed as the favourites. They topped the WHL’s overall standings with a 50-13-2-3 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings. They took down their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders 4-1 in a first round series.

The Blades celebrate their win. (Photo: Taylor Lachance)

The Rebels had an up and down regular season finishing fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and eighth overall on the circuit with a 33-26-3-6 mark. They took out one of their biggest rivals in the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-1 in a first round series.

Last year when the Blades and Rebels met in an Eastern Conference semifinal, the Rebels claimed the first three games of the set, and the Blades rallied back to take the next four games to take the series 4-3. The Blades became just the third team in this history of the WHL to face an 0-3 deficit in a best-of-seven series to rally back to take the set 4-3.

The Rebels face a bigger challenge to rally back to win this year’s series than the Blades did a year ago. Red Deer will try to make a series comeback, but it appears the Blades have way too much in their favour to let this one slip away.

Huge thanks to Lachance for photo help

A big thank you goes out to Red Deer Rebels team photographer Taylor Lachance for the first five photos that appear in this post.

He did a tremendous job with these photos. The WHL has a tonne of talented team photographers, and they do an outstanding job of capturing memorable moments on the major junior circuit.

Armstrong’s suspension could linger for Blades, other notes

Easton Armstrong in action on Sunday for the Blades.

Everyone on the Saskatoon Blades might be holding their collective breath with regards to how long Easton Armstrong’s latest suspension could run.

On Monday, the WHL suspended Armstrong for a length still to be determined for receiving a charging major and a game misconduct in the Blades 2-1 overtime victory over the Red Deer Rebels in Game 2 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series. Armstrong, who is the Blades star overage left-winger, was suspended for bowling over Rebels breakout rookie netminder Chase Wutzke at the 5:59 mark of the third period, when the contest was tied 1-1.

Wutzke finished that contest making 47 saves in a heroic performance. He missed the Rebels 8-5 setback in Game 3 on Tuesday in Red Deer against the Blades with an undisclosed injury.

Armstrong’s suspension on Monday marks the third time in the last two seasons where he has been suspended by the WHL. In the Blades 3-2 regular season victory over the Broncos in Swift Current on February 10, Armstrong was given a major penalty for goaltender interference and a game misconduct resulting in a two game suspension.

In February of 2023, Armstrong served a two-game suspension for receiving a charging major and a game misconduct as a member of the Winnipeg Ice.

The WHL is likely evaluating Armstrong’s status as a repeat offender before offering an official ruling on his latest suspension.

Armstrong was acquired by the Blades in a trade very early in the 2023-24 campaign with the Wenatchee Wild. In 62 regular season games played between the Wild and Blades, Armstrong had career highs in goals (34), assists (22), points (56) and plus-minus rating (plus-24).

In six post-season games with the Blades, Armstrong has posted five goals, three assists and a plus-four rating.

• Offensive-defenceman and captain Denton Mateychuk had a pair of goals including the winner and an assist to power the Moose Jaw Warriors to a 5-3 victory over the Broncos in Swift Current in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series on Tuesday. The Warriors took a 2-1 lead in the set. Game 4 is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the InnovationPlex in Swift Current.
• Left-winger Matteo Danis score 82 seconds into overtime to deliver the Prince George Cougars to a 4-3 victory over the Rockets in Kelowna in Game 3 of a Western Conference semifinal series. With the win, the Cougars lead the series 3-0. Prince George will try to close out the set in Game 4 on Wednesday set for 7 p.m. local time at Prospera Place in Kelowna.
• The Portland Winterhawks are leading their Western Conference semifinal 3-0 over the Everett Silvertips. They will try to close out the set in Game 4 on Friday at 7 p.m. local time at the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett. The Winterhawks took Game 3 of the series 4-3 in overtime in Game 3 on Monday. Offensive-defenceman Carter Sotheran had the overtime winner for the Winterhawks. The series between the Winterhawks and Silvertips has faced the challenge of having to schedule around events at Everett’s rink.

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