Dawson Davidson had three assists for the Blades on Friday night.
Dawson Davidson doesn’t hold any grudges, but he still
enjoys beating his former team.
On Friday before 3,699 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the
overage defenceman picked up assists on the Saskatoon Blades first three goals
as they dumped the Regina Pats 6-2. Davidson was a member of the Pats, when
they advanced to the WHL championship series in 2017 falling to the Seattle
Thunderbirds.
He was traded by the Pats to the Blades on January 8, 2018
in a blockbuster deal to help the Regina
side to load as hosts for last May’s Memorial Cup.
Davidson said he still
has some motivation to show the Pats what they might be missing, but he still
respects Regina’s historic major junior franchise.
The Blades celebrate a goal from Kirby Dach (#77)
“Whenever you play a
team that traded you, you have a little bit of extra jump,” said Davidson, who
was a plus-one in the plus-minus department in Friday’s win. “I know a couple
of guys on that team still.
“Both their coaches
coached me. I had a great time in that organization. There is no love loss, but
at the same time, I’m trying to prove my worth.”
Davidson has
appeared in all of the Blades 46 games this season recording eight goals, 38
assists and a plus-12 rating in the plus-minus department. The Moosomin, Sask.,
product said he had some breaks go his way offensively on Friday noting two of
his helpers were secondary assists.
“I don’t think I was
really doing anything different,” said Davidson, who stands 5-foot-11 and
weighs 179 pounds. “I just got a puck to the net one time.
Ryan Hughes scored the Blades second goal on Friday.
“The other two,
Kirby (Dach) and Emil (Malysjev) made some really nice passes. Some nights you
get bounces. That is kind of what happened.”
Blades head coach
Mitch Love appreciates the points Davidson is able to put up, but the bench
boss has really loved the effort the veteran rearguard has put towards being a
better all-around player.
“The points are
there,” said Love. “The one thing he (Davidson) always wants to get better at
is the defensive side of the game.
“He has been very
coachable in that regard. If he wants to give himself a good chance to play pro
hockey next year as a 21-year-old, he is going to have to learn to play away
from the puck. He realizes that, and he understands that and he is continuously
getting better at that.”
Pats G Dean McNabb stops Blades LW Gary Haden.
The Blades jumped
out to a 2-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes scoring goals 20 seconds apart from
each other as the midway point of the frame neared. Overage right-winger Max
Gerlach netted his 27th goal of the season, and speedy left-winger Ryan
Hughes snipped home a low shot on a breakaway.
Saskatoon extended
its edge to 3-0 at the 4:29 mark of the second, when Dach, who is the team’s
star centre, converted a backdoor feed from Malysjev, who is an import
defenceman, into an open Regina cage.
Kirby Dach had a goal and an assist for the Blades.
“Obviously, it was
pretty nice,” said Dach, who hit the ice for the first time as a Blades
assistant captain on Friday night and had a helper on his team’s second goal. “A guy on their team lost a stick and a
glove there.
“It was a little bit
of an advantage for us in the offensive zone. Maly (Malysjev) made a great pass
through the seam there to find me backdoor, and I was able to tap it in.”
Regina battled back
near the end of the second cutting the Blades lead to 3-2. Left-winger
Cole Dubinsky netted Regina’s first goal, while right-winger Austin Pratt roofed
a bad angled shot for the Pats second goal.
The Blades ensured a Regina rally was not to be.
Just 76 seconds into the third, energetic right-winger Riley
McKay tipped home a point shot from defenceman Brandon Schuldhaus for a
power-play goal to give the Blades a 4-2 edge.
At the 7:41 mark of the third, the Blades struck again on the power play as captain Chase
Wouters blasted home his ninth goal of the season to put the hosts up 5-2.
Chase Wouters celebrates scoring for the Blades.
“When they scored
their two goals to make it 3-2, sometimes team tighten up,” said Love. “Maybe
the intermission came at the right time.
“I really liked our
shift after goals tonight whether it was them or us. We responded there, and we
stayed the course. We did a good job in the third period to kind of stay the
course and find more goals than them.”
With 51.9 seconds to
play in the third, 18-year-old left-winger Cyle McNabb scored his first goal as
a member of the Blades since being acquired in a trade on Jan. 7 with the
Kootenay Ice.
Blades RW Riley McKay fights Pats D Tyson Feist.
While McNabb was
scoring his goal, McKay was mixing things up with Pats defenceman Tyson Feist,
and the two broke into a fight. The two sides threw punches for at least a good
30 seconds before the officials stepped in to break things up.
Nolan Maier made 15
saves to pick up the win in goal for the Blades (27-13-6). Dean McNabb turned away
28 shots to take the setback in goal for the Pats (12-31-2-1)
The Blades and Pats go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre in Regina.
While the Pats are
going through a major rebuild, Davidson expects Saturday’s encounter will be
hotly contested between the two sides.
“Their fans are
always there,” said Davidson. “They support them.
The Blades salute the SaskTel Centre crowd after their win on Friday.
“They will probably
be behind them. They are just a well-coached team. When you have (Dave) Struch
as your head coach, you’re going to be a hard-working team.
“They pushed back.
Tonight was a pretty gritty rough game at some points. That fight was pretty
unbelievable at the end, and I think that is just a sign of how competitive
tomorrow is going to be.”
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Pats captain Jake Leschyshyn tries to beat Blades goalie Dorrin Luding.
REGINA, Sask. – Don’t tell the Regina Pats top line that
this season is supposed to be a write off.
Regina’s first line of captain Jake Leschyshyn, left-winger
Nick Henry and right-winger Austin Pratt combined for five goals and three
assists to help the Pats outgun the visiting Saskatoon Blades 6-5 in a WHL
regular season tilt before 5,600 spectators at the Brandt Centre on Saturday
night.
That trio didn’t seem to care the Pats are stuck in a
rebuilding campaign following a season where the club hosted the Memorial Cup
and on the heels of the 2016-17 campaign that saw the team finished first
overall in the WHL regular season standings and advanced to the league
championship series falling to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Captain Jake Leschyshyn had two goals and an assist for the Pats.
The Pats are devoid of the stars that helped them through those
two special seasons outside of Leschyshyn, who has signed a NHL entry-level
contract with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and Henry, who is an NHL Entry
Draft selection of the Colorado Avalanche.
Both have spent their entire WHL playing careers with the
Pats. Leschyshyn became a full-time member of the world’s oldest major junior
franchise in 2015-16 campaign and Henry came on board during the 2016-17
season. They each had a pair of goals and an assist in Saturday’s win.
It was obvious to see both have a lot emotionally invested
in the Regina team with the effort they gave in Saturday’s wild 1980s style
high-scoring contest, which saw the starting goalies for both squads get chased
from the game.
LW Nick Henry (#21) had two goals and an assist for the Pats.
Pratt is known for his gritty work ethic, and he has no quit
now in his second campaign with the Pats having come over in a trade with the
Red Deer Rebels last season. The Lakeville, Minn., product had a goal and an
assist to help the Regina cause on Saturday.
As a unit, they give the Pats enough to potentially play the
role of spoiler on any given night. They did just that helping the Pats improve
to 5-12 while the Blades fell to 10-7-2.
The Blades struck first at the 3:12 mark of the opening
frame with a power-play goal coming from overage right-winger Max Gerlach, who
would score twice on the night.
Austin Pratt had a goal and an assist for the Pats.
The Pats proceeded to take leads of 3-1 and 4-2 before the
Blades scored three straight to go into the second intermission up 5-4. Blades
captain Chase Wouters supplied the go-ahead goal on the power play burying a
nice set up pass from star 17-year-old centre Kirby Dach, who had three assists
in the setback.
That set the moment for the Pats top line to take centre
stage with some third period heroics.
At the 9:03 mark of the third, Pats overage defenceman Aaron
Hyman, who had three assists in the win, hit Henry with a breakout pass into
the Saskatoon zone. Blazing down the left wing, Henry slipped a pass across the
face of the Saskatoon goal to Leschyshyn, who buried a marker that forced a 5-5
tie.
With 4:12 remaining in the third, Henry labeled a shot to
the top left corner of the Saskatoon goal on the power play to provide the
winning tally for the Pats.
The Blades were 3-for-6 on the power play, while the Pats
scored on both their chances with the man advantage.
Kirby Dach backed the Blades offence with three assists.
Tristen Robins and Seth Bafaro each had singles for the
Blades. Duncan Pierce had the lone tally that didn’t come from the Pats top
line.
Nolan Maier turned away 5-of-8 shots starting in goal for
the Blades before being pulled 31 seconds into the second after the Pats went
ahead 3-1. Dorrin Luding stopped 14-of-17 shots in relief and took the loss in
goal for Saskatoon.
Max Paddock turned away 21-of-26 shots playing the first 40
minutes of Saturday’s affair in goal for the Pats. Dean McNabb took over at the
start of the third period and turned away all six shots he faced to pick up the
win in goal for Regina.
The Pats return to action this coming Friday, when they host
the Tri-City Americans at 7 p.m. at the Brandt Centre. The Blades next game is
also this coming Friday, when they travel to Medicine Hat to face the Tigers.
While the Pats are in a reloading stage, Leschyshyn, Henry
and Pratt showed how much of a factor heart can play in the outcome of a WHL
game and provided a tough lesson for the Blades to learn in the process.
The Pats celebrate their victory on Saturday night.
The Blades are now 3-5-2 in their last 10 outings after
starting hot out of the gate with a 7-2 mark in their first nine contests.
Saskatoon has hit a lull where the newness of the WHL schedule ends and the
68-game regular season becomes more of a grind.
Going forward, the players on the Blades need to try and
match the level of emotional attachment to their team like Leschyshyn, Henry
and Pratt have for the Pats.
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Captain Sam Steel scored the winning goal for the Pats on Friday.
If you give Sam Steel a golden opportunity, he is going to
take it.
On Friday night in the semifinal contest of the Memorial Cup
tournament at the Brandt Centre, the host Regina Pats were holding a slim 2-1
lead in the third period over the OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs. On a Regina
dump in, Bulldogs netminder Kaden Fulcher came way out of his crease and nonchalantly
passed the puck into an open area of the ice.
The puck went on the stick of Steel, who is the Pats star
captain. Fulcher fell down to the ice after being stick checked by Pats
left-winger Nick Henry. Steel easily skated around the fallen goalie and placed
the puck into an empty cage to give the Pats a 3-1 edge with 5:55 to play in
the frame.
That tally turned out to be very key. Just 73 second later,
Bulldogs right-winger Will Bitten broke down the right wing of the Regina zone
on a breakaway and lifted home a shot to the top right corner on Pats netminder
Max Paddock to cut the Regina lead to 3-2. Bitten was sent in on his breakaway
on a beauty spring pass from Bulldogs defenceman Benjamin Gleason.
Hamilton couldn’t net the equalizer.
Steel’s gift goal turned out to be the winner. He later came
up with a key shot block in the final minute. Seconds after that shot block,
Steel gave a set up to centre Jake Leschyshyn for an easy empty-net goal with
5.2 seconds remaining in the third to deliver the Pats to a 4-2 victory to send
the announced sellout crowd of 6,484 spectators into a frenzy.
Pats centre Jake Leschyshyn scored into an empty net on Friday.
With the win, the Pats improved to 3-1 in the CHL
championship tournament and advanced to Sunday’s championship final to face the
QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan (2-1) at 5 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.
Besides Steel’s big plays, the difference in Friday’s
contest was the play of the goaltenders on both sides.
Fulcher had by far the best statics in the round robin
portion of the Memorial Cup. He was good but not outstanding in the Hamilton
goal on Friday turning away 20 of 23 shots sent his way, which included the
lapse on Steel’s winning goal. The Bulldogs finished the tournament with a 2-2
record.
Max Paddock, who is the Pats rookie 17-year-old netminder,
had a couple of shaky games during the round robin portion of the tournament,
but looked like a rookie phenom making 44 saves against the Bulldogs.
His biggest stops came after the Pats lead shrank to 3-2.
Bulldogs left-winger Marian Studenic drove down the right wing and had an
initial shot stopped and a rebound shot turned away by Paddock.
Goalie Max Paddock made 44 saves for the Pats on Friday.
After the Bulldogs pulled Fulcher for an extra attacker,
Paddock stoned Bulldogs right-winger MacKenzie Entwistle on a wraparound and
Bitten on the rebound chance.
That set the stage for Steel’s shot block inside of the
final minute and his set up to Leschyshyn for the empty-net tally.
Inside the first minute of the first period, the Bulldogs
tried to set a physical tone as defenceman Riley Stillman nailed Pats
right-winger Cameron Hebig with a big open ice hit.
The Pats struck first scoring 5:22 into the first period,
when right-winger Austin Pratt knocked home the rebound from an Emil Oksanen
shot to go ahead 1-0.
The Bulldogs evened thing up at 1-1 at the 7:35 mark of the
second, when defenceman Nicolas Mattinen one-timed home a shot from the point
off a set up pass from Gleason. Mattinen had been a bit snakebitten in the
Memorial Cup firing a number of shots off goalposts, which included hitting the
crossbar of the Regina net late in the first period of Friday’s game.
Cameron Hebig had a goal for the Pats on Friday.
Regina jumped back out in front 2-1 at the 11-minute mark of
the second, when Hebig fired home a shot from the front of the Hamilton net
after taking a good set up pass from offensive defenceman Josh Mahura.
A short time after Hebig’s tally, Bulldogs captain Justin
Lemcke took down Pats left-winger Bryce Platt in one of the rare fights that
have occurred in about the last two decades of the Memorial Cup tournament.
Lemcke’s attempt to spark his club had mixed results, as the
Bulldogs fired a lot of shots at the Pats net but there wasn’t an explosion of
offence for the Hamilton side.
The Pats as team blocked a lot of Bulldogs shot attempts,
and Regina brought a bit of a physical game too. Regina defenceman Cale Fleury
had a big hot on Stillman in the third period.
A week ago on May 18, the Pats and Bulldogs opened the
Memorial Cup tournament with a round robin game that was claimed by the Pats
3-2, when Henry scored the winning goal in that contest with 32.6 seconds to
play in the third period.
The Bulldogs finished third overall in the OHL’s regular
season standings with a 43-18-4-3 record and advanced through the playoffs with
a 16-5 mark. The Bulldogs took out the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in six games
in the OHL’s Championship series.
Josh Mahura had an assist for the Pats on Friday.
In the third period of Friday’s game, the Bulldogs lost a
number of hustle plays and physical battles to the Pats.
The Pats entered the Memorial Cup off a stretch of having 45
days off after being eliminated in Game 7 of a tough first round WHL playoff
series on April 2 to the Swift Current Broncos, who won the WHL title. The
Broncos were eliminated in the Memorial Cup after going 0-3 in the round robin
with all three setback coming by a one-goal margin.
The Pats finished seventh overall in the WHL’s regular season
with a 40-25-6-1 record and will attempt to win their fourth Memorial Cup title
in team history, with the last championship coming back in 1974 when the
tournament was held in Calgary.
The Titan finished second overall in the QMJHL’s regular season
standings with a 43-15-8-2 record and went 16-4 in the playoffs.
Acadie-Bathurst claimed the round robin clash with Regina at the Memorial Cup
8-6 on May 20.
As five out of the seven games played at the Memorial Cup
were decided by one goal and two were decided by two-goals, this Memorial Cup
has been one of the tightest contested ever, and which should bode well for
expectations of excitement in Sunday’s championship final.
Viveiros departs Broncos for NHL’s Oilers
Head coach Manny Viveiros mans the Swift Current Broncos bench.
After two memorable seasons with the Swift Current Broncos,
Manny Viveiros is moving on to the NHL.
On Thursday at a news conference in Swift Current, Viveiros
stepped down as the head coach and director of player personnel for the Broncos
to become an assistant coach with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.
The 52-year-old
from St. Alberta, Alta., led the Broncos to a 10th overall finish in
the WHL’s regular season standings in 2016-17 with a 39-23-4-6 record. The
Broncos advanced to the second round of the WHL playoffs falling in a tough
seven-game series to the Regina Pats, who would advance to the WHL Championship
series.
This past season, Viveiros guided the Broncos to the second
best record in the WHL’s regular season at 48-17-5-2. The Broncos set a record
playing 26 games in the WHL playoffs winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup and capturing
the league title for the first since 1993. Swift Current advanced to the
Memorial Cup tournament to play for the CHL title.
At the Memorial Cup tournament in Regina, Sask., the Broncos
went 0-3 in round robin play falling by a one-goal margin each time out.
Manny Viveiros lifts the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
Before joining the Broncos, Viveiros coached Austria’s
national team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. After the Olympics,
Viveiros coached ERC Ingolstadt of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (Del) as an
assistant coach in 2014 and head coach in 2015.
In WHL circles, Viveiros is remembered for playing four
season for the Prince Albert Raiders from 1982 to 1986 appearing in 251 regular
season games collecting 60 goals and 261 assists. He helped the Raiders win the
Memorial Cup in 1985.
Viveiros was selected in the sixth round and 106th
overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by the Oilers. He appeared in 29 NHL regular
seasons over three seasons from 1985 to 1988 with the Minnesota North Stars
collecting one goal and 11 assists. He spent 16 seasons playing professionally
in Austria from 1991 to 2007.
The Broncos also announced director of business operations
Dianne Sletten is moving to other pursuits leaving the team after six seasons.
Does the “Curse of the Drop” still live?
Friday marked the 10th anniversary of one of the
infamous and biggest blooper moments in the history of the Memorial Cup.
On May 25, 2008, the WHL champion Spokane Chiefs downed the
host Kitchener Rangers 4-1 in the Memorial Cup tournament’s championship game.
It marked the second time the Chiefs captured the Memorial Cup to become CHL
champions.
After winning the title in 2008, Chiefs captain Chris Bruton
accepted the Memorial Cup. Bruton turned and was going to give the Memorial Cup
to defenceman Trevor Glass. Glass, who was in his 19-year-old season at the
time, was with the Medicine Hat Tigers the previous campaign when they won the
WHL title and fell 3-1 in the Memorial Cup championship game to the host
Vancouver Giants.
As Bruton reached out to hand the Memorial Cup to Glass, the
trophy separated at the neck and fell to the ice to the shock of the spectators
in Kitchener, Ont.
Following that moment the WHL went on its longest drought
ever of not winning major junior hockey’s biggest prize spanning five seasons
from 2009 to 2013. Clubs from the WHL became eligible to play for the Memorial Cup on a regular basis in the 1970-1971 campaign.
The drought was broken by the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014. Edmonton was playing to honour the memory of former player Kristians Pelss, who was with Edmonton’s 2012 WHL championship team and passed away in 2013 due to a recreation diving accident.
After the Oil Kings win, the WHL entry was unable to win the
next three Memorial Cup tournaments. The WHL has won one of the last nine
Memorial Cup tournament, so the host Regina Pats will try and make that record
two for the last 10, when they face the QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan in
Sunday’s championship game (5 p.m., Brandt Centre).
The video of the Chiefs mishap with the Memorial Cup can be
found below.
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