Blades’ Dach melts Ice with three-point night

Kirby Dach had a goal and two assists for the Blades on Wednesday night.

    For a short time, it appeared Kirby Dach was going spoil his own big night.

    On Wednesday in Cranbrook, B.C., Dach’s Saskatoon Blades held a 2-1 third period lead over the host Kootenay Ice. With his team working on the power play, the rookie centre accidentally turned the puck over to Ice winger Cameron Hausinger.

    Hausinger sprung linemate Brett Davis on a breakaway, and he capitalized with his 21^st goal of the campaign to tie things up at 2-2 with 6:27 to play in the frame.

    Dach ensured Davis’s short-handed goal wouldn’t be a turning point in the contest. With 2:48 to play in the third, Dach entered the Kootenay zone on a two-on-one break.

    He fed a setup pass over to right-winger Michael Farren, who popped home the deciding tally in the Blades 3-2 victory before 2,022 spectators at Western Financial Place.

    Dach returned to the Saskatoon lineup having missed one game after being banged up from receiving a hit from behind by Prince Albert Raiders winger Parker Kelly during a Blades 6-3 victory at the SaskTel Centre on Saturday.

    Against the Ice on Wednesday, the Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., product had one of his better nights outside of the third period turnover playing a part in manufacturing all three of the Blades goals.

    At the 9:25 mark of the first, Dach, who turned 17 in January, wired home a shot to the top right corner of the Kootenay goal to give the Blades a 1-0 lead.

    The Blades increased their edge to 2-0 on the Ice at the 4:16 mark of the second, when defenceman Dawson Davidson beat Kootenay netminder Matt Berlin with a low shot on the power play. Dach picked up an assist on that tally.

Michael Farren scored the winning goal for the Blades on Wednesday night.

    Before the second ended, the Ice cut the Blades edge to 2-1, when overage right-winger Colton Veloso one-timed home his 20^th goal of the season with Kootenay working on the power play. Veloso hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his WHL career having spent the past two full seasons with the Portland Winterhawks.

    That set the stage for the dramatics inside of the final seven minutes of the third period.

    Rookie Nolan Maier, who turned 17 in January, turned away 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Blades. Berlin stopped 24 shots to take the setback in goal for the Ice, who fell to 24-31-3.

Before Wednesday’s game, the Blades had lost their five previous road games, with their last road win being a 3-2 overtime victory over the Rebels in Red Deer on Jan. 13. Saskatoon now has a 12-14-2-1 record on the road this season.

    Overall, the Blades have won three straight to improve to 29-26-2-1 to hold a six-point edge over the Prince Albert Raiders (22-23-9-2) for the second wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Raiders have two games in hand on the Blades.

    Saskatoon trails the Memorial Cup hosting Regina Pats (29-24-5-1) by three points for the Eastern Conference’s first wildcard spot and the Brandon Wheat Kings (30-21-3-2) by four points for third in the East Division. The Blades have a game in hand on the Pats. The Wheat Kings have two games in hand on the Blades.

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when they travel to Lethbridge to take on the Hurricanes (26-24-6).

Back in the Express with Vance

Jessica Vance had a spectacular regular season for the Huskies.

    I was back in the pages of the Saskatoon Express this week with a feature story on netminder Jessica Vance of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team.

    The 20-year-old Prince Albert, Sask., product had an outstanding season playing goal for the Huskies. Vance had nine shutouts during the regular season which ties former University of Pandas netminder Stacey McCullough for the second most shutouts ever recorded in the Canada West Conference in one U Sports regular season. McCullough posted nine shutouts in the 2000-01 campaign.

    Lindsey Post, who is another former Pandas netminder, holds the Canada West record for most shutouts in one U Sports regular season at 10 recorded in the 2014-15 campaign.

    In 2017-18, 54 of the 112 regular season games played in the Canada West Conference for women’s hockey ended in shutouts, and the Huskies posted 12 total shutouts as a team in the campaign to equal a Canada West Conference team record for one season. The Pandas also posted 12 shutouts coming in the 2008-09 campaign.

    Besides leading the Canada West Conference in shutouts, Vance posted a 14-3-1 record, a 0.77 goals against average and a .964 save percentage. Vance topped the Canada West Conference with the most wins and the best save percentage.

    Thanks to Vance, the Huskies finished second in Canada West with a 19-7-2 record. The win total was a regular season team record for the Huskies. Before the current campaign, U of S last finished second in Canada West in the 2013-14 campaign posting an 18-4-6 mark.

    The Huskies will host a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series from Feb. 23 to 25 at the ancient Rutherford Rink. Games 1 and 2 are set for a 1:30 p.m. start on Feb. 23 and 24 respectively.

    The story on Vance can be found 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 hold off late Ice rally

Right-winger Michael Farren (#27) scored twice for the Blades in their win on Tuesday.

    The Saskatoon Blades likely didn’t want things to get that dramatic on the ice.

    On Tuesday night at the SaskTel Centre, the Blades put together one of their better outings. They appeared poised to cruise to victory holding a 4-1 lead on the visiting Kootenay Ice with three minutes to play in the third.

    The Ice proceeded to score two goals in a span of 52 seconds to cut the Blades edge to 4-3 with 1:54 to play in the third.

Chase Wouters sealed the Blades win with an empty-net goal.

    The drama came to an end when Blades centre Chase Wouters scored into an empty net just inside of the final 55 seconds of the third to cement a 5-3 victory for the host side in the WHL regular season clash played before 2,861 spectators.

    “I saw them score the first goal, and I was a little bit upset about that,” said Blades right-winger Michael Farren. “Then they got the second, and we all kind of knew right there we kind of have to flip the switch.

    “The game is not over until the last buzzer. We did that, and we ended up holding on to the win.”

    Had the Ice completed the comeback, it would have dampened the fact that Farren had arguably his best outing of the campaign. The 17-year-old Surrey, B.C., product scored twice to account for his first multipoint night of the season.

    At the 2:47 mark of the second, Farren potted the rebound from a Max Gerlach shot for a power-play goal to give the Blades a 1-0 lead. 

Blades LW Eric Florchuk, left, battles Ice C Peyton Krebs for the puck.

    After Ice captain Colton Kroeker scored to tie things up a 1-1, Farren deflected home a shot from Blades Russian import defenceman Mark Rubinchik to put the host side up 2-1 at the 7:33 mark of the second.

    Farren, who is in his second WHL season, scored both of his goals by driving to the net. He said he wasn’t overly consumed with doing that, but with the way the game played out, he ended up going hard to the Ice goal.

    “I think I just tried to play my game,” said Farren. “Luckily, it (success) happened to me, so I am pretty grateful for it. I think I should start going there more.”

    Last season, Farren turned some heads appearing in 63 games with the Blades as a 16-year-old rookie netting eight goals and 22 assists. The offensive numbers haven’t come as frequently this season as Farren has six goals and five assists in 45 appearances.

Max Gerlach had a goal for the Blades.

    In hopes of helping Farren find some confidence, Blades head coach Dean Brockman put the sophomore forward on a line centred by Kirby Dach along with Eric Florchuk on left wing. Brockman was pleased to see Farren pick up two solid tallies with that move.

    “He (Farren) had such a good year last year,” said Brockman. “He was having a tough year.

    “We are just trying to gain him some confidence as we are going down the stretch. Obviously, we talked to him a lot. We can’t play for him, so it was great to see him get a couple.”

    Before the second period ended, centre Brad Goethals scored a short-handed goal for the Blades tucking home the rebound from a shot taken by Dach.

    At the 5:12 mark of the third, 19-year-old right-winger Max Gerlach found himself on a breakaway and laser beamed a shot home to the top right corner of the Kootenay goal to put the Blades up 4-1.

    The Blades had such good control of the contest that they actively tried to set Farren up for a hat trick goal while working on a power-play chance that came shortly after the halfway point of the third.

    When everything seemed secure, the Ice comeback attempt took off. Kootenay right-winger Colton Veloso scored with 2:46 remaining in the third to cut the Blades lead to 4-2. Veloso proceeded to set up standout rookie centre Peyton Krebs for another Ice tally just 52 seconds later to cut the Blades lead to 4-3.

Josh Paterson, right, drives a shot on goal for the Blades.

    That set the stage for Wouters to ice the game.

    Nolan Maier turned away 21 shots to pick up the win in goal for Saskatoon.
    The Blades improved to 26-25-2-1 to sit two points up on the Prince Albert Raiders (21-20-9-2) in holding the second wildcard spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. The Raiders have two games in hand on the Blades.

    Matt Berlin, who turned 20-year-old in January, turned away 29-of-33 shots to take the setback in goal for the Ice, who sit third in the Central Division with a 23-27-3 record.
    The Ice were without 17-year-old rookie goalie Duncan McGovern, who was sitting out a one-game league imposed suspension for taking a match penalty in the Ice’s 5-3 loss at home to the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday.

The Blades celebrate their win on Tuesday.

    The Blades ended a two-game losing skid with their win on Tuesday. Brockman said his club’s performance was much better than in their last outing, when they traveled to Prince Albert last Friday and fell to the Raiders 5-2.

    “Our effort level was I think up from the last game in P.A. for sure,” said Brockman. “Certainly, there is a long ways to go. A win is a win, and we need wins.

    “We are just going to try and consume ourselves with us. I think that is the most important thing right now.”

    The Blades return to action on Friday, when they travel to Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings (29-19-3-2).

Back in the Express with Maier

Nolan Maier makes a glove stop for the Blades on Tuesday.

    I was back in the Saskatoon Express this week with a feature on Saskatoon Blades rookie sensation Nolan Maier.

    Maier, who turned 17-year-old on January 10, has had an outstanding first season playing goal for the Blades. In 29 regular season games, the Yorkton, Sask., product had posted a 17-10-1 record, a 3.24 goals against average, a .902 save percentage and two shutouts.

    He joined the Blades permanently on a full-time basis last Nov. 14 after playing for Team Canada Black at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge held jointly in Dawson Creek and Fort St.  John, B.C.
    The Express story on Maier can be found 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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    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.