Fan reaction over the top on Blades two biggest media hits in 2017-18 WHL season

The Blades celebrate a goal on March 17.

    When the dust settled from the 2017-18 WHL season, it felt like a loud group of fans really went off the rails reacting to the plight of the Saskatoon Blades.

    If you play, coach and manage in the WHL, you know you will deal with fan criticism at some point. The same goes for those in the media that cover the league.

    Due to how much the mainstream media in Canada has been cut, teams like the Blades aren’t covered on an everyday basis like they once were. If the team has a big news hit that attracts most to almost all the community’s media both mainstream and non-mainstream, it seems like fans pay attention to those hits more than usual due to the fact they are receiving the same information from seemingly numerous sources.

    There were two hits last season the fans seemed to be caught up on judging by the reaction on social media and radio call in lines. The first was the action that occurred on the personnel front the two days before and the day of the WHL’s Jan. 10 trade deadline. 

    The second hit came when Dean Brockman was relieved of his duties as head coach on March 18, which occurred the day after the Blades played their final regular season game where they downed the Prince Albert Raiders 5-4 at the SaskTel Centre.

Winger Josh Paterson emerged as a key scorer last season.

    The Blades posted a 35-33-3-1 regular season record, but still missed making the post-season for the fifth straight campaign. The sting was compounded by the fact the Blades had the seventh most posts in the WHL’s 12 team Eastern Conference, which meant two clubs with weaker records than Saskatoon’s made the playoffs.

    The Blades finished three points back of the Prince Albert Raiders (32-27-9-4) for the second wildcard berth in the conference.

    With the Blades having missed the post-season again, it seemed a sizable group of fans took what happened at the trade deadline and Brockman’s departure in directions that were not intended. The uproar was a bit startling, because Blades fans had seemed to be more on the quiet side in recent years.

    First let’s review what happened shortly before the WHL trade deadline passed.

    On Jan. 8, Saskatoon sent Libor Hajek, who is a 19-year-old import Czech defenceman and had a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, to the Regina Pats in exchange for 19-year-old defenceman Dawson Davidson, 16-year-old forward prospect Tristen Robins and a first round selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.

Max Gerlach was an important trade pick up for the Blades.

    On Jan. 10, the Blades and the Pats combined for another blockbuster. The Blades sent overage star centre and local product Cameron Hebig and 19-year-old goaltender Ryan Kubic to the Pats in exchange for overage star netminder Tyler Brown, 17-year-old right-winger Bryan Lockner, a first and a second round selection in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft, a third round selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft and a third round selection in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft.

    The Blades proceeded to deal Lockner, a first round selection in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft and a second round selection in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft to the Medicine Hat Tigers in exchange for 19-year-old star centre Max Gerlach.

    Before deadline passed on Jan. 10, the Blades made one more deal acquiring centre Eric Florchuk, who was in his 17-year-old season, from the Victoria Royals for a first round selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft, a first round selection in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft and a fourth round selection in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft that was originally obtained from the Brandon Wheat Kings in an earlier deal. 

Blades C Eric Florchuk (#17) works his way through the Raiders.

    Florchuk was originally selected by the Royals in the first round and 13^th overall in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft.

    In that flurry of action, it seemed fans got caught up on the names of Hebig and Hajek and didn’t hear anything else that happened. It was interpreted that the Blades were throwing a grenade at their roster and giving up on the season playing out of an extremely tough East Division by dumping their two best players.

    The truth was they worked the roster in a way that they were still able to compete for a playoff berth that season and gained assets to help in the future. Saskatoon posted a 20-19-2-1 record in the 42 games played before those trades and a 15-14-1 mark in the 30 games that came after those deals.

    When all of the WHL games on Feb. 19 had wrapped up, the Blades were 31-27-2-1 and had an eight point lead over the Prince Albert Raiders for the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. The Blades were two points behind the Brandon Wheat Kings for the first wildcard position.

Goalie Nolan Maier makes a glove stop for the Blades last season.

    Over their final 11 games, the Blades posted a 4-6-1 mark to fall out of the playoff picture.

    The Blades still had a roster that could compete with the rest of the teams in the East Division, and they compiled an 18-17-2-1 mark against their East Division rivals.

    When the Blades released Brockman at the end of the season, it felt like some of the heat thrown the way of Blades general manager Colin Priestner went way over the top. I remember viewing a number of comments sent his way via the public social media platform of Twitter addressed to his Twitter handle that made me feel uncomfortable.

    It almost felt like he might just get jumped in the street or physically harmed in some way, and that is taking things too far.

    I thought it was fair comment for fans to say they thought missing the playoffs was less Brockman’s fault than Priestner’s fault, because Brockman has a lengthy hockey background and Priestner has a much smaller one in comparison.

Fans took the release of Dean Brockman as Blades head coach hard.

    A number of the vocal fans took issue with the fact that Priestner holds the general manager’s role on a club that is owned by his father, Mike Priestner. I would say that is a fair comment, because Colin would have had trouble landing a general manager position with any other WHL team, because he only had three seasons of front office experience under his belt when he became the Blades general manager.

    The scenario of people grinding an axe due to a family member getting a high ranking position because another family member is the manager or owner is something that has come up frequently over the course of time in the work place.

    Still, there were times the criticism of Colin on that front went from fair comment to being beyond personal on that front which isn’t right.

    For me, the separation between Priestner and Brockman felt like more of a situation where the two sides determined they couldn’t work together anymore, which is something that often happens in sports.

    Priestner has made good moves and played a hand in bringing netminder Nolan Maier, forwards Kirby Dach, Chase Wouters and Josh Paterson and defencemen Jackson Caller and Jake Kustra to the Blades. They are all quality players, and it would not be a surprise if the Blades had a strong season in 2018-19.

Blades GM Colin Priestner took heat from fans.

    When it came to delivering the information on those two big media hits, the Blades communications staff did an admirable job of relaying the information to the local area media, and the local area media did a great job of delivering the information about what was going on with the team to the public.

    No one can control how some fans will take that information. It also has to be viewed as a good thing in one respect fans can still be really passionate about the team.

    Hopefully, some in the loud vocal group of fans will learn to maybe take deep breaths before reacting on big developments with Saskatoon’s WHL squad. At the end of the day, the Blades are only playing a 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.

WHL’s East Division is the “Group of Death” in 2017-18

Warriors C Justin Almeida (#8) rushes against Raiders D Zack Hayes.

    You might heap criticism on the WHL’s playoff format, but you can’t deny spectators have witnessed some outstanding hockey when the six members of the WHL’s East Division have gone head-to-head in 2017-18.

    In World Cup soccer terms, the East Division comprised of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and Swift Current Broncos became the circuit’s “Group of Death.” When the regular season concluded, all six of these clubs finished in the top seven of the 12 team Eastern Conference based on standings points.

Kale Clague had four assists for the Warriors in their Game 7 win.

    If any of these clubs were in any of the circuit’s other three divisions, they would likely have an easier path when it came to advancing and attempting to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions. Instead, these clubs have been forced to battle tooth and nail against each other to make the post-season and advance.

    While it is unfortunate, the WHL’s playoff structure isn’t set up in a way that allows the potential for more East Division teams to be alive in later rounds. As a result, the drama that has been created among their clashes has been intriguing.

    The first club to be unduly shoved to the off-season in the “Group of Death” was the Blades, who posted a 35-33-3-1 record to finish with the seventh most points in the 12-team Eastern Conference.

Curtis Miske had a big playoffs for the Raiders.

    Due to their sixth place finish in the East Division, the Blades weren’t able to earn one of the two wildcard berths in the conference.

    They watched two clubs that finished with fewer standings points from the Eastern Conference’s Central Division in the Red Deer Rebels (27-32-10-3) and Lethbridge Hurricanes (33-33-6) go head-to-head for a berth in the second round, which was claimed by the Hurricanes in five games.

    Under the league’s hybrid format where you basically play through your division in playoffs, four clubs from the East Division were forced to go head-to-head in best-of-seven first round series. The Moose Jaw Warriors, who finished first overall in the WHL with a 52-15-2-3 record, took on the Prince Albert Raiders (32-27-9-4). The Swift Current Broncos, who finished second overall in the WHL with a 48-17-5-2 mark, faced the Memorial Cup hosting Regina Pats (40-25-6-1).

    Both of those series were ultimately decided in Game 7. The Warriors took out the Raiders 5-4 in a Game 7 on Tuesday in Moose Jaw. The Broncos downed the Pats 3-2 in a Game 7 on Monday in Swift Current.

    Those Game 7s will go down as all-time WHL playoff classics.

Brayden Burke netted the series winner for the Warriors.

    The series between the Warriors and Raiders was definitely the WHL at its best. Out of those seven games, four of them were decided by a single goal including two contests in overtime. The Raiders showed tremendous battle even when they fell behind in the series 3-1 before they managed to even the series up at 3-3.

    Overagers in captain Curtis Miske and Jordy Stallard had outstanding series. Miske topped the Raiders in playoff scoring with three goals and seven assists, while Stallard was second in team playoff scoring with three goals and five assists.

    Sophomore winger Cole Fonstad was the Raiders most noticeable forward collecting four goals, an assist and a plus-two rating in the set.

    The series had many turning points including a missed penalty shot by Miske in the third period of Game 7. With the teams tied 4-4 late in the third period of Game 7, a power-play snipe by winger Brayden Burke with 3:50 to play in the frame before 4,702 spectators at Mosaic Place delivered the Warriors to a 5-4 victory.

    Burke had a pair of assists to go with his goal in the deciding game and played arguably the best hockey of his WHL career in the series. The overager piled up six goals, eight assists and a plus-six rating over the seven games.

Glenn Gawdin scored the series winner for the Broncos.

    Star defenceman Kale Clague, who had been quiet on the offensive front, came through big for the Warriors in Games 7 with four assists to finish with a goal and six assists for the series.

    In Prince Albert, the Raiders battle helped renew enthusiasm for the team. With Curtis Hunt as general manager, Marc Habscheid as head coach, Dave Manson as associate coach and a good crop of potential returnees, the Raiders have a bright future.

    For the Warriors under head coach Tim Hunter, they became that much more battle tough as they move forward in the post-season. Throughout the campaign, the Moose Jaw side has shown a great maturity in staying even emotionally and professional. Those characteristics will aid the Warriors going forward.

Cameron Hebig had a strong series for the Pats against the Broncos.

    The Broncos and Pats also played through an intense series. The fans on both sides still had last year’s second round playoff encounter on their minds, where the Pats rallied from a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in team history to pull out a 4-3 series win.

    After Game 2, this year’s series between the two clubs provided some big swings as far as the scoreboard was concerned. The Broncos claimed Game 3 by a 4-1 margin, and the Pats rebounded with a 6-3 victory in Game 4.

    In Game 5, the Broncos bounced back with a 5-2 victory only to see the Pats claim Game 6 by a 7-2 score to force the series to a Game 7.

    Before a sellout crowd of 2,890 spectators at the Credit Union i-Plex, the two sides played through an intense barnburner. Overage winger Cameron Hebig scored first for the Pats to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 6:07 mark of the first period.

Stuart Skinner made 36 saves in the Broncos win in Game 7.

    The Broncos responded with three straight goals to go up 3-1, and their big line of captain Glenn Gawdin, Tyler Steenbergen and Aleksi Heponiemi combined to net two of those tallies. Steenbergen tied the game at 1-1 at the 11:14 mark of the first, while Gawdin put the Broncos up 3-1 at the 13:37 mark of the second. Gawdin completed a beauty passing play for his tally.

    Max Patterson tallied at the 7:45 mark of the second to round out Swift Current’s surge.

    Just when the Pats seemed to be in trouble, energetic forward Robbie Holmes scored with 4:08 to play in the second period to cut the Broncos lead to 3-2. The Pats came hard trying to find the equalizer in the third outshooting the Broncos 14-4 in the frame.

    Netminder Stuart Skinner made 36 saves to allow the Broncos to hold off the Pats and preserve the win.

Ty Lewis and the Wheat Kings eliminated the Medicine Hat Tigers.

    Now, the Warriors and Broncos will go at it in a best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference semifinal series, which begins with Game 1 on Friday at 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place in Moose Jaw. While the playoffs should have been structured to have these clubs meet in a conference championship series, you can expect them to put on another must watch series that will be intriguing.

    The Wheat Kings did their part to hold up the East Division’s tough reputation taking out the Central Division champion Medicine Hat Tigers, who were 36-28-8 in the regular season, in a best-of-seven first round series 4-2. Brandon travels to Lethbridge to begin the other best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series at 7 p.m. local time at the Enmax Centre.

The Blades were the team out of the playoff picture in the “Group of Death.”

    While some observers will take shots at the Wheat Kings, who were 40-27-3-2 in the regular season, for settling into the Eastern Conference’s first wildcard spot to get an easier road to the conference championship series, they still had to win their series against the Tigers to add further proof of just how tough the East Division is this season.

    The “Group of Death” has delivered big value for the entertainment dollar in this WHL post-season and another interesting chapter is on tap when the Warriors and Broncos collide.

    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.

Brain cramps do in Blades, Pats cash in with 7-3 win

Sam Steel (#23) and Evan Fiala (#47) were part of Wednesday’s drama.

    The Saskatoon Blades need to play just a little bit smarter.

    For one of the few times this season, the Blades hurt themselves with unforced errors that piled up. The errors prevented “the Bridge City Bunch” from having a chance to have any success against the Regina Pats on Wednesday night at the Brandt Centre.

    The Pats, who are hosting the Memorial Cup in May, cashed in on the Blades mistakes to the tune of a convincing 7-3 victory before 5,454 spectators.

    The bulk of the problems for the Blades came in the second after Pats winger Nick Henry scored at the 4:43 mark of the frame to give the host side a 3-1 edge.

    Shortly after that goal, Blades 18-year-old defenceman Jake Kustra took a tripping penalty by hacking down one of the Pats players along the boards. It was a penalty that didn’t need to be taken, but the Blades killed that infraction off.

    That kill was followed by Saskatoon left-winger Gage Ramsay getting dinged for playing without a helmet. His helmet came off with the play deep in the Regina end, but the 19-year-old decided to drive to the net instead of skating to the bench.

    By now, everyone in the WHL should know you have to skate immediately to the bench, if your helmet comes off during play, and Ramsay was penalized during a moment when his side wasn’t even on the defensive.

    Things continued to pile up on the ensuing kill. Veteran Blades right-winger Josh Paterson crossed the red-line with the puck, but he didn’t clear it into the Regina zone. Instead, he had the puck stolen from him by Pats captain Sam Steel.

    Steel transitioned the play up ice to offensive defenceman Josh Mahura to create a two-on-one. Mahura fed a nice pass across the front of the Saskatoon to goal to left-winger Jesse Gabrielle, who scored on the backdoor chance to give the Pats a 4-1 edge at the 10:51 mark of the second.

Gage Ramsay took a costly penalty by playing without a helmet.

    The Blades went back to the kill a short time later, when rookie defenceman Randen Schmidt took an interference penalty behind the play.

    The Pats scored on that ensuing power play to go up 5-1 on a snipe from left-winger Jared Legien, and things got worse from there for the visitors.

    Blades captain Evan Fiala proceeded to drive Legien hard into the boards behind the Saskatoon net, which started a scrum. Steel skated in to face Fiala, and Fiala got his stick up and cross checked Steel in the face. Fiala then ended up in a fight with Pats centre Matt Bradley.

    Bradley came away with a fighting major.

    Fiala was accessed a major for fighting, a major for cross checking and a game misconduct. The cross checking major will trigger an automatic review by the WHL office for a possible suspension on Fiala.

    At that point, the Blades were done in with their self-inflicted damage.

    Saskatoon did try to battle back. Right-winger Max Gerlach scored inside of the final minute of the second and added his second of the night 32 seconds into the third to cut the Pats lead to 5-3.

    Just 41 seconds after Gerlach’s second goal, Pats right-winger Cameron Hebig scored on a point drive through a screen to put the hosts up 6-3. Hebig would get his second of the night short-handed at the 12:31 mark of the third.

    Mahura and Czech import defenceman Libor Hajek had singles for the Pats in the first period, while Chase Wouters had the lone reply for the Blades in the opening 20 minutes.

    Steel had five assists to surpass 300 points in his WHL career. In 237 career regular season games, Steel has 107 goals and 196 assists for 303 points.

    The Sherwood Park, Alta., product seems to have developed some good chemistry playing with Hebig, who was acquired by the Pats in a deal with the Blades before the WHL’s trade deadline on Jan. 10.
    Hebig, who had an assist to go along with his two goals, went past 200 points in his WHL career. In 244 career regular season games split between the Blades and Pats, Hebig has 91 goals and 111 assists for 202 points.

    The Pats were 3-for-6 on the power play, while the Blades were 1-for-7 with man advantage. Saskatoon has won four of the six head-to-head meetings with Regina this season.

    Overage netminder Tyler Brown made 38 saves to take the setback in goal for the Blades. Brown was acquired by the Blades in a deal with the Pats that included Hebig before the WHL’s trade deadline on Jan. 10. Brown has made two starts for Saskatoon, but the Blades had less than stellar efforts in both those outings resulting in lopsided losses.

Cameron Hebig scored twice for the Pats.

    For the Blades, it would be good to get Brown his first win with the team to ensure the results of his first two starts don’t become some sort of mental hurdle.

    Ryan Kubic turned away 26 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pats, who improved to 25-20-5 to sit in the first wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a six point edge over the Blades. Saskatoon has a game in hand on Regina.

    The Blades fell to 23-23-2-1 to sit in the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with a four point edge over the Prince Albert Raiders (18-20-7-2). The Raiders have two game in hand on the Blades.

    Wednesday’s encounter provided a lot of footage for Blades head coach Dean Brockman and his staff to use for teaching purposes. 

    It is hard to give any opponent in the WHL multiple gifts and expect to come out on the winning end of things.

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when they host the Edmonton Oil Kings (13-27-5-2) at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Blades take part in impressive school visit

Jackson Caller, left, and Evan Fiala speak to students on Monday.

    On Monday, the Saskatoon Blade captain Evan Fiala and his defensive partner Jackson Caller made one of the more serious school visits I have ever seen.

    Fiala and Caller visited Silver Heights School along with Saskatoon Police Service officers Mike Johnson and Kelly Rainville as part of Project Face-off. With this program, those four visited East Hastings in Vancouver, B.C., which is one of Vancouver’s roughest neighbourhoods.

    The four shared their experience of their visit and talked about the importance of making correct decisions in life and surrounding yourself with good supportive people. They mentioned a few of the people they met in the East Hastings neighbourhood weren’t your stereotypical “bad guys.” They said a number of the people in East Hastings were persons who once had good lives and ended up in that position due to a major life setback.

    Besides that observation, they talked about the disgusting settings some of the people were living in, which included seeing really large rats.

Mike Johnson, left, and Kelly Rainville talk to school students.

    Before the four spoke, they showed a video of them touring East Hastings to the students.

Fiala and Caller told the students they were able to stay on their paths to the WHL due to focusing on hockey and hanging out with friends that had similar aspirations. They said that helped give them the discipline to stay away from people who wanted to do something not wise and other possible not wise situations.

    In this now the 19^th season I have covered the WHL, I have seen a few school visits, but this is the first one I went to involving the Blades. The stories and the subject matter was heavy, but it was delivered in an impactful way.

    After the presentation, four little girls came up to Fiala. One played hockey with one of the local Huskies Prospects teams, and she excitedly said she wanted to follow through with her dream of playing for the Saskatoon Stars Female Midget AAA team on day. It was a pretty sweet moment considering Fiala’s younger sister, Joelle, is one of the Stars star forwards.

    The Blades made tonnes of these community appearances over the season and worked hard to stay connected with the community. Monday’s visit to Silver Heights School was a perfect example of that.

Back in the Express with Johnston

Kieran Johnston will run at the K of C Indoor Games.

    I was back in the pages of the Saskatoon Express this week with an advancer story for the Knights of Columbus Saskatchewan Indoor Games that was focused around Kieran Johnston.

    The 22-year-old is in his second season with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track and Field team. Johnston told a story about what it was like to race Ashton Eaton, who won the decathlon at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Eaton would win the decathlon title again at the 2016 Olympics.

    Johnston raced Eaton at the 2015 K of C Indoor Games and admitted to be star struck.

    Besides talking about that race, Johnston discussed how he stepped away from sports all together for a time and came back once he realized he missed the sports. The graduate of Saskatoon’s Evan Hardy Collegiate shared what his hopes were with the Huskies this season.

    The story on Johnston can be round 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.

-------

    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 come out winners in a bonkers WHL trade deadline day

Max Gerlach (#9) battles for the puck for the Blades.

    A former standout veteran WHL executive once told me anybody in the league can be traded depending on what you want to give up.

    That played out to be true on Wednesday’s WHL trade deadline day, where 17 deals were made on that day alone before the deadline of 4 p.m. Saskatchewan time. That doesn’t include all the massive amount of moves that were made in the 10 days leading up to trade deadline day.

    When you step back and look at what was given up to get standouts that might be rentals for a maximum of five months, some of the WHL general managers and executives were out of their minds. Way too many deals were made in the fashion of an armchair general manager running a fantasy sports NHL team.

Netminder Tyler Brown (#31) helps out on the Blades bench.

    On the Saskatoon Blades front, credit has to be given to them for taking advantage of some good opportunities when they came about. Some of their good fortune was used to get a couple of good players they might not have originally thought they could pick up.

    Blades general manager Colin Priestner, his scouts and executive staff on the hockey side of things made the right hockey moves when it came to popular veterans Libor Hajek and Cameron Hebig when the Regina Pats camp calling. The Pats were stocking up their roster to be a solid host side when they host the Memorial Cup tournament from May 17 to 27. The Blades took advantage of a team in need.

    On Monday, Saskatoon sent Hajek, who is a 19-year-old import Czech defenceman and has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, to Regina in exchange for 19-year-old defenceman Dawson Davidson, 16-year-old forward prospect Tristen Robins and a first round selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.

Dawson Davidson jets up ice for the Blades.

    On Wednesday morning, the Blades and the Pats combined for another blockbuster. The Blades sent overage star centre and local product Hebig and 19-year-old goaltender Ryan Kubic to the Pats in exchange for overage star netminder Tyler Brown, 17-year-old right-winger Bryan Lockner, a first and a second round selection in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft, a third round selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft and a third round selection in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft.

    The Blades proceeded to deal Lockner, a first round selection in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft and a second round selection in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft to the Medicine Hat Tigers in exchange for 19-year-old star centre Max Gerlach.

    Before deadline passed on Wednesday afternoon, the Blades made one more deal acquiring centre Eric Florchuk, who turned 18 on Wednesday, from the Victoria Royals for a first round selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft, a first round selection in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft and a fourth round selection in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft that was originally obtained from the Brandon Wheat Kings in an earlier deal. 

Bryan Lockner (#28) was dealt to the Tigers by the Blades.

    Florchuk was originally selected by the Royals in the first round and 13^th overall in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft.

    After the dust settled, the Blades managed to help themselves in the present as the arrivals of Brown, Gerlach and Davidson make up for the departures of Kubic, Hebig and Hajek. As a bonus, Brown is a big upgrade over Kubic, and Gerlach has the potential to return next season as an overager, while Hebig, who has an NHL entry-level contract signed with the Edmonton Oilers, will exhaust his major junior eligibility.

    Saskatoon now has one of the best goaltending tandems in the league with Brown being pair up with rookie sensation Nolan Maier, who turned 17 on Wednesday.

Max Gerlach zips into the offensive zone for the Blades.

    The Blades also helped themselves in the near future with the additions of Florchuk, who could potentially play the next three seasons in the WHL, and Robins, who appeared in one game with the Pats this season and could potentially play the next four campaigns in the WHL. Florchuk was in transit to join the Blades for the rest of the current campaign on Wednesday, while Robins currently plays for the Rink Hockey Academy prep team in Winnipeg, Man.

    On the WHL Bantam Draft front, the Blades came away with one less first round pick, one less fourth round selection, and they added two third round selections. The movement on the draft picks front won’t cause the Blades any pain, when it comes to building in the future.

Jaegar White, left, and Max Gerlach were teammates at Wednesday’s start.

    Overall, the Blades have to come away from this season’s action at the trade deadline feeling good about themselves. Their grade is an ‘A’ for what they accomplished.
    It should be noted they were able to do what they did on the trade front, because they didn’t want to trade Hajek or Hebig. Being in that position in a genuine state allowed the outrageous offers to materialize. 

    At the other end of the spectrum, the Pats might regret the fact they let Brown get away. They weren’t able to make a deal with another netminder, so they have to go through the rest of the season with Kubic, Max Paddock and Jacob Wasserman as their goals. Paddock and Wasserman are both in their 17-year-old rookie seasons.

    Only six players remain on the Pats roster who were full-time members of their squad that advanced to the WHL championship last season. They include forwards Sam Steel, Jake Leschyshyn, Nick Henry, Robbie Holmes and defencemen Josh Mahura and Liam Schioler. Regina is in for a challenging future in regards to playing the rest of the current campaign and a majorly challenging future when next season rolls around.

Rookie sensation Nolan Maier is now part of stellar goalie tandem. 

    The Blades will be a major contender to earn their first playoff berth since 2013 this season. Their prospects are also bright for future seasons.

    On Wednesday night with Gerlach and Davidson on the ice and Brown dressed as the backup goalie, the Blades dropped a 3-2 decision to the Tigers before 2,709 spectators at the SaskTel Centre.

Chase Wouters had a goal and an assist for the Blades, while Braylon Shmyr had a single. Gerlach picked up an assist in the setback.

    Gary Haden, Lockner and David Quenneville replied with singles for the Tigers.

    Maier made 43 stops to take the setback in goal for the Blades (21-19-2-1). Jordan Hollett turned away 31 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Tigers (23-16-3). Hollett was with the Pats last season and was dealt to the Tigers shortly after Regina lost out in the WHL championship series last May.

The Blades hope to celebrate a number of goals with their new additions.

    The Blades hold the second wildcard berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, and they have a seven point cushion in the standings over the Prince Albert Raiders (15-18-6-2). The Raiders have two game in hand on the Blades.

    Saskatoon is a point behind Regina in the standings for the first Eastern Conference wildcard berth after the Pats record moved to 21-19-4 after a 4-3 loss in overtime at home to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday night. The Blades have a game in hand on the Pats.

    The Blades return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Red Deer to face the Rebels.

    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.

Pretty or gritty - Huskies need to keep finding ways to win

Abby Shirley (#27) celebrates scoring for the Huskies.

    It doesn’t matter if it is pretty, gutty or both, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team has to keep finding ways to win.

    On Saturday night at the ancient Rutherford Rink, the Huskies won their third straight downing the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 3-1 playing both pretty and gutty. This season, goals have come at a premium more than ever in U Sports’ Canada West Conference for women’s hockey, and it seems the first team to score will win the game via a shutout.

    The Huskies are going to have to duplicate their effort from Saturday for the rest of the campaign as the 2017-18 season hits the home stretch with the playoffs approaching. The win over the Pronghorns featured a lot of positives.

    The biggest positive was the fact the Huskies came from behind to win the game. At the 8:42 mark of the second, Pronghorns centre Kyra Greig scored a gritty goal in close to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Jessica Vance has been stellar in goal for the Huskies.

    The Pronghorns have played a number of gritty games this season and are battling to get into a playoff position. The Huskies had controlled the majority of the play to that point in time, and you had to wonder if the visitors were going to steal a win.

    In the opening 20 minutes, the Huskies outshot the Pronghorns 14-6, and the host side had a lengthy list of quality scoring chances. Pronghorns netminder Alicia Anderson stood on her head to ensure the hosts weren’t able to get ahead.

    Shortly before Greig’s goal in the second, Huskies defender Madison Colbow unloaded a point blast that hit Anderson and slowly trickled just wide of the Pronghorn’s net.

    With the 3:36 to play in the second, the Huskies tied the contest in a pretty fashion. Huskies feisty forward Brooklyn Haubrich broke into the offensive zone on a two-on-one rush with star captain Kaitlin Willoughby.

    Haubrich fed a nice pass across the front of the goal to Willoughby, who roofed the equalizer past Anderson to force a 1-1 tie.

Brooklyn Haubrich set up a beauty goal for the Huskies.

    At the 3:53 mark of the third, the Huskies went ahead 2-1 in gutty fashion when a bad angle shot by rookie right-winger Abby Shirley from the left boards of the offensive zone found its way past Anderson.

    From that point, the Pronghorns came with a huge push back playing desperate and keeping the Huskies pinned in their own zone.

    Huskies sophomore netminder Jessica Vance slammed the door making 18 saves in total to ensure the slim edge held up. Inside of the final two minutes of the third, Vance had to slide across her crease to deny Pronghorns defender Mattie Apperson, who pinched down to the right post of the Huskies net for a golden scoring chance.

    Following that stop, Willoughby iced the contest with an empty-net goal with 37 seconds to play. With her two goals, Willoughby moved to within a point of catching Danny Stone for second on the Huskies all-time career regular season scoring list.

The Pronghorns react to a goal by Huskies captain Kaitlin Willoughby.

    Willoughby now has 48 goals and 57 assists for 105 career regular season points. Stone, who played for the Huskies from 2008 to 2013, had 57 goals and 49 assists for 106 career regular season points. Both are grads from the Prince Albert Northern Bears female midget AAA team.

    On Saturday night, Willoughby played one of her best games of the season and likely should have finished with a monster night in the points department.
    However, the 2017-18 campaign is the season of the goalie in the Canada West Conference and passing Stone will have to wait.

Kaitlin Willoughby, right, scored twice for the Huskies on Saturday night.

    Anderson turned away 26-of-28 shots to take the setback in goal for the Pronghorns, who fell to 5-11-2 to sit last in the eight team Canada West and five points back of the U of Calgary Dinos for the conference’s final playoff berth.

    The Huskies improved to 11-6-1 to sit third overall in Canada West, with seven of those 11 victories coming by shutout. The top four positions in the Canada West standings are separated by just six points, so they can change on a game by game basis.

    The Dogs will get back at it again this coming Friday and Saturday, when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the U of Manitoba Bisons, who top Canada West with a 13-4-1 record.

    The green and white are capable of defeating every team in the conference, so the upcoming contests with the Bisons provide another couple of opportunities to find ways to pull out wins.

Dogs win streak ends in Lethbridge

Logan McVeigh had a goal for the Huskies on Saturday night.

    The U of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s hockey team fell just short of making a comeback to keep their six game winning streak alive.

    On Saturday night in Lethbridge, the host U of Lethbridge Pronghorns built a 3-0 edge and held on to a 4-2 victory in a U Sports regular season match at the Nicholas Sheran Arena. The Pronghorns victory brought an end to the Huskies winning streak.

    Dalton Sward gave the Pronghorns a 1-0 lead in the first period. Ryon Moser and Ryan Chynoweth each netted singles in the second period to extend the Pronghorns advantage to 3-0.

    The Huskies attempted to rally in the third. Michael Sofillas scored just past the midway point of the frame to cut the Pronghorns lead to 3-1. Logan McVeigh scored for the Dogs with 1:15 to play in the third to further trim the Pronghorns advantage to 3-2.

    Connor Sanvido scored into an empty net inside of the final minute of the third to seal U of L’s victory.

    Jordon Cooke turned away 23 of 26 shots to take the setback in goal for the Huskies, who are rated third in the U Sports Top 10 rankings. Garret Hughson stopped 34 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Pronghorns.

    The Huskies fell to 14-3-1, but they still sit second overall in the Canada West Conference two points behind the 15-2-1 U of Alberta Golden Bears. The Golden Bears were in Winnipeg and dropped a 5-4 overtime decision and a 3-1 setback on Friday and Saturday respectively to the U of Manitoba Bisons.

    The Pronghorns improved to 8-9-1 to sit in a three-way tie for fourth overall in Canada West with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and the Mount Royal University Cougars, who are both 8-9-1.

    The Huskies return to action this coming Friday, when they host the Bisons (11-5-2) at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford Rink.

Hometown heroes power Blades to seventh straight win

Gage Ramsay (#20) and Cameron Hebig, centre, powered the Blades.

    Gage Ramsay and Cameron Hebig gave their families and friends a Saturday night to remember at the SaskTel Centre.

    The two Saskatoon products combined on three goals to help their hometown Blades slip past the Kootenay Ice 4-2 in a WHL regular season clash before 3,241 spectators. The victory was the Blades seventh in a row and 10^th in their last 11 games.

    Ramsay, who is a 19-year-old winger, netted the Blades first two goals at the 3:07 and 12:46 marks of the first period, and Hebig picked up assists on both of those tallies.

    Saskatoon exited the first period with a 3-0 lead, when 18-year-old right-winger Josh Paterson picked up his 20^th goal of the season with 2:47 to play in the frame.

    Hebig, who is the Blades star overage centre, netting his 30^th goal of the season at the 8:33 mark of the third to give Saskatoon a 4-0 lead, and Ramsay drew an assist on that marker.

Keenan Taphorn and Brett Davis netted singles late in the third for the Ice.

    Netminder Nolan Maier, who is a 16-year-old rookie, won his 10^th straight start in goal for the Blades making 27 saves. Bailey Brkin took the setback starting in goal for the Ice turning away 14-of-17 shots and was pulled after the first period. Duncan McGovern turned away 13-of-15 shots playing the rest of the way in relief for Kootenay.

    The Blades improved to 21-17-2-1 to hold the first wildcard playoff position in the WHL’s Eastern Conference two points ahead of the Memorial Cup hosting Regina Pats (20-19-3). The Prince Albert Raiders (15-17-6-2) are trying to catch the one of either the Blades or the Pats for a wildcard berth. The Raiders trail the Blades and Pats by seven and five points respectively in the standings.

    Prince Albert has two games in hand on Regina and one game in hand on Saskatoon.

    The Ice fell to 18-21-3 to sit second in the WHL’s Central Division.

    The Blades return to action on Sunday, when the travel to Brandon to face the Wheat Kings.

    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.

Paterson hatty powers Blades comeback win over Raiders

Josh Paterson (#61)  enjoys his hat trick goal with Chase Wouters.

    PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Josh Paterson admitted it is pretty fun when his Saskatoon Blades can ruin the Raiders parade in Prince Albert.

    The 18-year-old right-winger said his team can hear the heckles of the Raiders fans behind their bench in “Hockey Town North,” and that the Blades players know all about the Art Hauser Centre tradition of playing the Guess Who’s “Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon” any time an elite Saskatoon based hockey team loses in the building.
    On Thursday night, the Blades had the last laugh erasing a 3-1 deficit after the first period to pull out a 6-4 victory to disappoint most of the 2,312 spectators in attendance.

    Paterson was pleased his side could silence the hecklers and put the playing of “Runnin’ Back to Saskatoon” on ice.

    “It makes it pretty extra sweet just to stick it to them,” said Paterson, who had his first career hat trick and an assist in the win. “They are our rivals right up the road, and we like to beat them every time we can.”

    During the first period of Thursday’s clash, it appeared to would be an early New Year’s Eve party night for the Raiders and their fans. 

Josh Paterson had an assist to go with his three goals.

    The hosts jumped out to a 3-1 lead with goals coming from Parker Kelly, Eric Pearce and Carson Miller. Paterson’s first goal of the night provided the lone reply for the Blades.

    The Raiders shelled Blades 16-year-old goalie Nolan Maier holding a 21-12 edge in the shots on goal department in the opening 20 minutes. Maier made a number of big stops to keep his side in the game.

    The Blades found traction at the 4:12 mark of the second period, when centre Chase Wouters knocked home a pass from linemate Braylon Shmyr from across the front of the Prince Albert goal to cut the Raiders lead to 3-2.

    At that point, Prince Albert had chances to pull ahead further, but Maier made robbery stops on Raiders wingers Cole Fonstad and Brett Leason to keep the Blades deficit at one goal.

Braylon Shmyr had two goals and two assists for the Blades.

    With 2:07 to play in the second, Paterson scored from in close for his second goal of the night to force a 3-3 tie.

    Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said the way the second period unfolded played a big factor in the final outcome of the contest.

    “They got that one to make it 3-2, and then we had a bunch of chances to go up 4-2,” said Habscheid. “I thought their goaltender was real good tonight.

    “We couldn’t make it 4-2, and then they tied it. We kind of made a couple of mistakes. They cashed in on them.

    “We had chances, and we didn’t cash in on them. I thought that was the difference.”

    Paterson tucked in his hat trick marker from right in front of the Prince Albert goal at the 3:28 mark of the third to put the Blades ahead 4-3. The Raiders proceeded to have a big chances to get the equalizer, but overage centre Devon Skoleski was stoned on a golden scoring opportunity by Maier.

    With 5:59 to play in the third, Paterson burst down the right wing and fed a pass across the front of the Prince Albert goal, which was knocked home by Shmyr to give the Blades a 5-3 edge.

Parker Kelly had the Raiders first goal on Thursday.

    Leason scored with 1:42 to play in the third to create some drama, but Shmyr sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 45.6 seconds to play.

    Shmyr had two assists to go along with his two goals, while Wouters had three assists to go along with his tally. The line of Shmyr, Wouters and Paterson combined for 12 points on the night.

    Blades head coach Dean Brockman said his coaching staff got the message across to their players that their effort in the first period wasn’t good, and they needed to play with more energy the rest of the way. The Blades players found another gear after that point.

    “It was the biggest game of the year, and we have to find a way to claw back,” said Brockman. “After that (first intermission meeting), I thought our guys found ways to do things right.

    “When you find ways to do things right, you are probably going to win games.”

    Ian Scott turned away 33 of 38 shots to take the setback in goal for the Raiders. Maier turned away 38 shots to win his sixth straight start for the Blades.

Nolan Maier made 38 stops in goal for the Blades.

    Habscheid said the Blades young netminder deserves high marks for his effort.

    “He (Maier) doesn’t get out of position,” said Habscheid. “He’s always in position.

    “If you are going to beat him, you have to beat him. He doesn’t beat himself. He just stays in position.

    “He is square, and he competes. He’s played well for them.”

    Paterson enjoyed netting his first hat trick, but hewas more excited about how his side played as a whole.

    “I thought we had a great all around team effort,” said Paterson. “Maier was outstanding in the nets.

    “Everyone else contributed really well.”

    Combined with Wednesday 4-2 victory over the Raiders in Saskatoon, the Blades improved to 17-17-2-1 to hold one of the two wildcards spots in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with 37 points.

The Blades and Raiders engage in a scrum.

    The Memorial Cup hosting Regina Pats hold the other wildcard position posting a 17-18-3 record for 37 points in the standings.
    The Pats defeated the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-4 in Regina on Thursday night.

    The Raiders fell to 13-16-5-2 to sit four points back of both the Blades and the Pats.
    Prince Albert has one game in hand on Saskatoon and two games in hand on Regina.

    Raiders 17-year-old left-winger Justin Nachbaur was given a major for cross-checking and a game misconduct in the first period, and those infractions will automatically be reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

    Blades captain Evan Fiala went down late in the third period after getting hit in the face with the puck on a Raiders shot attempt.

The Blades celebrate their win over the Raiders.

    The overager won’t miss any action.

    “He (Fiala) was getting stitches when I looked in,” said Brockman. “He is a pretty tough competitor.”

    On the milestone front, Shmyr has now scored exactly 200 regular season points in his WHL career coming on 91 goals and 109 assists. The Calgary product has played 265 career regular season games split between the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Blades.
    Russian import defenceman Mark Rubinchik appeared in his 100th career WHL regular season game all with the Blades.
    The Raiders return to action on Saturday, when they host the Pats at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.
    The Blades return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos (26-8-2).
    The Broncos fell 8-2 to the Warriors in Moose Jaw on Thursday night.

Hebig signs NHL deal with Oilers

Cameron Hebig signed an NHL contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

    The Blades celebrated some excitement on Thursday morning before the traveled to Prince Albert for their clash with the Raiders.

    Overage centre and Saskatoon product Cameron Hebig signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers. Hebig, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 185 pounds, leads the Blades in scoring with 28 goals and 23 assists.

    In 233 career regular season games with the Blades, Hebig has 85 goals and 101 assists. He missed all of last season with an upper body injury that was never clearly diagnosed.

    Hebig came into the current campaign with the goal of getting himself back on the radar of NHL scouts. On Thursday, he received a big reward for his efforts, and the news was appreciated by his teammates.

    A large number of the Blades players retweeted the news of Hebig’s NHL contract signing on Twitter.

    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.