Priestner made all the right trade deadline moves for Blades

Hayden Harsanyi is a big pick up for the Blades.

In the 2024-25 campaign, Colin Priestner has dealt with problems you like to have, when it comes to a WHL roster.

Last season, Priestner, who is the general manager and president of the Saskatoon Blades, oversaw a load up that allowed his squad to top the WHL’s overall standings with a 50-13-2-3 mark. In the post-season, the Blades advanced to the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series and fell in an epic seven-game set that saw six contests go to overtime to the eventual WHL champion Moose Jaw Warriors.

While the Blades graduated a large number of key players like Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Charlie Wright, Easton Armstrong, Fraser Minten and Alexander Suzdalev, they came into the current campaign returning a pretty good group of players that include long time star veterans Brandon Lisowsky and Tanner Molendyk along with sophomore 18-year-old netminder Evan Gardner. Plus, a number of returning veterans like captain Ben Saunderson, Tyler Parr, Rowan Calvert and Grayden Siepmann made big strides forward in their respective games.

Newcomers like Ben Riche and rookies Cooper Williams and import David Lewandowski gave the Blades more of a contribution than expected. All of those factors saw the Blades sit in a position where they were leading the WHL’s East Division and often the Eastern Conference for most of the first half of the season. They still top the East Division with a 22-14-2-3 mark.

Priestner was faced with a tough decision as the WHL’s trade deadline of this past January 9 at 7 p.m. Saskatchewan time approached. He could run with the roster he had and see if the Blades could go on another long run in the WHL Playoffs.

He was also faced with the fact he had traded a lot of the Blades first, second and third round selections in WHL Prospects Drafts in upcoming years. He was looking to replenish some of those assets, so the team doesn’t take a longer term drop in the standings.

Hunter Laing was a recent addition by the Blades via the trade route.

Also in the WHL, there is the adage that anyone can be traded for as long as one trading partner really wants a player and wants to pay a price for that player. Priestner got some trade offers he couldn’t refuse, especially when it came to three of his best veterans. He also made some deals that worked well for his club and the respective trading partner.

On January 2, the Blades completed a major trade with the Victoria Royals. In that deal, they sent Lisowsky, who is a 20-year-old left-winger and one of their all-time greats, and a fifth round selection in the 2028 WHL Prospects Draft to the Royals for 20-year-old left-winger Tanner Scott, a second round selection in the 2025 Prospects Draft and a second round pick in the 2026 Prospects Draft.

The next big deal was made on January 6. The Blades dealt Molendyk, who is a 19-year-old defenceman, and 19-year-old centre Misha Volotovskii to the Medicine Hat Tigers for centre Hayden Harsanyi, defenceman Jack Kachkowski, first and second round selections in the 2025 Prospects Draft, third and fourth round picks in the 2026 Prospects Draft and a fifth round selection in the 2028 Prospects Draft. Harsanyi and Kachkowski both recently turned 18-years-old.

On January 8, Blades sent Riche, who is a 19-year-old centre, to the Prince George Cougars in exchange for 18-year-old centre Hunter Laing, 15-year-old prospect defenceman Luke Dumas, a first round selection in the 2026 Prospects Draft and fifth round pick in the 2028 Prospects Draft.

Back on June 6, 2024, the Blades acquired Riche from the Victoria Royals in exchange for gritty 20-year-old left-winger Vaughn Watterodt. Watterodt is no longer with the Royals and now plays for the Mount Royal University Cougars Men’s Hockey Team in the U Sports ranks. In 37 regular season games with the Blades, Riche had been the team’s leading scorer recording 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points to go with a plus-18 rating. His totals in goals, assists and points are all career highs.

When Riche was acquired in exchange for Watterodt, no one thought Priestner would ultimately be able to trade the breakout forward for the assets the Blades received.

The Blades acquired Tanner Scott in a trade on January 2.

With the deals Priestner made, he was able recover draft capital for the Blades. Also, Harsanyi, Kachkowski and Laing will help the Blades in the current day and future seasons. Harsanyi has two goals and two assists in three games so far with the Blades, and he looks like he has the potential to be a big time player.

On the trade front, Priestner did a job that was worthy of the work done by Kelly McCrimmon, who is the current general manager of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. During a lengthy stretch as owner, general manager and head coach of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, McCrimmon built a legendary reputation for making masterful moves.

Priestner has ensured the Blades will be in the mix in continuing to be a strong team this year and for the upcoming seasons that are yet to come.

Rush 4-1 for first time since 2018, other notes

Ryan Keenan scored four goals for the Rush last Saturday.

The reload or reset appears to be paying off for the Saskatchewan Rush.

Last Saturday at the SaskTel Centre, the host Rush downed the Las Vegas Desert Dogs 15-9 in an NLL regular season clash. The victory allowed the Rush to improve to 4-1 for the first time since 2018, when the last won the NLL championship. The Desert Dogs fell to 1-5 with the setback.

Captain Ryan Keenan led the Rush with four goals. He also had a pair of assists for a six-point night.

Zach Manns continued his impressive campaign recording eight points off three goals and five assists. Austin Shanks had six points coming off three goals and three assists, while Robert Church had five points on a pair of goals and three assists. Clark Walter added a pair of goals, while Ryan Barnable had a single for the Saskatchewan side.

Frank Scigliano made 29 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Rush.

Since the NLL returned to action in 2022 following stoppages due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Rush have posted 8-10 records for three straight seasons and missed the post-season in each of those campaigns. They last made the playoffs in 2019, which was the final campaign the NLL completed before not being able to host post-season action in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

The Rush return to action this coming Saturday when they travel to Mississauga, Ont., to face the 0-5 Toronto Rock at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.

• Kamloops Blazers head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston sits sixth on the WHL’s all-time list for career head coaching victories with 579 wins. He needs three more wins to equal Marc Habscheid for fifth on the all-time list with 582 victories. Habscheid piled up his victory total working behind the bench of the Blazers, the Kelowna Rockets, the Chilliwack Bruins/Victoria Royals franchise and the Prince Albert Raiders.
• Spokane Chiefs star right-winger Andrew Cristall leads with WHL scoring race with 72 points coming off 31 goals and 41 assists to go with a plus-28 rating in the plus-minus department. Cristall was acquired by the Chiefs in a blockbuster trade with the Rockets on January 8. In 28 games with the Rockets this season, Cristall recorded 60 points on 26 goals and 34 assists to go with a plus-22 rating. In his first three games with the Chiefs, Cristall has 12 points coming off five goals and seven assists to go with a plus-six rating.
• The Everett Silvertips continue to lead the WHL’s overall standings with a 30-5-3-3 mark.
• On January 6, star defenceman Caden Price was traded by the Rockets to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in a blockbuster trade. Price wrote a heartfelt letter to salute to the folks in Kelowna. That can be found by clicking right here.
• On Thursday, January 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a feature on the Saskatoon Ultimate Disc-Sport Society. A great upbeat atmosphere is present when Saskatoon Ultimate Disc-Sport Society events happen at the Complex. That piece can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that is anchored by pictures from the CRIIIO Women’s Cricket Festival, which was a first for Saskatchewan as a province. It also includes photos from baseball, football, softball, skating, speed skating and skiing. That post can be found by clicking right here.

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

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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.

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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.

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Blades’ Priestner one day should get executive of the year nod

From left, Colin Priestner with Trevor Wong and Steve Hildebrand.

Colin Priestner is a hockey guy.

Actually, he has been a hockey guy for some time now.

There was a time Priestner was known for being a folk-rock singer and songwriter, a high level tennis player, and a car dealership owner. Those were all roles he had filled at one point before his family bought the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades before start of the 2013-14 campaign, where father Mike assumed majority ownership of the club. Colin, who was 29-years-old at the time, became a managing partner of the team in early September of 2013.

Fast forward to the current day, and the now 40-year-old Priestner is the veteran general manager and president of the Blades. His Blades topped the WHL regular season standings in 2023-24 with a 50-13-2-3 record. They have made the Eastern Conference Championship Series for a second straight year.

The Blades open the best-of-seven conference championship series against the Moose Jaw Warriors this coming Friday at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. It will mark the first time since the 1993 post-season the Eastern Conference Championship Series will be an all-Saskatchewan battle. Back in 1993, the Swift Current Broncos swept away the Regina Pats 4-0 and advanced on to win the WHL Championship Series in seven games against the Portland Winterhawks.

This year’s Eastern Conference final has the potential to be a classic with the Warriors having finished fifth overall in the WHL regular season with a 44-21-0-3 mark. Both the Blades and Warriors are in search of their first WHL championship.

One day, Priestner should be tabbed as the winner of the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s executive of the year. It is actually too bad he didn’t win that honour last year or was named to be up for that honour this year.

Colin Priestner pictured in the Blades dressing room in 2016.

With that said, Seattle Thunderbirds general manager Bil La Forge took that honour on a league level a year ago and Warriors general manager Jason Ripplinger is the nominee for the East Division, which the Blades play out of, this year. Both are long time good executives, and you can’t argue against their respective nods.

Still, Priestner in the current day is best known as being the general manager of the Blades, and he has built a reputation of being an outstanding executive. When he became the Blades general manager before the start of the 2016-17 campaign, you can bet there was some skepticism around that move.

At that time, Priestner was still viewed as more of a hockey outsider and was thought of being a folk-rock singer and songwriter, a high level tennis player, and a car dealership owner. Of course, the thought was out there Priestner was able to hold the role of Blades general manager because his father was the majority owner of the team.

Colin’s younger brother, James Priestner, was known as the hockey guy in the family. James was a goalie in the WHL suiting up for the Kamloops Blazers, Brandon Wheat Kings and Prince George Cougars from 2007 to 2011. These days James is the frontman and chief songwriter Vancouver based band Rare Americans.

As the Blades were stuck in a lengthy rebuild due to the fact the Priestner family bought the team after hosting the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup - in 2013, the club turned heads trying new things on the business promotion side with theme nights, which included a Star Wars Night on November 28, 2015. There were people around the WHL that didn’t know at the time what to make of the Blades trying out new things on the promotional side.

Early on in his time as Blades general manager, you could sense Colin had a pretty good grasp of what he was taking on. He grew into his role quite quickly, and it safe to say he learned lessons observing various general managers he saw during his time on the circuit.

During his first season in the league in 2013-14, Lorne Molleken was still serving as the Blades general manager. While the Priestners would move in a new direction parting ways with Molleken following the 2013-14 campaign, Colin likely learned what it was like to have a strong and good passion for the team and how to treat people with class.

Colin Priestner, left, with Aidan De La Gorgendiere in 2017.

Molleken, in the roles of head coach and general manager, tried his hardest to see the Blades become WHL and Memorial Cup title winners. The Blades had a lot of great teams under Molleken’s watch, but they weren’t able to achieve those two much desired championship wins. No matter where Molleken goes in life, he will always be a member of the Blades, and Priestner got see what it was like when a team is more than a team.

Priestner got to see how former Brandon Wheat Kings head coach, general manager and owner Kelly McCrimmon, who is currently the general manager of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, built a team. McCrimmon is best known for being the master when it comes to making trades.

During his second season as the Blades general manager in 2017-18, Priestner showed how skilled he could be on the trade front leading and on the WHL Trade Deadline of January 10, 2018. The Blades at the time were trying to end a playoff drought that spanned four consecutive seasons. They were battling for a playoff spot in an East Division when that division might have been the toughest it has ever been.

Priestner made a series of deals that allowed the roster to still compete for a playoff berth that season, but really set the club to take off the following season. The Blades two best players in star centre Cameron Hebig and Czech import defenceman Libor Hajek were sent to the Memorial Cup hosting Pats as 19-year-old veterans.

On top of various draft picks that came back, the Blades landed 19-year-old offensive-defenceman Dawson Davidson and 16-year-old forward prospect Tristen Robins from the Pats. Saskatoon also acquired 19-year-old star centre Max Gerlach from the Medicine Hat Tigers and centre Eric Florchuk from the Victoria Royals.

The Blades would finish with a 35-33-3-1 record finishing seventh overall in Eastern Conference, but with the playoff rules at the time mirroring the current NHL post-season rules, the Blades missed the playoffs by three points.

Colin Priestner, left, with Mitch Love in 2019.

The moves Priestner made were the right ones as Davidson, Gerlach, Florchuk and Robins would play key roles helping the Blades finish fourth overall in the WHL standings in 2018-19 with a 45-15-8 mark. Robins would become one of the Blades top players for the next three seasons. Priestner had found lots of success on the trade front since that time.

Another person Priestner likely picked up tips from came from observing Lethbridge Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt.

One day after the 2017-18 campaign ended, Priestner released head coach Dean Brockman, who was about 16 years older than Priestner. While Brockman was a great coach with a lengthy resume of success at the junior A level with the Humboldt Broncos, things just didn’t work out with him and Priestner. Those things happen in the world of hockey and no hard feelings are kept.

At a time when WHL teams often recycled veteran head coaches, Anholt out in Lethbridge hired 32-year-old Brent Kisio to be his head coach with the Hurricanes before the start of the 2015-16 campaign. Kisio had been a long time assistant coach with the Calgary Hitmen and was more than ready for a head coach opportunity.

Anholt went back to a previous era in the WHL, when the circuit saw a lot of good younger head coaches move on to the professional ranks. The Hurricanes experienced a fair amount of success with Kisio as head coach before he moved on to join the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL as an assistant coach.

Priestner went the younger route and hit grand slams with his next two head coach hires. In May of 2018, Priestner hired then 33-year-old Mitch Love to be the Blades head coach.

Love had been a long time Everett Silvertips assistant coach before joining the Blades. The Blades were one of the WHL’s top tier teams in the three seasons Love served as head coach before moving on to the professional ranks. He is currently an assistant coach with the NHL’s Washington Capitals.

Colin Priestner speaks at a press conference in 2019.

After Love left for the professional ranks, Priestner hired the Blades current head coach Brennan Sonne on July 21, 2021. Sonne was 34-years-old when he came to the Blades. He has been a Silvertips assistant coach for three seasons and head coach of the Angers club in the professional league in France for four seasons.

Before Sonne became Saskatoon’s head coach, the last time the Blades were in the Eastern Conference final was back in 1994, when Molleken was guiding the team as head coach. It is a safe bet to believe Sonne is going to get a professional opportunity sooner than later, but Blades fans can hope Sonne decides he could be to the Blades what Brian Kilrea was to the Ottawa 67’s.

Priestner likely picked up some lessons studying Medicine Hat Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins. The biggest lessons there would be invest in and have empathy for your players.

Arguably the best work Priestner did as general manager was helping a pair of his best players in Aidan De La Gorgendiere and Egor Sidorov navigate rough waters there are no textbooks for.

De La Gorgendiere had to deal with the passing of his mother, Marla Meginbir, due to cancer on November 12, 2019 at age 51. At the time, De La Gorgendiere was skating through his 17-year-old sophomore season.

In the past, it was common that careers for WHL players that deal with the passing of a parent don’t end up being as successful as they should have been. The passing of a parent is a lot for a teenage aged player to deal with.

From left, Les Lazaruk, Colin Priestner and Lorne Molleken in 2022.

With Priestner’s help in that situation, De La Gorgendiere went on to become the Blades captain in his last two seasons with the club in 2021-22 and 2022-23 before graduating from the major junior ranks. He still has the potential to be in the NHL one day but at the moment is looking after his schooling playing for the storied University of Alberta Golden Bears Men’s Hockey Team in the U Sports ranks.

Sidorov is current the Blades star 19-year-old right-winger from Belarus, who posted 50 goals, 38 assists and a plus-eight rating in 66 contest in the 2023-24 regular season for the Blades. Late in Sidorov’s 17-year-old rookie season with the Blades, Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, and Belarus supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Due the instability in that part of the world, it was decided that Sidorov would remain in Canada. Priestner went the extra mile dealing with immigration to allow Sidorov to remain in the country.

With the support of Priestner and the Blades, Sidorov had a stellar 2022-23 campaign recording 40 goals, 36 assists and a plus-25 rating in 53 regular season games. He posted nine goals, 10 assists and plus-three rating in 16 appearances in the 2023 WHL Playoffs.

That resulted in Sidorov being selected in the third round and 85^th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. He signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Ducks on April 3.

Once he was drafted by the Ducks, Sidorov made it back to Belarus to visit his family.

If you’re a parent and you saw how spectacularly Priestner handled De La Gorgendiere’s and Sidorov’s situations, you would want your kid to play for the Saskatoon Blades.

Colin Priestner hugs Blades star RW Egor Sidorov.

Once viewed as the hockey outsider, Priestner has grown into an elite level general manager. On the side, he could still craft a good song or show off a few tricks on the tennis court when those opportunities present themselves too.

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

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Blades will be fun to watch for rest of 2023-24 campaign

The Blades celebrate a win over the Pats this past Sunday.

Brennan Sonne will get to be the hockey equivalent of the “mad scientist” offensive coordinator you would see in football for the next little bit.

The Saskatoon Blades head coach has a wonderful mix of skilled and good character players to work with for the rest of the current 2023-24 WHL campaign. The Blades sit first overall in the WHL with a 29-8-2-2 record, and they were rated first in the CHL’s Top 10 Rankings that were released on Tuesday. That marks the first time the Blades have topped the CHL Top 10 Rankings this season.

Over a little past the first half of the regular season, Blades general manager Colin Priestner did a fantastic job of solidifying the team’s roster through the trade route. All trades came to a conclusion for the current campaign when the WHL’s trade deadline passed at 4 p.m. Saskatchewan time on January 10.

Priestner was able to add assistance around a solid core group of players in the likes of captain Trevor Wong, Brandon Lisowsky, Egor Sidorov, Vaughn Watterodt, Tyler Parr, Lukas Hansen, Tanner Molendyk, Charlie Wright, Ben Saunderson and Austin Elliott. The biggest additions via the trade route include forwards Fraser Minten, Easton Armstrong, Alexander Suzdalev and defenceman John Babcock.

Fraser Minten in action for the Blades this past Sunday.

Babcock was acquired on trade deadline day in a three-way deal with the Kelowna Rockets and Edmonton Oil Kings. The Blades sent a second round selection in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft and a fourth round pick in the 2026 Prospects Draft to the Rockets and second round Prospects Draft pick in 2026 to the Oil Kings.

The Rockets sent Babcock, who is a sound 19-year-old defensive-defenceman, to the Blades and 17-year-old defenceman Ismail Abougouche to the Oil Kings. The Oil Kings sent 18-year-old defenceman Carter Kowalyk and a fourth round selection in the 2025 Prospects Draft to the Rockets.

Saskatoon had to make some give ups to acquire Suzdalev from the Regina Pats on December 31, 2023 and Minten from the Kamloops Blazers on November 24, 2023. In those two deals, the Blades dealt away three roster players, one list player and six Prospects Draft selections. That included sending the Blazers first round picks in 2024 and 2025 Prospects Drafts and the Pats a first round selection in 2026 Prospects Draft.

Alexander Suzdalev in action for the Blades this past Sunday.

With those moves, the Blades were able to get Minten, Suzdalev and a sixth round pick in the 2025 Prospects Draft.

The Blades didn’t have to give up near that much to get Armstrong from the Wenatchee Wild on October 10, 2023. Due to the fact Armstrong is a 20-year-old, the Blades set the Wild a third round selection in the 2025 Prospects Draft and a conditional sixth round pick in the 2027 Prospects Draft.

Saskatoon acquired 19-year-old defenceman Grayden Siepmann in a significant trade with the Calgary Hitmen on October 10, 2023 and 19-year-old defenceman Nicholas Andrusiak in a deal with the Red Deer Rebels for a fifth round pick in the 2025 Prospects Draft on December 12, 2023. Siepmann and Andrusiak have been solid and consistent since joining the Blades, and their experience has shown through.

With world juniors having wrapped up on January 5, the trade deadline in the rearview mirror and Molendyk having returned from healing up a fractured wrist, this past weekend was the first time the Blades had pretty much everyone on their roster available to be used. They were without two defencemen due upper body injuries in 18-year-old veteran Carter Herman (week-to-week) and rookie Morgan Tastad (day-to-day), who turned 18-years-old on January 10.

Egor Sidorov in action for the Blades this past Saturday.

Both Herman and Tastad can be everyday players, so they will add greatly to the Blades back end depth when they return.

In a 5-4 overtime win over the Victoria Royals this past Saturday and a 6-1 triumph over the Pats this past Sunday both at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades coaches mixed up their forward lines, especially in the clash with the Royals. The line of 19-year-old left-winger Rhett Melnyk, 18-year-old centre Misha Volotovskii and 18-year-old right-winger Rowan Calvert was the one unit that stayed together.

For the victory over the Pats, the Blades coaches put imports Suzdalev and Sidorov together on a line. The two had a strong pre-existing friendship before Suzdalev came over to the Blades. Wong centred the line with Suzdalev playing left wing and Sidorov on right wing.

Still, the Blades coaches have a number of line combinations to tinker with in order to find which forward units have the best chemistry.

For the next week, the Blades should be well tested due to the fact the number one rating in the CHL Top 10 Rankings should see them be a target foes get up a little extra for. The Blades are back at it on Wednesday, when they travel to Red Deer to take on the 22-13-1-4 Rebels (7 p.m. local time, Peavey Mart Centrium).

John Babcock plays for the Blades this past Saturday.

To the credit of the Blades coaches and management, they aren’t getting ahead of themselves. They know having a strong roster doesn’t guarantee success or a long playoff run. They just focus on what they have to do that day to their best of their abilities, and so far good results have followed.

Going forward, this will be a fun Blades team to watch. So far this season, the Blades have done a good job drawing younger fans who are often players on minor hockey teams in Saskatoon and area as the team has averaged 4,972 spectators over 18 home dates. The ground work the Blades players put in for years with elementary school visits and making guest coach appearances with minor hockey teams is paying off.

The youngsters bring a good healthy enthusiasm that creates a great atmosphere to the games. It is evident those Blades players on the ice are their heroes.

If you follow the lead of the youngsters as a ticket buyer, the SaskTel Centre is going to be a great place to be.

Rivalry Series game set for Feb. 7 in Saskatoon, other notes

Emily Clark walks out to the SaskTel Centre in November of 2018.

For the first time since 2018, the SaskTel Centre will get to play host one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.

On Wednesday, February 7 at 7 p.m., Canada’s senior national women’s hockey team will face the United States in Game 5 of the Rivalry Series. The U.S. leads the 2023-24 edition of the seven-game series 3-1 heading into Game 5 in Saskatoon.

Canada took Game 4 of the set 3-2 after a tiebreaking shootout back on December 16, 2023 at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia, Ont. Last season, the U.S. won the first three games of the series, but Canada rallied back taking the last four contests to capture the series win.

Canada’s roster will feature power forward and 28-year-old Saskatoon product Emily Clark. Clark has one goal over the first four games of the series. She is an assistant captain with Ottawa’s team in the PWHL and has played two games with the Ottawa side.

Clark is an alumna of the Saskatoon Stars Female Under-18 AAA Hockey Team.

The last time Canada and the U.S. played against each other in Saskatoon was back on November 10, 2018 in the championship game of the 4 Nations Cup tournament held at the SaskTel Centre. The U.S. claimed a 5-2 victory in that encounter.

Clark wasn’t able to play at that 4 Nations Cup due to an injured left leg.

• Saskatoon product Berkly Catton is having a sensational sophomore WHL season playing centre for the Spokane Chiefs. Appearing in all the Chiefs 39 games this season, Catton has posted 64 points coming off 27 goals and 37 assists to go with a plus-11 rating in the plus-minus department. Catton turned 18-years-old on Sunday. Entering play on Wednesday, he sits seventh in the WHL’s scoring race.
• Gavin McKenna is having an outstanding rookie season playing left wing for the Medicine Hat Tigers. In 36 games with the Tigers, McKenna has 52 points coming off 17 goals and 35 assists. McKenna turned 16-years-old on December 20, 2023. Due to his December birthday, McKenna will play two more full more seasons in the WHL before becoming eligible for the NHL Entry Draft in 2026.
• On January 9, I had new content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. I put together a feature on 16-year-old Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club skater Melissa Scutchings, who skated in the Canada Winter Games that ran February 18 to March 5, 2023 across Prince Edward Island. The piece on Scutchings can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo roundup that shows photos of some of the facilities at the Complex on January 3 when warm weather winter conditions still existed. The photo roundup also showed fun at the Indoor Training Centre. That post can be found by clicking right here.

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

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Blades have bandwagon ready

Saskatoon following up strong on stellar 2022-23 campaign

The Blades celebrate a win earlier this season.

When it comes to the Saskatoon Blades bandwagon, there will always be room for more.

So far this season, the Blades sit first in the WHL’s East Division and Eastern Conference with a 19-8-1 mark. They are providing a strong follow up to a stellar campaign in 2022-23.

Last season, the Blades finished fourth overall in the WHL and second overall in the Eastern Conference with a 48-15-4-1 record. They downed Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats in a tough first round series that went seven games and rallied from a 3-0 series deficit the take out the Red Deer Rebels in seven games in the second round.

With the series win against the Rebels, the Blades joined the 1996 Spokane Chiefs and the 2013 Kelowna Rockets as only teams to fall behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series and rally back to take the set in WHL history. Appearing in the Eastern Conference Championship Series for the first time since 1994, the Blades fell in four games to the Winnipeg Ice, who have since relocated to Wenatchee, Wash., and become the Wild.

In the current campaign, the Blades are 11-7-1 on the road having just completed a seven game road swing where they went 4-2-1. On that jaunt, the Blades played all six teams in the tough U.S. Division going 3-2-1 against those clubs. The road trip concluded on Friday, when “the Bridge City Bunch” downed the Hurricanes in Lethbridge 3-1.

The Blades are 8-1 at home, and are averaging 4,666 spectators per game. Saskatoon’s marketing department has tried to capitalize on the excitement created by last season’s playoff run to keep people coming back to the rink with some cool promotions.

Egor Sidorov fires a shot on goal.

One of those promotions was a $5 night, where tickets, beer and pizza were $5 all night long back on October 4. That promo saw the Blades draw 5,859 spectators to 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings on a Wednesday night.

While the Blades have to feel positive about the crowds they have been able to draw, they have a lot of room on the bandwagon for anyone who wants to jump on board. If you haven’t been on the Blades bandwagon this season or haven’t had a chance due to the hustle and bustle of life, now would be a great time to jump on board.

The Blades have a number of returning veterans who have a strong identification with the team in captain Trevor Wong, Egor Sidorov, Brandon Lisowsky, Tanner Molendyk and Charlie Wright.

Wong, who is playing in his swan song 20-year-old season in the WHL, leads the Blades in scoring with 43 points coming off six goals and 37 assists to go with a plus-12 rating in the plus-minus department. The skilled centre currently sits sixth overall in the WHL scoring race.

Sidorov has posted 25 goals, 10 assists and a plus-six rating in 26 games so far this season. The import right-winger sits second in the WHL in goals.

Star left-winger Brandon Lisowsky is in pursuit of a third straight season where he scored 30-or-more goals. So far this season, Lisowsky, who was selected in the seventh round and 218^th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, has 16 goals, 15 assists and a plus-eight rating.

Brandon Lisowsky is going for a third straight 30-goal season.

Tanner Molendyk might be the smoothest skating defenceman in the WHL. He has four goals, 23 assists and a plus-20 rating in 23 games with the Blades this season. Molendyk has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators.

Charlie Wright is a 20-year-old defenceman who has been with the Blades since the 2019-20 campaign, and he has made a name for himself with his solid work in the defensive zone. He has three goals, 15 assists and a plus-one rating so far this season.

The Blades have been solid in goal. Austin Elliott is the 19-year-old veteran star who has posted a 13-4-1 record, a 2.56 goals against average, a .907 save percentage and one shutout in 20 appearances.

Evan Gardner is a 17-year-old who is finding his stride in the league. He has posted a 6-4 record, a 2.04 goals against average, a .928 save percentage and two shutouts in 10 appearances.

Veteran underrated Blades general manager Colin Priestner has worked to bolster his club’s roster as the season has progressed. Saskatoon has acquired 20-year-old right-winger Easton Armstrong, 19-year-old right-winger Rhett Melnyk, 19-year-old defenceman Grayden Siepmann and 18-year-old defenceman Carter Herman via the trade route.

Saskatoon’s biggest pickup might have been 19-year-old centre Fraser Minten in a deal made on November 24 with the Kamloops Blazers. Minten has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tanner Molendyk is a smooth skating offensive-defenceman.

In order to acquire Minten, the Blades sent the Blazers 18-year-old centre Jordan Keller, a first round selection and a fourth round pick in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft and a first round selection in the 2025 Prospects Draft.

The Blades play an exciting brand of hockey where they transition up and down the ice well under the guidance of an outstanding coaching staff that contains head coach Brennan Sonne, associate coach Dan Da Silva, assistant coach Wacey Rabbit and forever assistant coach Jerome Engele.

Saskatoon’s fan following over the years had been a dynamic and fluid one. You have supporters that are both ultra-passionate fans and legacy fans.

It can be argued that the majority of Blades fans are causal supporters, who balance going to games with the various other demands of life or new fans, who have just discovered going to games. 

Last year, the Blades pretty good job of keeping the casual fans engaged and going to games. It takes an influx of casual fans for the Blades to post their biggest attendance numbers during a campaign.

Still, the Blades give a tonne of reasons by their strong play on the ice for fans to come out to games. They return to action on Friday, when they host the Rebels at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre. That contest will be the Blades “Pride Night” game, which has been popular each of the past two seasons.

Trevor Wong (#38) skates away after giving a young fan a stick.

The Blades have a team that will make the cold winter nights seem not so cold. If you pass up the chance to go to their games, you will definitely be missing out.

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

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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.