Sidorov snipes OT win for Blades against Tigers

Saskatoon downs Medicine Hat 4-3 for fourth straight victory

Egor Sidorov (#19) celebrates scoring the OT winner for the Blades.

Egor Sidorov has developed a knack for being in the right place at the right time for the Saskatoon Blades.

On Friday night at the SaskTel Centre, the import right-winger was having kind of a quiet night as his club took on the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers. In the third period, Sidorov started to put together consecutive dangerous offensive shifts as the two clubs went into overtime deadlocked at 3-3 in a WHL regular season clash.

At the 1:11 mark in the extra session, Sidorov was positioned in front of the Medicine Hat net, when he received a setup pass from Blades centre Jayden Wiens. Sidorov proceeded to dangle around a Tigers checker and sniped home a shot to the low left side of the Medicine Hat goal to deliver the host side to a 4-3 victory to the delight of 3,106 spectators.

Egor Sidorov leads the Blades with four game-winning goals.

The tally was Sidorov’s only goal of the contest, but it was his team leading fourth game winner of the season. While he missed 11 games due to injury, Sidorov, who stands 6-feet and weighs 180 pounds, is still one of the Blades top offensive threats.

He has at least one point in each of the eight games he has appeared in so far this season posting nine goals and nine assists to go with a plus-10 rating. The 18-year-old is following up on a solid rookie campaign in 2021-22 that saw him record 23 goals and 12 assists in 58 regular season games.

Since joining the Saskatoon side, Sidorov quickly became a fan favourite amongst the Blades faithful. The support has only increased as Sidorov decided to live in Saskatoon year round due to the political situation involving his home country of Belarus.

Egor Sidorov has 18 points in eight games for the Blades.

With Belarus supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, Sidorov is in a situation where he doesn’t know when he will ever return home. Sidorov had been with the Blades for six months when Russia started its invasion of Ukraine this past February.

Sidorov and the Blades organization know that the skilled forward runs the risk of not being able to return to Canada, if he does return home to Belarus. As a result, Sidorov’s billet family and the Blades team have become a much closer extended family.

When Sidorov is on the ice, it feels like all the worries outside the team environment go away. He wears his heart and enthusiasm for the game on his sleeve. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Sidorov has the most fun on the ice in pretty much every game he plays.

Jayden Wiens had an assist on the Blades OT winner.

Friday’s encounter with the Tigers ended up being one of those fun back-and-forth games that was made for television.

The teams played through a feeling out style and tight checking first period with the Blades holding a 7-6 edge in shots on goal. Right-winger Brendan Lee had a good early chance to score for the Tigers, but his close in shot was turned away by a pad stop from Blades netminder Ethan Chadwick.

The Blades had their best chance to score inside the final minute of the first 20 minutes. While working the power play, Sidorov got the puck at the right boards, cut to the front of the net and fired a shot through a screen that was turned away by Tigers netminder Beckett Langkow.

Brendan Lee had a goal and an assist for the Tigers.

That late first period power play came due to the fact Tigers right-winger Brayden Boehm received a double minor for slew-footing. That infraction will trigger an automatic review for a possible suspension by the WHL office.

Business picked up offensively in the second.

The Tigers broke through at the 6:11 mark of the frame on an offensive zone rush. After entering the Saskatoon zone, Lee chip passed the puck past the Blades defence putting linemate Andrew Basha in the clear. Basha quickly buried his sixth of the season to put the visitors up 1-0.

Just 41 seconds later, the Blades evened the score at 1-1, when right-winger Vaughn Watterodt fired home a shot through a maze of players for his fourth goal of the season.

Blades RW Vaughn Watterodt, left, and Tigers RW Dallon Melin jockey.

At the 10-minute mark of the second, the Blades went ahead 2-1 on a great effort by Mikhail Volotovskii. Volotovskii got into the Medicine Hat zone on a partial break. The sophomore 17-year-old centre fended off Boehm and fired home to the top right corner of the Medicine Hat net to give the hosts a one-goal edge.

Just 10 second after that goal, Blades left-winger Justin Lies and Tigers defenceman Rhett Parsons engaged in a short fight. Both players threw about two punches at each other before falling to the ice.

Andrew Basha scored the Tigers first goal on Friday.

They were each given fighting majors and kind of surprising game misconducts. In that situation, that was a signal by the officials to both teams they weren’t going to tolerate any scraps that night.

With 2:18 remaining in the second, the Tigers were able to even the score at 2-2 thanks to a positive bounce play. Medicine Hat centre Tyler Mackenzie took a stride over his own blue-line and shot the puck into the Saskatoon zone.

The puck deflected off the boards behind the Saskatoon net out to Boehm, who was positioned in front of the Blades net after rushing into the offensive zone. Boehm quickly wired his eighth goal of the season past a handcuffed Chadwick to put the visitors on even terms.

Brandon Lisowsky had a goal and an assist for the Blades.

At the 1:27 mark of the third, the Blades went back in front 3-2 scoring on the power play as star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky one-time home a setup pass form linemate Trevor Wong.

The Tigers didn’t go away. Just 2:29 later, the visitors scored on the power play to even the score 3-3, when Lee one-timed home a setup pass from 17-year-old centre Oasiz Wiesblatt.

That set the stage for Sidorov to come through with his winner in overtime.

Chadwick made 16 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Blades, who improved to 15-4 with a fourth straight victory. Langkow turned away 21 shots to take the extra setback in net for the Tigers, whose record moved to 6-9-4-1.

Ethan Chadwick makes a glove save for the Blades.

Lisowsky had an assist to go along with his goal for a two-point night.

The Tigers return to action on Saturday when they travel to Prince Albert to take on the 7-12-2 Raiders (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

The Blades are off until next Friday, when they host the Winnipeg Ice (7 p.m., SaskTel Centre).

While the contest against the powerhouse Ice will be the Blades biggest challenge of the season, you can expect Sidorov will take that as another opportunity to get out on the ice and have fun soaking in the game he loves. His positive outlook helps give great levity to pressure packed situations during games.

The Blades celebrate their OT win on Friday.

If Sidorov keeps piling up the points, you have to believe NHL scouts are going to come calling. If Sidorov ends up with an NHL club, it would be an ultimate feel good moment.

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’ Wiesblatt sinks Raiders with first career WHL hat trick

Medicine Hat halts four-game skid with 6-4 win

Oasiz Wiesblatt (#7) reacts to scoring his hat trick goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Oasiz Wiesblatt had his best WHL outing to date in the rink his older brother has had numerous big games in.

On Saturday night, the 17-year-old left-winger scored his first career hat trick in the major junior ranks to power his Medicine Hat Tigers to a 6-4 regular season victory over the host Prince Albert Raiders before 2,155 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre.

With the Tigers and Raiders locked in a 4-4 tie after 40 minutes, Wiesblatt scored his second of the night on a perfectly executed two-on-on break to put the visitors in front 5-4.

Oasiz Wiesblatt scored his first career WHL hat trick on Saturday.

Tigers 19-year-old right-winger Brendan Lee broke down the left wing of the Prince Albert zone on the two-on-rush and fed a pass across the front of the Raiders net to Wiesblatt. Wiesblatt quickly converted that pass knocking home a goal past a sprawling Raiders import netminder Tikhon Chaika to give the Tigers a one-goal edge at the 3:33 mark of the third.

The Raiders responded by pressing hard for the equalizer, but Wiesblatt sealed the win for the Tigers scoring his hat trick goal into an empty net with 1:31 remaining in the third to round out the 6-4 final.

The win allowed the Tigers, who are having a rare rebuilding campaign and sit last overall in the WHL, to end a four game losing streak and improve to 8-25-3-1. One night earlier, the Tigers dropped a 9-2 decision to the Blades in Saskatoon.

The Tigers celebrate Oasiz Wiesblatt’s first goal on Saturday.

The Raiders fell to 15-21-1-1 having lost their third in a row.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said the outcome of Saturday’s clash with the Tigers was disappointing for his side.

“Obviously, we played a team below us in the standings, and we are fighting for points when we can get them,” said Habscheid. “Give credit to them.

“You can tell they lost 9-2 the other night, because they came in with a purpose. They were hungry. They were more hungry than us early for sure.

“We missed some assignments on some goals. Some goals went in that I didn’t like, and we let the score go.”

Wiesblatt seemed focus on having a good night in the rink his older brother Ozzy calls home. Ozzy is a star 19-year-old centre for the Raiders, who helped them win a WHL championship in 2019.

Evan Herman had two goals and an assist for the Raiders.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, Ozzy missed third straight contest after being injured in Prince Albert’s 7-3 victory over the Rebel in Red Deer this past Monday. He was injured in the second period of that contest after being on the receiving end of a rough hit from Rebels defenceman Christoffer Sedoff.

Sedoff was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct on the play and later received a one-game suspension from the WHL office.

As for Oasiz Wiesblatt, he turned heads early on Saturday scoring a goal on a sick looking play to give the Tigers a 1-0 edge at the 11:58 mark of the first period.

With the Tigers working in the offensive zone, center Noah Danielson made a smart pass to Wiesblatt to get him in alone coming up the right side of the Prince Albert goal.

Brendan Lee had a goal and an assist for the Tigers.

Wiesblatt went forehand to backhand and put a home a backhanded shot flying thru the air after getting upended by Raiders veteran star defenceman Nolan Allan.

The Raiders proceeded to even things up at 1-1 just under four minutes later when centre Evan Herman roofed home a power-play goal from the left wall.

The two sides went full out playing firewagon 1980s style hockey in the second period.

Lee scored at the 4:03 mark to put the Tigers up 2-1. Just 18 seconds after that tally, Herman netted his second of the contest to even the score at 2-2.

Raiders left-winger Zachary Wilson put the host side up 3-2 at the 6:04 mark of the second, and Tigers 19-year-old centre Noah Danielson evened things up at 3-3 at the 11:03 mark.

Zachary Wilson scored for the Raiders on Saturday.

With 3:06 remaining in the second, Raiders centre Harrison Lodewyk stole the puck from a Tigers defenceman and scored to put the Raiders up 4-3 with a shot close in at the left side of the Medicine Hat goal.

Tigers Russian import defenceman Gleb Ivanov tallied with a point shot to even the contest at 4-4 heading into the second intermission.

Habscheid thought his team played a little too loose over large stretches of Saturday’s outing.

“We just played (crappy) for a lot of the game,” said Habscheid. “Our structure, I don’t know what out structure was, because there wasn’t much of it.

Members of the Raiders and Tigers engage in a scrum.

“We cheated on the game early. That was disappointing, because we talked about that this morning. We talked about the trap (game) and about looking past and all those things.

“We just cheated the game at home, and we paid for it.”

Following the goal gusher in the second, the stage was set for Wiesblatt to score twice in the third to give the Tigers their second win in three meetings with the Raiders this season.

Herman said the equalizer the Tigers scored late in the second and Wiesblatt’s go-ahead tally early in the third tilted the contest in favour of the visitors.

“The game is about ups and downs,” said Herman, who had an assist to go along with his two goals. “We have to stay as level headed as we can throughout the whole game, and ultimately at the end find a way to end.

Carson Latimer fires a shot on goal for the Raiders.

“Good teams find ways to win. Our culture here is a winning culture. That is what the Raiders are.

“We really look to protect that. We look to do that every night.”

Chaika turned away 21-of-26 shot to take the setback in net for the Raiders. Garin Bjorklund stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers.

The Raiders return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Regina to face the Pats (7 p.m., Brandt Centre).

The Tigers also get back at it on Tuesday when they host the Saskatoon Blades (7 p.m. local time, Co-op Place).

Going forward, Herman said Saturday’s setback should serve as a reminder for his Raiders that they can’t take team in the WHL lightly.

The Tigers celebrate their victory on Saturday.

“We have to be ready to play every night,” said Herman. “This is a good league.

“There are no bad teams in this league. I think next time we need to just be ready.”

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Blades positive bounce from De La Gorgendiere does in Raiders

The Blades celebrate Aidan De La Gorgendiere’s winning goal.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – When it came down to puck luck, the last positive bounce belonged to the Saskatoon Blades.

On Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Blades found themselves locked in a 2-2 draw with the host Prince Albert Raiders late in the third period of a WHL regular season contest.

With 3:21 remaining in the third, the Blades went ahead 3-2, when captain Aidan De La Gorgendiere slipped home a point shot through a screen into the Prince Albert goal. The puck hit a body in front of the net and took a positive Saskatoon bounce off the ice before finding its way past Raiders netminder Tikhon Chaika.

Aidan De La Gorgendiere came through for the Blades.

That tally stood up as the winner giving the Blades their first win this season against their arch-rivals in three tries.

“I thought we were OK,” said Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, whose team had posted two straight wins leading into Friday’s game. “I thought a lot of times we wanted to make plays we shouldn’t have.

“We wanted to make hard plays instead of easy plays. Sometimes that comes with feeling a little bit overconfident. We weren’t efficient I didn’t think.

“Like I said, we were OK, but on the other side, you could see some pucks just went off the end of our sticks or instead of going that way they went that way. It wasn’t an easy night, and how you get through that is by making the right plays. When we didn’t, it kind of bounced around and ended up in our net.”

Reece Vitelli scored for the Raiders in the third period.

The Raiders came out of the gate with good jump. They went ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal at the 6:59 mark of the first period, when left-winger Sloan Stanick fired home a rebound from his own shot close in on the Saskatoon goal.

Just when it seemed the Raiders were carrying all the momentum, the Blades turned things around at the 9:35 mark of the opening frame when right-winger Brendan Lee fired home a mid-range shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal to even the score at 1-1.

The visitors went ahead 2-1 just under two minutes later when Blades centre Trevor Wong blasted home another mid-range shot from the front of the Prince Albert goal. Wong’s tally was nearly identical to Lee’s goal.

At the 15:49 mark of the first, Stanick received a double minor for high sticking, which will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

Sloan Stanick scored the Raiders first goal on Friday.

The double minor was part of three straight power plays the Blades had to end the opening 20 minutes, and they were unable to score on any of those opportunities.  The Raiders actually held a 14-9 edge in shots on goal in the opening frame.

In the second period, Blades star goalie Nolan Maier came up with some big stops.

He turned away right-winger Tyson Laventure on a wraparound early in the frame.

At around the 7:30 mark, Maier stopped Raiders star centre Ozzy Wiesblatt on a wraparound. Wiesblatt and the Raiders thought at first he scored on the play, but the officials on the ice ruled no goal.

The next stoppage came with 11:01 remaining in the frame, and the officials went to a video review to check out the Wiesblatt chance. 

Ozzy Wiesblatt thought he scored on a wraparound.

The video evidence upheld the call on the ice as Maier trapped the puck on the goal-line.

“There were some things we didn’t do efficiently, and that was kind of the key word tonight,” said Habscheid. “We weren’t as efficient as we were maybe against a team like Winnipeg.

“We weren’t happy making the easy play. We wanted to look for that harder play. That is good, because that means you are confident, but sometimes in the game of hockey, it is hard enough.

“When you have a chance to make an easy play you need to make it. You always take what is given, and I didn’t think we did a real good job of that tonight.”

Maier proceeded to make a couple of big stops after Blades giveaways in their own zone.

Nolan Maier made 31 saves for the Blades on Friday.

The Yorkton, Sask., product then made a sweet glove stop on Raiders overage defenceman Remy Aquilon.

Late in the second, Stanick was sprung on a breakaway into the Saskatoon zone. He made a deke on Maier and had an open net on a backhand chance only for the puck to roll off his stick.

“We definitely had good chances in the game,” said Raiders captain Reece Vitelli. “It didn’t go our way tonight for some of them.

“Obviously, we would like to have those goals. Bounces will happen during a hockey game. We just have to go out try harder tomorrow and have a full 60 and have a good last game here.”

The Raiders evened the score 2-2 with a power-play goal at the 3:55 mark of the third. Vitelli deflected home a point shot from Wiesblatt for the equalizer.

Brendan Lee scored the Blades first goal on Friday.

That set the stage for De La Gorgendiere to come through with his winner.

Even after the Blades went ahead 3-2, the Raiders had a glorious chance to net the equalizer in the final seconds of the third. In the dying seconds of the third, Raiders right winger Carson Latimer found himself alone on Maier close in on the left side of the Saskatoon goal.

Maier came up with a big stop to preserve victory for the Blades.

Vitelli said it was tough to fall due to De La Gorgendiere’s positive bounce goal.

“We worked so hard there,” said Vitelli. “We came back there and tied it up.

“To have a goal like that, it sucks obviously. It cost us the game. Bounces happen in a hockey game, and we just have to come out stronger tomorrow.”

The Blades celebrate their win on Friday.

Chaika stopped turned away 25 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders (11-14-1-1). Nolan Maier stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in net for the Blades (15-12-1).

The two sides go at it again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre in what will be the Blades Teddy Bear Toss game. Following that contest, both squads depart on their respective Christmas breaks.

Vitelli said Friday’s loss makes it easy to focus on Saturday’s contest in Saskatoon.

“Definitely playing Saskatoon is always fun,” said Vitelli. “Going into their building should be good.

“That is where our focus is right now and worrying about tomorrow.”

Prince Albert reassigns Serhyenko

Carter Serhyenko in action for the Raiders on November 5.

The Prince Albert Raiders cleared up a crowded crease.

On Friday, the Raiders reassigned 19-year-old netminder Carter Serhyenko to a junior A team that is still to be determined. The Saskatoon product, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 198 pounds, appeared in 17 games this season for the Raiders posting a 6-10-1 record, a 3.55 goals against average and a .881 save percentage.

Serhyenko had been with the Raiders since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. Overall, he appeared in 42 regular season games posting a 15-20-5 record, a 3.20 goals against average and a .887 save percentage.

Last Saturday, the Raiders acquired 19-year-old goaltender Cole Tisdale, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 170 pounds, from the Tri-City American in exchange for a seventh round selection in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft.

With Serhyenko’s reassignment, the Raiders are down to two goalies on their active roster in Tisdale and rookie 18-year-old Belarusian import Tikhon Chaika.

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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