2023-24 Blades brought Saskatoon together

Fans came to SaskTel Centre in droves for playoff run

Fraser Minten gives a souvenir stick to a fan at a May 3 home game.

In an agonizing defeat, the Saskatoon Blades fans ensured their team got a thank you.

On May 7, the Blades faced the Moose Jaw Warriors in Game 7 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series and a campaign high crowd of 13,240 spectators poured into the SaskTel Centre. The teams would go to overtime locked in a 2-2 tie. It marked the sixth time the two sides went to overtime in what has been viewed as the greatest post-season series ever played in the history of the WHL.

Just 36 seconds into overtime, Warriors 17-year-old sophomore right-winger Lynden Lakovic drove down the right wing into the Saskatoon zone. From a bad angle, Lakovic backhanded the puck toward the Saskatoon net.

Warriors star overage right-winger Atley Calvert drove towards the Saskatoon net while being covered by Blades utility winger Tyler Parr. The puck from Lakovic’s backhand deflected off Parr’s skate into the Saskatoon net to deliver the Warriors to a 3-2 victory in the extra session.

Fans at the SaskTel Centre cheer on the Blades.

The Warriors went on to sweep the WHL Championship Series 4-0 over the Portland Winterhawks. Moose Jaw is currently playing in the Memorial Cup tournament in Saginaw, Michigan, that determines a CHL champion.

In the Game 7 encounter between the Warriors and Blades, Moose Jaw had a sizable contingent of supporters that filled five fan busses that made the jaunt to Saskatoon. When Lakovic’s OT winner went in, the Warriors fans in attendance broke into a joyful, cloud nine type of feeling celebration.

After the initial momentum of the celebration of the Warriors fans died down, the Blades supporters, who filled the vast majority of the building, showered down a salute to their heroes who were trying to process at that point what happened.

Following the traditional post-series handshakes, the Warriors were presented with the Eastern Conference championship trophy and departed the ice to the applause of their fans that gathered around their bench area.

Some of the signs Blades fans brought out at warmups.

Once the Warriors departed, the Blades did a sticks raised lap to salute their supporters in attendance and the fans returned their own heartwarming salute. Captain Trevor Wong, who had just played his final career WHL game, skated around giving applause to the fans and motioning to the chest that he took them to heart.

Some of the Blades players would linger on the ice for a lengthy stretch processing the end of their campaign before finally making their way to the team’s dressing room.

In the days that followed, fans were phoning into radio shows and commenting on various public forums that they were proud of the team. They were saying everyone with the team from players, coaches and management could hold their heads high for how they played in the post-season run and especially in the epic series clash with Moose Jaw.

The reaction was much different compared to post-season runs the Blades made in the early 1990s. When the Blades made the WHL Championship Series in 1992 and 1994 and lost both of those trips in seven games to the eventual Memorial Cup champion Kamloops Blazers, the fans were proud of those runs, but there was an undercutting undertone.

Trevor Wong salutes the SaskTel Centre crowd on May 7.

You would have fans phoning into sports call in shows, TV shows and sending feedback to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspaper that then general manager Daryl Lubiniecki was the lead weight that was holding the Blades back. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Lubiniecki was with the Blades full-time mainly as the general manager, and the team won about 60 per cent of its games and made numerous long runs in the WHL Playoffs.

The long runs didn’t result in any WHL titles or Memorial Cup championships. Back in those days, the general manager of the Blades in Saskatoon was usually treated like the general manager of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders as being hated by the fans, or at least the ones that were vocal and there were a lot of those.

If you run into Lubiniecki these days, he often makes jokes of the fact the fans wanted him to be fired when he was the Blades general manager. He adds in the present day everyone in Saskatoon loves him now, and he always gets a warm reception when he attends Blades games as a fan.

When Mike Priestner’s family bought the team before the start of the 2013-14 campaign, team management put an emphasis on attracting new fans and creating links to the community. That continued as the Blades were moved under the umbrella of the newly created Sask Entertainment Group with the Priestner family having purchased the NLL’s Saskatchewan Rush in May of 2021 and an expansion franchise in the Western Canadian Baseball League in March of 2023 that has become the Saskatoon Berries, who just embarked on their inaugural season.

Charlie Wright was reliable on the back end for the Blades.

The Blades faithfully kept up their school visits, visits to minor hockey teams as guest coaches and various other works in community outreach. That has resulted in the team drawing more new and younger fans with their long post-season runs the past two seasons, and those fans have fallen in love with the team.

In 2022-23, the Blades averaged 4,506 spectators per game over 34 home dates and 8,780 spectators per contest over 10 home post-season dates. 

During the 2023-24 campaign, the Blades averaged 5,166 spectators per game over 34 home dates and 9,332 spectators per contest over nine post-season home dates.

The Blades average attendance for the regular season was the highest it had been since the team drew an average of 6,040 spectators to 36 home dates during the 2012-13 campaign, when the club hosted the Memorial Cup tournament. The squad’s post-season average attendance figures are believed to be the best they have been since those runs in 1992 and 1994 to the WHL final, when capacity at the SaskTel Centre was configured for around 11,300 spectators for hockey games.

The new supporters carry their fandom in a more healthy way. They usually have busy lives and that includes families who have children working their way through minor hockey. For those members of the Blades faithful, jaunts to the SaskTel Centre for Blades games are a break from those lives.

Easton Armstrong became a Blades fan favourite in 2023-24.

For the young kids at the games, they see players like Wong, Egor Sidorov, Brandon Lisowsky, Fraser Minten, Easton Armstrong, Vaughn Watterodt, Alexander Suzdalev, Tanner Molendyk, Charlie Wright, Ben Saunderson John Babcock, Evan Gardner and Austin Elliott as their heroes. Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said it has been cool to drive to work in the mornings and see kids going to school wearing Blades jerseys and Blades gear.

Blades general manager Colin Priestner said he had fans coming up to him in the concourse during the Game 7 loss to the Warriors passing on thank you messages for the post-season run.

It should be noted the Blades do have a good block of legacy fans that follow the team through thick and thin. There are some legacy fans that base the happiness of their lives around the Blades winning or losing and do moan the fact that the team has never won a league title or a Memorial Cup since being formed in 1964. The grips on that front have faded more to the background.

Reminders that the Blades have never won a league title or a Memorial Cup come loudly from the fans of the club’s archrivals in the Prince Albert Raiders. Raiders fans ensure that those non-successes by the Blades are always remembered.

Egor Sidorov had 50 goals and 88 points in the 2023-24 regular season.

Still, the 2023-24 campaign was a special one for the Blades. They topped the WHL’s overall standings with a 50-13-2-3 record for 105 standings points. Saskatoon won 50 or more games in a regular season for just the third time in team history and hit 100 or more standings points for the sixth time since the franchise first hit the ice in 1964.

Wong led the Blades in regular season scoring with 101 points coming off 15 goals and 86 assists. Sidorov had a memorable campaign setting career highs in the regular season for goals (50), assists (38) and points (88).

Wong hitting 100 points and Sidorov collecting 50 goals marked the first time Blades players had realized those accomplishments since the 1995-96 campaign.

In the WHL Playoffs, the Blades took out the Raiders in five games in the first round and swept the Red Deer Rebels 4-0 in a WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Brandon Lisowsky has been a consistent point producer.

Tonnes of great memories were made.

Any sadness that came resulted from the realization that an end of an era likely had come for a core group of Blades players. 

Wong, Armstrong and Wright were in their 20-year-old seasons and have now exhausted their major junior eligibilities.

It is expected Minten, Sidorov, Lisowsky and Suzdalev will all be in the professional ranks next season. They all have NHL entry-level contracts and will be in their 20-year-old seasons. 

Molendyk could be back as a 19-year-old player, but there is a very real chance the Nashville Predators could elect to keep him in the NHL.

Wong, Sidorov and Lisowsky were basically one of the Blades forward lines for the last three straight seasons. It will be different not seeing them together on the ice together as a unit wearing the “Pac-Man” jerseys.

With all that in mind, there are lots of young child aged fans that attended games at the SaskTel Centre over the past two seasons that will remember watching this generation of Blades as a childhood highlight years from now.

The Blades celebrate an OT victory on May 3.

These were “smile because they happened” times in Saskatoon that brought a lot of much needed good feelings to the city in a world today when it seems there is lots to complain about in seemingly every walk of life.

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Blades had memorable 2023-24 campaign with bittersweet end

Members of the Blades dwell on the end of their season on May 7.

All involved with the Saskatoon Blades thought they would be preparing right now to play in the Memorial Cup tournament.

Instead of competing for a CHL championship, they are coming to the realization they had a spectacular campaign in 2023-24 that came to a heartbreaking end. The Blades topped the WHL’s overall standings with a 50-13-2-3 record for 105 standings points. Saskatoon won 50 or more games in a regular season for just the third time in team history and hit 100 or more standings points for the sixth time since the franchise first hit the ice in 1964, which was two seasons before the WHL was formed.

For large stretches of the campaign, the Blades top the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings and were rated sixth in the final edition of those ratings.

In the WHL Playoffs, the Blades downed their archrivals in the Prince Albert Raiders in five games in a first round series and swept the Red Deer Rebels in four games in an Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Blades proceeded to play in an epic Eastern Conference Championship Series against the Moose Jaw Warriors that went to seven games with six contests being decided in overtime. The six overtime games played in one seven game series is a WHL record.

Trevor Wong salutes the SaskTel Centre crowd on May 7.

The series deciding Game 7 of that set was played on Tuesday, May 7, before a campaign high crowd of 13,240 spectators at the SaskTel Centre. The Blades and Warriors went to overtime locked in a 2-2 tie. The contest had a devastating end for the host side.

Just 36 seconds into overtime, Warriors 17-year-old sophomore right-winger Lynden Lakovic drove down the right wing into the Saskatoon zone. From a bad angle, Lakovic backhanded the puck toward the Saskatoon net.

Warriors star overage right-winger Atley Calvert drove towards the Saskatoon net while being covered by Blades utility winger Tyler Parr. The puck from Lakovic’s backhand deflected off Parr’s skate into the Saskatoon net to deliver the Warriors to a 3-2 victory in the extra session.

The Warriors went on to sweep the WHL Championship Series 4-0 over the Portland Winterhawks. Moose Jaw begins playing at the Memorial Cup tournament in Saginaw, Michigan, taking on the OHL’s host Spirit on Friday at the DOW Event Centre (5:30 p.m. Saskatchewan time, TSN).

The Blades after losing what many consider was the best post-season series in the history of the WHL were left to wonder about what might have been.

Charlie Wright goes for a final lap at the SaskTel Centre on May 7.

Captain Trevor Wong, who exhausted is major junior eligibility with the Game 7 loss to the Warriors, came to the Blades in a trade with the Kelowna Rockets on September 28, 2021, which sent centre Colton Dach to the Rockets. Wong was thankful he got to be a member of the Blades for three full seasons and that owner and governor Mike Priestner and general manager and president Colin Priestner had been outstanding to him since his arrival in Saskatoon.

“It is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my hockey career so far,” said Wong, who led the Blades in regular season scoring with 101 points coming off 15 goals and 86 assists. “I can’t thank the organization in CP (Colin Priestner) and Mike (Priestner) and the coaching staff and teammates who brought me in when I was 18.

“I was pretty bummed out when I got traded to be honest not knowing much about Saskatoon and coming to the cold. Just being a Blade is everything to me and embracing the culture and what it means to truly be a Blade and not just on the ice but being a great person in the community and being a great teammate. The organization here wants to build great men and not just hockey players.

“I thought I have kind of embraced it. I’ve tried to put it throughout the boys and throughout the locker room to the younger guys.”

Easton Armstrong processes the end of his WHL career on May 7.

Along with Wong, dependable defenceman Charlie Wright and star left-winger Easton Armstrong also used up their major junior eligibility playing out the 2023-24 campaign as 20-year-olds. Wright was a career member of the Blades joining the squad on a full-time basis in his 16-year-old season. Armstrong was acquired in a trade with the Wenatchee Wild early in the 2023-24 campaign.

Colin Priestner was proud of work everyone with the franchise did for the team. He admits the conclusion of the campaign was bittersweet.

“The run we went on is something you dream of,” said Priestner. “It just ended in kind of a nightmare.

“To think of how close we got, and I still feel like we have the best team in the country I truly do. I feel like we deserved to win (in Game 7 versus the Moose Jaw Warriors). I feel like we were in an unbelievably great series with another great team.

“I feel like we outplayed them substantially (in Game 7) and out chanced them on a two-to-one ratio. For whatever reason, it goes off one of our player’s skates and in and that is it. The plug is just pulled so fast from the season.”

The Blades welcomed lots of new fans to the SaskTel Centre.

The Blades have been strong in each of the past two seasons. In the 2022-23 campaign, the Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 48-15-4-1 mark. In the WHL Playoffs, they won two series in seven games over Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats and the Rebels before being swept in the Eastern Conference Championship Series 4-0 by the Winnipeg Ice.

Saskatoon has drawn more new and younger fans with their runs the past two seasons. In 2022-23, the Blades averaged 4,506 spectators per game over 34 home dates and 8,780 spectators per contest over 10 home post-season dates. During the 2023-24 campaign, the Blades averaged 5,166 spectators per game over 34 home dates and 9,332 spectators per contest over nine post-season home dates.

Priestner said it has been amazing to a younger generation of fans who have fallen in love with the team come out to games and the people of Saskatoon and area get excited for the team. He was in awe seeing the 13,240 spectators that came out for their Game 7 campaign ending loss to the Warriors.

“You see there are 13,000 people there, and people were coming up to me in the concourse and saying thank you so much for this run,” said Priestner. “I just wish that I was able to deliver a championship to these people in this city, because everybody believed in us.

Egor Sidorov had 50 goals and 88 points in the 2023-24 regular season.

“We did everything we could to bring this city a championship, and they deserved it. They supported us like unbelievably.”

The Blades hit the ice with a number of stars that included import right-winger Egor Sidorov, left-winger Brandon Lisowsky, centre Fraser Minten, defenceman Tanner Molendyk and netminders Evan Gardner and Austin Elliott. Blades fans took a number of other players to heart who brought a high level effort to every game including forwards Vaughn Watterodt, Rowan Calvert, Lukas Hansen, Parr, Misha Volotovskii and William James along with defencemen Ben Saunderson, John Babcock, Grayden Siepmann, Nicholas Andrusiak and Morgan Tastad.

Sidorov, who played his third full season with the team, had a memorable campaign setting career highs in the regular season for goals (50), assists (38) and points (88).

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said the biggest thing for him that stood out for the 2023-24 squad was how tight the players were.

“They just care about each other,” said Sonne. “They love each other.

Fraser Minten was a big play performer for the Blades.

“They’re brothers. That is what produces the heart – the level of heart you see. The lack of quit.

“They just don’t stop, so that is probably the biggest thing.”

Sonne said it has been a joy to see the players truly enjoy becoming part of the community of Saskatoon and the surrounding area.

“I’m the hockey coach of a junior team, so the hockey side is obviously the main focus,” said Sonne. “But, me and our staff, ownership and management, our priority is helping young men grow into be great citizens, husbands, fathers and I will say this group, these 20-year-olds, the guys graduating from this program are like the best of the best citizens.

“They’re going to be the leaders of our society in the future.”

While the Blades wish they could have pulled out a victory in Game 7, Wong was pleased his squad went down fighting.

“I think as a team we’re very proud of ourselves,” said Wong. “Six games went to overtime in a seven game series.

The Blades react to their season coming to an end on May 7.

“It could have gone either way, and one bad bounce kind of our season is over just like that. We’re very proud of the way we pushed back and played the whole game. We’re very proud of what we accomplished this season.

“There are no heads hanging, because we are proud of ourselves.”

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Epic finish to epic series as Warriors take conference title

Lakovic morphs into “Mr. OT” for Moose Jaw

Lynden Lakovic, top left, reacts to scoring his OT winner.

Lynden Lakovic will be “Mr. OT” forever to the city of Moose Jaw.

On Tuesday night playing before a campaign high crowd of 13,240 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the 17-year-old sophomore right-winger gave what was arguably the greatest WHL post-season series ever played a fitting finish. In a series deciding Game 7 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series, Lakovic’s Moose Jaw Warriors went into overtime locked in a 2-2 tie with the host Saskatoon Blades.

That marked the sixth time both clubs went to overtime to decide a game in the series, which is a record for the WHL. Just 36 seconds into overtime, Lakovic drove down the right wing into the Saskatoon zone. From a bad angle, Lakovic backhanded the puck toward the Saskatoon net.

Warriors fans cheer their team’s OT winning goal.

Warriors star overage right-winger Atley Calvert drove towards the Saskatoon net while being covered by Blades utility winger Tyler Parr. The puck from Lakovic’s backhand deflected off Parr’s skate into the Saskatoon net to deliver the Warriors to a 3-2 victory in the extra session.

The Game 7 win on Tuesday allowed the Warriors to take the series 4-3 and capture their second Eastern Conference title in team history with the first coming back in 2006. When his latest overtime winner went in, Lakovic said it was a euphoric moment.

The Warriors celebrate their Game 7 OT win.

“It was just pure excitement,” said Lakovic. “I know you probably want like a cool celebration or something, but you can’t really just think of anything.

“So many things are going through your head. You just get so excited you just want to hug all the guys, because without them you wouldn’t be here. I do it for them.”

Lakovic also had the overtime winner in the Warriors 4-3 victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final at the Moose Jaw Events Centre in Moose Jaw on Sunday. He also had an extra time winner back on March 30 in a Warriors 5-4 victory over the Brandon Wheat Kings in Game 2 of an opening round series at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

The Warriors celebrate with players who were scratched and coaches.

Warriors captain Denton Mateychuk said it was cool that Lakovic has come through in multiple big moments in overtime.

“That is awesome,” said Mateychuk. “That is great to see.

“He has been here for a couple of years now. He came in as a young guy and kind of fit in right with our top nine pretty much. He has been a great player for us.

“He doesn’t shy away from those moments, which is great to see.”

With the Eastern Conference title win, the Warriors advance to face the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL Championship Series. The Winterhawks claimed the WHL’s Western Conference Championship Series in six games over the Prince George Cougars.

The Blades react to their Game 7 overtime loss.

Portland closed out the Western Conference final on Monday with a 2-1 victory over the Cougars in double overtime in Game 6 at the CN Centre in Prince George. Standout left-winger Josh Davies scored the winner at the 5:40 mark of the second extra session for the Winterhawks.

Game 1 of the WHL Championship Series is set for Friday at 7 p.m. local time at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

In Tuesday’s Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final, the Blades came firing out of the gates to the huge roars of the crowd holding a 7-1 edge in shots on goal over the first 6:39 of the opening frame. Warriors star netminder Jackson Unger stood tall, which included stopping a good backhand chance from Blades gritty left-winger Vaughn Watterodt at the right side of the Moose Jaw net.

The Blades and Warriors go through traditional post-series hand shakes.

The Warriors took the wind out of the home crowd’s sails with 6:25 remaining in the opening frame with a positive bounce goal. Warriors offensive-defenceman Kalem Parker took a shot from the point that was deflected by left-winger Ethan Semeniuk in front of the net.

Semeniuk’s deflection hit the right post of the Saskatoon goal, deflected off the back of the leg of Blades breakout rookie netminder Evan Gardner and went into the net. That tally gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead. The officials video reviewed that goal and concluded it was a goal.

Denton Mateychuk (#5) receives the Eastern Conference title trophy.

The Warriors finished the frame with a good surge of chances. When the first period ended, the Warriors held a 1-0 lead, while the Blades had a 9-7 edge on shots on goal.

The Warriors came with pressure to start the second holding a 5-2 edge in shots on goal in the first 10:15 of the frame. At that point, the Blades found another gear and outshot the Warriors 15-4 through the rest of the stanza.

With 7:38 remaining in the second, Blades standout overage left-winger Easton Armstrong roofed a backhand shot past Unger to even the score at 1-1. Armstrong’s goal brought the crowd at the SaskTel Centre back to life.

Warriors fans salute their team’s Eastern Conference title win.

Blades captain Trevor Wong thought his squad played a sound game despite coming up on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

“We played real well I thought,” said Wong, who exhausted his WHL eligibility with Tuesday’s loss. “It was a pretty complete game.

“I thought we took over in the O-zone a bunch of times. Moose Jaw, they’ll counter attack you quick if you make one mistake. We knew that, and it happened to us.

“We can’t think about that, because I thought we played a real good game.”

Lynden Lakovic has three OT winners in the 2024 WHL Playoffs.

The two sides started out playing cautiously in the third, which resulted in no shots on goal for the first 3:20 of the stanza. At that point, the pace picked up.

With 9:47 remaining in the third, the Warriors big stars came through in centre Brayden Yager and right-winger Jagger Firkus. Yager stole the puck behind the Saskatoon net from Blades 19-year-old defenceman Ben Saunderson.

After making the steal, Yager centred a pass to the front of the net to Firkus. Firkus buried his 12^th of the post-season to put the Warriors in front 2-1. The sizable contingent of Warriors fans in attendance roared their approval.

That tally would not hold up as the winner.

Easton Armstrong (#27) had the Blades first goal on Tuesday.

With 3:07 remaining in the third, Watterodt positioned himself midrange in front of the Moose Jaw net and blew home the equalizer to the top left corner of the goal that forced a 2-2 tie. The crowd at the SaskTel Centre exploded with their loudest cheers to that point in the campaign.

Wong said the Blades have been great at bouncing back this season when things have gone wrong.

“It was kind of all year,” said Wong. “We’re a resilient team.

“We knew we weren’t out of it when they scored that one. I thought we kind of carried the play most of it. It was huge for Vaughner (Watterodt) to step up there, but that is kind of how we were all year.

Trevor Wong played his final WHL game on Tuesday.

“Guys would step up like that in big moments. That was a huge goal. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done, but it just kind of shows the character that we have in that room just pushing back there.”

The Blades actually had the first chance to score in overtime. Shortly after the extra session started, Warriors star centre Matthew Savoie gave away the puck in his own zone to Blade star import right-winger Egor Sidorov.

Sidorov put a quick shot on goal that Unger had to make a smart glove save on. The Warriors would win the ensuing defensive zone faceoff and start the rush that resulted in Lakovic’s winner.

“I’m just really sad,” said Blades head coach Brennan Sonne. “We had a staff, a group, a team of players that just worked so hard to be in this position completely dedicated all in.

Fraser Minten breaks into the offensive zone for the Blades.

“I’m just really sad that the result didn’t go our way.”

Gardner turned away 22 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Unger stopped 37 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors.

Sonne believed his club came with a big effort on Tuesday.

“I thought we played really hard tonight,” said Sonne. “I thought we played really, really hard tonight.

“I thought we put ourselves in a good position. We left it all out there.”

Going into the Eastern Conference Championship Series, it was expected the Blades and Warriors would put on a battle, and the series greatly exceeded those expectations that were set at the outset.

Vaughn Watterodt celebrates his third period equalizer.

During the regular season, the Blades topped the WHL’s overall standings with a 50-13-2-3 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Warriors finished fifth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-21-0-3 mark.

The two sides split their six head-to-head encounters in the regular season without having to go to extra time. 

In the Eastern Conference final, the Warriors claimed the series 4-3 with six contests going to overtime. Each side won three contests in extra time.

Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary was proud of what his players were able to accomplish with the series win.

Blades fans cheer Vaughn Watterodt’s third period equalizer.

“I think it is such a tight group,” said O’Leary. “We said it all along they just don’t want to let each other down.

“Whether you give up a tough goal late there or you get scored on early like a couple of games ago. There is just nothing that fazes this group. They are just destined for big things, and we saw it here tonight.”

It is believed that only two other series in the WHL post-season have ever had five overtime finishes. 

Jackson Unger made 37 saves for the Warriors on Tuesday.

That included the 2008 Western Conference Championship Series that saw the Spokane Chiefs down the Tri-City Americans in seven games. The Chiefs would go on to with the WHL title and capture the Memorial Cup as CHL champions.

The first round series in 2013 between the Kelowna Rockets and the Seattle Thunderbirds also had five overtime games. The Rockets won that series in seven games after the Thunderbirds opened the set winning three straight overtime contests.

Lakovic said his team’s conference title series win over the Blades felt special.

“We made WHL history tonight I think with six of the seven games going to overtime,” said Lakovic. “It doesn’t get any closer than that.

The Warriors are pictured with the Eastern Conference title trophy.

“I think I said this last time (after Game 6) if these teams were to play 10 series I bet you there would be a different winner each time. I think this definitely did feel like a championship series.”

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Game 7- final chapter comes for epic Blades/Warriors series

WHL’s Eastern Conference title goes to winner

Charlie Wright could potentially play his last WHL game on Tuesday.

Charlie Wright is having a career WHL post-season, and now he is looking for one more big game to keep his WHL career alive.

The 20-year-old defenceman is a career member of the Saskatoon Blades and the longest tenured member of the team. The Blades selected Wright in the third round and 70^th overall in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft.

The Olds, Alta., product joined the Blades as a 16-year-old rookie in the 2019-20 campaign. In his time with the Blades, Wright played in 256 career regular season games recording 15 goals, 89 assists and plus-43 rating in the plus-minus department.

He has appeared in all of the Blades 15 games to date in the 2024 WHL Playoffs posting five goals, eight assists and a plus-10 rating.

On Tuesday, Wright’s Blades face the Moose Jaw Warriors in Game 7 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series. The winner takes the Eastern Conference title and advances to the WHL Championship Series, while the losing squad heads off into the off-season.

Wright is tightly attached emotionally to the Blades and is proud and honoured to be a member of Saskatoon’s major junior franchise.

“It has been awesome,” said Wright. “I’ve loved being with the Blades all five years.

“It has been a blessing. I love the city. I love the organization.

“I would say it is the best in the WHL. It is fantastic the way we are treated. I absolutely love it and don’t want it to end.”

Denton Mateychuk leads the WHL with 27 points in the playoffs.

Going into the Eastern Conference Championship Series, it was expected the Blades and Warriors would put on a battle, and the series has greatly exceeded those expectations that were set at the outset.

During the regular season, the Blades topped the WHL’s overall standings with a 50-13-2-3 record and were rated sixth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Warriors finished fifth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-21-0-3 mark.

The two sides split their six head-to-head encounters in the regular season without having to go to extra time.

In the Eastern Conference Championship Series, the two clubs split the first six encounters of the set with five of those contests going to overtime. The Blades have won three games in overtime, while the Warriors have won twice in extra time and once in regulation.

Wright believes it could be the deciding factor in the series that his squad hosts Game 7 at the SaskTel Centre. The Blades are potentially expecting their biggest crowd of the overall 2023-24 campaign.

“I think we earned it throughout the regular season,” said Wright. “It is definitely nice to have it at home and have our fans loud.”

Warriors captain and star offensive-defenceman Denton Mateychuk leads the WHL in post-season scoring with 27 points coming off eight goals and 19 assists to go with a plus-19 rating. Warriors star right-winger Jagger Firkus sits second in post-season scoring with 26 points coming off 11 goals and 15 assists to go with a plus-seven rating.

Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov leads the WHL post-season with 15 goals to go along with eight assists and a plus-nine rating.

Warriors veteran centre Brayden Schuurman said it is easy to get up for a game like Tuesday’s Game 7, because the Eastern Conference title and a berth in the WHL Championship Series is on the line.

Egor Sidorov leads the WHL with 15 goals in the playoffs.

“As a hockey player and as an athlete, that is really what you look forward to,” said Schuurman. “I think big Game 7s, big moments, win or lose, winner take all, I think that gets our group excited.

“I think we have a lot of big game players. I think we are really excited to get moving in this Game 7.”

Warriors 17-year-old sophomore right-winger Lynden Lakovic said his squad has to get out to a good start in Game 7 like they did in Game 6. In Game 6 on Sunday at the Moose Jaw Events Centre in Moose Jaw, the Warriors scored first, held 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission, and ultimately won 4-3 in overtime with Lakovic getting the winner.

Moose Jaw fell behind 3-2 in the third before Warriors veteran right-winger Rilen Kovacevic scored the equalizer that tied the game 3-3 and forced overtime.

The Blades have scored first in four out of the first six games in the series. Lakovic said those slow starts put his squad in a spot where they were chasing the game for a short time.

“We have to play a full 60,” said Lakovic. “I thought (in Game 6) we had a really good start, but I though this series I think their starts have been better.

“I think we have to have a start like (in Game 6) and just play a full 60, not give up or let up for 10 or 15 minutes or a period and just keep on going.”

Last year, the Blades won two Game 7s in the WHL Playoffs to advance to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series, where they fell in four games to the Winnipeg Ice. Blades head coach Brennan Sonne said he has unlimited faith in his guys going into Game 7.

Jagger Firkus has 26 points for the Warriors in the post-season.

“We’ve been here before,” said Sonne. “This group went to multiple Game 7s last year.

“For us, it is really just to focus on our competitive habits that would be the main thing. Anything can happen in Game 7. They’re wild, so really it is just about our compete and effort that is what our focus is.”

Both the Blades and Warriors have gotten big saves from their goaltenders in the post-season. Blades breakout rookie netminder Evan Gardner has posted a 10-3 record, a 2.29 goals against average, a .912 save percentage and one shutout. 

Warriors star goalie Jackson Unger has recorded an 11-3 record, a 3.22 goals against average and a .899 save percentage.

Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary said Tuesday’s Game 7 where a conference champion and a berth in the league final is decided are the types of games you want to be in.

“You can smell it,” said O’Leary. “It is right there.

“It is one game. There is nothing you need to say to try and get the players excited or energized for it. Both teams have played the same amount of games here throughout the playoffs.

“Everybody is tired. Everybody is sore. You just really need to bring your very best game for one game and lay it out there with the prize being the chance to play in the final. I think that is special, and this group deserves it.”

Wright said he is going to do everything he can to help his Blades pull out victory. With the way the series has gone, Wright has a suspicion that the series will be decided in one specific way.

“It probably is going to go into overtime looking at the other games here,” said Wright. “It is going to be exciting.

Blades D Tanner Molendyk (#24) battles Warriors RW Lynden Lakovic.

“It is a Game 7. They are always intense. It should be a good game.”

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Lakovic’s OT winner keeps Warriors alive against Blades

WHL’s Eastern Conference final goes to Game 7

Lynden Lakovic reacts to scoring the OT winner for the Warriors.

MOOSE JAW, Sask. - Lynden Lakovic kept the Moose Jaw Warriors and one of the greatest WHL post-season series of all-time alive.

On Sunday, the Warriors went into Game 6 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series facing elimination against the Saskatoon Blades. The Blades entered the contest leading the best-of-seven set 3-2. The Warriors went into contest backed by most of a vocal gathering of 4,582 spectators at the Moose Jaw Events Centre outside of a sizable following that was cheering for the Blades.

Living up to a fitting way with how the series has gone, Game 6 went to overtime with the two sides locked in a 3-3 tie. That marked the fifth in the series that overtime was needed to decide a game’s final outcome.

The Warriors and their fans mob OT hero Lynden Lakovic.

Lakovic’s moment came early in the extra session. Just 2:57 into the extra session, the 17-year-old sophomore right-winger had the deep in the right corner of the Saskatoon zone.

Facing a sharp shooting angle, Lakovic wired home the winning goal to the top right corner of the Saskatoon net short side on Blades breakout netminder Evan Gardner. Lakovic’s tally gave the Warriors a 4-3 win in the contest and allowed them to even the series 3-3.

Fittingly, the two sides are now forced to play a series deciding Game 7 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

Warriors fans cheer their team’s overtime winner.

“It just goes to show you what playoff hockey is all about,” said Lakovic. “It is back and forth.

“This is the fifth game that has gone to overtime. It shows anything can happen. In a game like that, you kind of just throw it on net and hope something happens, and tonight, it did.”

Lakovic had one other overtime winner in this post-season. That tally came back on March 30, when the Warriors downed the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-4 in Game 2 of an opening round series at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.

Lynden Lakovic has two OT winners in the 2024 post-season.

He said Sunday’s overtime winner against the Blades sits at the top in his career.

“It was probably the biggest one,” said Lakovic. “This happened to be my second (overtime) game winner these playoffs.

“This is definitely up there. You are not going to get another chance like this probably ever again. To come up clutch and do it not just for myself but the guys more importantly is huge.”

Blades 20-year-old defenceman Charlie Wright said he had it in the back of his mind that the series was destined to go to Game 7 with how competitive it has been. He said his teammates were doing their best to try and win the Eastern Conference title on Sunday, but a suspicion was there a Game 7 was going to happen.

Charlie Wright scored to give the Blades a third period lead.

“To be honest it did,” said Wright. “Obviously, we were hoping to end it tonight, but things happen.

“It did feel like it was destined to go seven.”

The Warriors got the quick jump in Sunday’s clash scoring 38 seconds into the first period. Warriors right-winger Rilen Kovacevic had the puck at the left corner of the Saskatoon zone and made a pass across the face of the Blades goal to veteran centre Brayden Schuurman at the right side of the net.

Schuurman tapped home his fifth of the post-season to give the Warriors a 1-0 edge. That lead didn’t last long.

Rilen Kovacevic had a goal and two assists for the Warriors.

Just 3:07 later, Blades star import right-winger Egor Sidorov circled in the Moose Jaw zone for a midrange shot from the front of the net. Sidorov wired home his league leading 15^th goal of the post-season to even the score at 1-1.

Warriors star centre Matthew Savoie had a great chance to put the Warriors back out in front, when he put a backhand shot to a seemingly open side of the Saskatoon net with about 5:03 remaining in the frame. Gardner made a stretching right pad save to stone the chance.

A short time later, Savoie tried put a shot home at the right side of the Saskatoon goal, but Gardner made a shoulder stop to deny the opportunity.

With 2:02 remaining in the first, Kovacevic entered the Saskatoon zone on a rush down the right wing and tried to put a pass across the ice to a linemate. 

Brayden Schuurman scored a pair of goals for the Warriors.

The pass was broken up by Wright, but Wright poked the puck right on to the stick of Schuurman. Schuurman blew home a shot from the front of the Saskatoon net to put the Warriors up 2-1 heading into the second intermission.

“To contribute to my team in any way is obviously good,” said Schuurman. “Getting them going early with a goal is obviously a really good feeling for our group and for me.”

The Blades came with a big push back in the second period holding a 13-8 edge in shots on goal for the frame.

With 4:14 remaining in the second, the Blades evened the score at 2-2 with a power-play goal from Rowan Calvert. During a mad scramble in front of the Moose Jaw net, Calvert potted home a loose puck for the equalizer and his third of the post-season.

Egor Sidorov had a goal and two assists for the Blades.

Blades head coach Brennan Sonne thought his squad was trending in a good direction as the game went on.

“It got better as we went I would say,” said Sonne, who squad finished first overall in the WHL’s regular season with a 50-13-2-3 mark. “I didn’t think it was there to start, but it got better as we went.”

At the three-minute mark of the third, the Blades took a 3-2 lead on a smart offensive pinch from Wright. Entering the Moose Jaw zone on an offensive rush, Blades captain Trevor Wong jetted down the left wing with the puck.

He passed the puck to the front of the net to Wright, who rushed in from his defensive position. Wright tapped home his fifth of the post-season to give the Blades their one-goal edge.

Rowan Calvert celebrates scoring an equalizer for the Blades.

The Warriors didn’t go away. With 9:04 remaining in the third, Kovacevic threw a shot from the right side boards that deflected off Wright and got past Gardner to even the score at 3-3. Reflecting on the sequence where he scored and the Warriors equalizer deflected in off him, Wright said he was just determined to keep grinding.

“I think everyone always hopes that when you are up it is going to hold,” said Wright. “They get a lucky one off my pants.

“I get one in one end, and it goes off me into our net. I think you just keep playing.”

Ultimately, the exchange of goals in the third set the stage for overtime.

Evan Gardner made 31 saves in goal for the Blades.

Early in overtime, Blades centre Lukas Hansen drove into the Moose Jaw zone down the right wing and he took a shot that deflected off Warriors offensive-defenceman Kalem Parker going to the Moose Jaw net, but Warriors star netminder Jackson Unger came up with the stop.

Lakovic would proceed to score his winner just over 50 second later.

“It was a fun game,” said Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary, whose squad finished fifth overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 44-21-0-3 mark. “I think it had everything that this series has had you know the momentum swings and goals on both sides.

“It is fun. I think our guys they’re playing hard. Maybe tonight wasn’t our most clean game.

Jackson Unger made 30 saves in goal for the Warriors.

“The last two I thought we played better games. When you are going to play seven games, you are going to have nights like this where last shot wins.”

Gardner turned away 31 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades. Unger stopped 30 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Warriors.

Sidorov had a pair of assists to go with his goal. Kovacevic had a pair of assist to go with his tally.

Now the focus for both club turns to Game 7. The Blades won two Game 7s last year to advance to the Eastern Conference Championship Series before falling to the Winnipeg Ice. Sonne believes the past experience will help his club.

“We’ve been here before,” said Sonne. “This group went to multiple Game 7s last year.

Denton Mateychuk controls the puck for the Warriors.

“For us, it is really just to focus on our competitive habits that would be the main thing.”

O’Leary believes having a Game 7 is ultimately the right way for the Eastern Conference Championship Series between the Blades and Warriors to conclude.

“I said this when it was 2-2 that if you told me it was going to be 2-2 I would have believed you,” said O’Leary. “You can say the same thing about 3-3.

“I just think that both teams played each other so well in the regular season. We bring out the best in each other I think. It is competitive.

The Warriors salute their fans after their OT win on Sunday.

“It just feels like the Western Hockey League. It is just good hockey, and why not play seven?”

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

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.