Molleken to get deserved banner night from Blades

Lorne Molleken mans the Blades bench on March 1, 2013. (Steve Hiscock/Saskatoon Blades)

Lorne Molleken was genuinely “all in” when it came to trying to take the Saskatoon Blades franchise to new heights.

Having spent 14 seasons with the WHL club over two different stints in the roles of head coach and general manager, Molleken authentically cared about the hockey team, his players and Saskatoon as a city. The emotion could be seen during his farewell press conference in late March of 2014 when he mutually parted ways with the team that just finished its first season under the ownership of the Priestner family.

The always classy Molleken said at that farewell presser the time had come to shake hands and move on and that there were no hard feelings. He was doing his part in clearing the way for the new owners to properly put their stamp on the team.

On Friday, the Blades will honour their all-time leader in head coaching victories as the 65-year-old Molleken will have a builder’s banner raised to the rafter of the SaskTel Centre before the club’s regular season finale against the Brandon Wheat Kings set for 7 p.m. The game should be a good one too as the Blades sit fifth overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 37-26-3-1 record with the Wheat Kings sitting sixth overall in the conference with a 35-26-3-2 mark.

Molleken will forever be linked with some of the Blades best days under the ownership of the Brodsky family working alongside Rick and then Jack. Jack Brodsky would quickly become a lifetime best friend.

During his first stint with the Blades from 1991 to 1995, Molleken served as the Blades head coach as another one of his lifetime best friends in Daryl Lubiniecki toiled in the role of general manager.

That group of men took the Blades to the WHL Championship Series on two occasions in 1992 and 1994. In both appearances, the Blades fell in a series deciding Game 7 to the dynasty Kamloops Blazers.

The Blazers of that era are still viewed as having hit the ice with some of the best teams ever seen in the history of major junior hockey winning the WHL championship and Memorial Cup as CHL champions in 1992, 1994 and 1995.

Had the Blades been able to best the Blazers in one of those Game 7 encounters in the WHL Final in 1992 or 1994, there could well have been a Memorial Cup championship parade through downtown Saskatoon.

The deep playoff runs and success the Blades were having saw Molleken depart to the professional ranks following the 1994-95 campaign. He ultimately served as head coach of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks for the last part of the 1998-99 season and the first part of the 1999-2000 campaign.

The Regina product returned to the WHL to serve as head coach of his hometown Pats when they hosted the Memorial Cup in the 2000-01 campaign. He departed to the professional ranks again after that season, but came back to the WHL part way through the 2002-03 campaign as general manager of the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Lorne Molleken gives instructions on the Blades bench in Oct. 2012

After the 2002-03 season wrapped up, Molleken return to the professional ranks as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins before Jack Brodsky brought him back to his true WHL home naming Molleken the Blades head coach and general manager for the start of the 2004-05 campaign.

Molleken served as head coach and general manager through to the end of the 2012-13 season after the Blades hosted the Memorial Cup. The Blades were sold from the Brodsky to the Priestner family during the 2013 off-season, and Molleken stayed on for one more campaign just as the general manager with Dave Struch handling the duties of head coach.

Struch was one of Molleken’s former star overage players from the 1991-92 campaign.

During Molleken’s second stint, the Blades topped the WHL’s East Division three times. They finished first overall in the WHL in 2010-11 posting the franchise’s best ever record at 56-13-1-2.

The regular season success didn’t translate into post-season success as Molleken’s second stint was littered with first and second round playoff exits.

Molleken’s combined 14 seasons with the Blades ultimate shows that life can be unfair. He put in a true and honest effort to build a team in Saskatoon that went all the way.

The Blades had teams that were good enough to go all the way in Molleken’s days. With that said, it is hard to win in the WHL, and there are lots of times in the sports world where ultimate victory just doesn’t get achieved.

The Blades with Molleken came incredibly close with those Game 7 WHL Championship Series losses in 1992 and 1994. The frustration was compounded when the Blades weren’t able to return to the WHL Final during Molleken’s second stint with the team.

There were times over the last four seasons Molleken spent with the Blades where fan criticism got extremely loud and sometimes was unfair.

Molleken might have been the most disappointed the ultimate victory never came with the Blades. He would always say he understood the fan disappointment and that not winning the WHL title and a Memorial Cup felt like those missing things.

Molleken had a 539-325-58 regular season record with 23 ties over his career as the Blades head coach. He deserved to enjoy one WHL title and one Memorial Cup win with the Brodsky family along with Lubiniecki.

While navigating all the ups and downs, Molleken always gave solid and accurate post-game interviews win or lose every game that often recognized the fact two teams were out there trying to win a hockey game. He often credited the opponents for what they were able to do to get wins or how well the opponents played when the Blades won.

Lorne Molleken makes a plea from the Blades bench in Oct. 2012.

It is common to run into numerous former Blades players that will say no matter where they went in hockey that Molleken was the best coach they ever had. While Molleken pushed for old school work ethic, accountability and discipline, he combined it with new school caring for his players, which wasn’t always seen in the sport at the start of Molleken’s coaching career.

Molleken was a players’ coach and the players were his boys. You could see that in the excitement he had when he delivered the starting lineups before games.

If you allow him, Molleken can tell numerous stories of the great memories he has of the quality players and people he coached.

The list of players he worked with included the likes of Norm Maracle, Ryan Fujita, Rhett Warrener, Struch, the late Wade Belak, Frank Banham and Andy MacIntyre in his first stint to Devin Setoguchi, Derek Hulak, Braden Holtby, Connor Cox, Darren Dietz and Nelson Nogier in his second stint. That list of names could obviously be much more lengthy.

Molleken always had his players’ backs and would go to old school lengths to ensure they were protected, if the opposition took liberties on them.

That was best shown when Red Deer Rebels right-winger Josh Cowen ran Blades netminder Steven Stanford inside the final minute of Game 2 of a first round playoff series on March 21, 2010 at the SaskTel Centre. When that incident occurred, the contest was already decided as the Blades were up by the 4-0 final score.

On the ensuing faceoff after Stanford got hit, Molleken sent out his five toughest players who went after the Rebels skaters on the ice starting a line brawl right after puck drop. Molleken was ensuring a message was sent that any cheap shots like the one Stanford took weren’t going to be tolerated.

During the brawl, Molleken was getting in a verbal confrontation with the Red Deer coaches. Of course, suspensions galore resulted from the extracurriculars.

Molleken always carried a line of tough guys to protect the team due to the fact he was worried that there were still too many pure old school coaches in the WHL even near the end of his time with the Blades.

If the opponent played straight up, Molleken ensured his team played straight up. While Blades followers often like to talk about the sexy stories like the brawl against the Rebels, the Blades under Molleken usually had quite a bit of skill on their first three lines and could play some fantastic wide open offensive hockey.

After leaving the Blades, Molleken, who sits fourth on the WHL’s career regular season head coaching wins list with 626 victories, worked one more season in the WHL as the head coach of the Vancouver Giants in 2015-16 before leaving the major junior ranks all together. He is still involved in the game serving as the director of coach development of the Prairie Hockey Academy.

While he no longer works for the Blades, Molleken has popped back into the SaskTel Centre every now and then to see the Blades play. When he pops in, Molleken will often be sitting with Jack Brodsky and Lubiniecki sharing stories about the good old days.

Molleken will be viewed as the greatest coach the Blades ever had until a bench boss comes along and oversees the Blades winning their first WHL title and Memorial Cup. Whenever that happens, you can bet Molleken would be the first person that wants to shake that coach’s hand.

Lorne Molleken, right, with Jack Brodsky on March 5, 2013.

As time moves on, Molleken might hold the distinction of being the classiest coach and general manager the Blades ever had. He raised the bar for the franchise in so many ways on and off the ice that it is only fitting the team honours him by raising a builder’s banner to the rafters of their home rink.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. All photos in this post are courtesy Steve Hiscock/Saskatoon Blades. Stanks’ Sermon passes on a huge thanks to Hiscock for the photos of Molleken.

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Bedard’s arrival will be a reward for Pats head coach Struch

Head coach Dave Struch mans the Pats bench on March 6.

    Finally, Dave Struch is going to get a break as a WHL head coach.

    Struch is currently holding down his second opportunity as a WHL head coach working behind the bench of the world’s oldest major junior hockey franchise in the Regina Pats. On June 28, 2018, Struch was promoted from Pats assistant coach and assistant general manager to head coach and assistant general manager.

    Normally, the opportunity would be seen as a golden one outside of the fact that Pats were about to enter a massive rebuild after hosting the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup – in May of 2018.

    The storyline proved to be similar to when Struch took on his first WHL head coaching position in 2013-14, when he worked behind the bench of the Saskatoon Blades.

    Struch served as a Blades assistant coach for seven seasons from 2006 to 2013. On June 19, 2013, he was promoted from assistant coach to head coach.

    The Blades had just hosted the Memorial Cup in May of 2013 and were about to embark on a massive rebuild.

    On top of that, Jack Brodsky sold the team to Mike Priestner in early September of 2013. As a result of those factors, Struch lasted one season as head coach with Priestner and his management group electing to take the Blades in a different direction following the 2013-14 campaign.

Dave Struch give orders on the Pats bench as an AC on Jan. 7, 2017.

    In both situations, Struch was put in a situation where he had to utilize his existing players in a way that covered up each teams’ deficiencies as best as possible. That equalled to pushing an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars uphill.

    The Blades were 16-51-2-3 in their one campaign with Struch as head coach.

    The Pats were 19-45-1-3 in 2018-19 in their first season with Struch as head coach. They showed some improvement going 21-34-6-2 before the remainder of this past season was called off due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    In Regina, Struch is afforded a bigger lease on life as the Pats didn’t go through an ownership change when he became head coach. When he was the Pats assistant coach and assistant general manager, Struch worked beside John Paddock, who held the titles of head coach, general manager and vice-president of hockey operations.

    Paddock relinquished the role of head coach to Struch on June 28, 2018, while holding on to the roles of general manager and vice-president of hockey operations.

HC Dave Struch oversees action from the Pats bench on Feb. 5.

    Struch’s biggest break as a head coach came this past March 25 at the WHL Bantam Draft Lottery, when the Pats obtained the first overall selection in the WHL Bantam Draft that will be held in an online format on Wednesday.

    One day earlier, bantam hockey phenom Connor Bedard became the first player ever to be granted exceptional player status to play in the WHL on a full-time basis as a 15-year-old. The Pats have said they intend to select Bedard with that first overall pick.

    Bedard, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 165-pounds, played forward for West Vancouver Academy’s under-18 team this past season in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League piling up 43 goals and 41 assists for 84 points in 36 games.

    As Struch continues to guide the Pats fortunes on the ice during their rebuild, he will officially have a legitimate high-end star player to work with come Wednesday.

    During his one season as head coach of the Blades, Struch did have import winger Nikita Scherbak as an 18-year-old forward, but he was the only high-end player on that team. Scherbak would be selected in the first round and 26^th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

    Ultimately, Scherbak proved more valuable to the Blades during their rebuild for the assets they gained in trading him to the Everett Silvertips.

The 2019-20 Midget Prep Division Most Valuable Player:

Connor Bedard, @WestVanWarriors pic.twitter.com/qiFIExpsL2

— CSSHL (@CSSHL) March 4, 2020

    The Pats could potentially have Bedard for three or more seasons, which means he could be a key block for the team to build around.

    For Struch, he will have a more realistic shot to show how good of a coach he actually is.

    The Flin Flon, Man., product had always been one of the WHL’s good guys dating back to his time as a standout centre with the Blades over four seasons from 1988 to 1992. During that time, the Blades fell in the final as the host team of the 1989 Memorial Cup and fell in Game 7 of the WHL Championship series to the Kamloops Blazers in 1992. The Blazers went on to win that year’s Memorial Cup.

The rebuilding Pats celebrated a few wins under HC Dave Struch.

    As a coach, Struch is a bench boss that is a players’ coach, who remains energetic and positive even when times seem dark. He is also very competitive and players buy in when they see he is a good guy who has that competitive streak.

    He played a big role in helping the Blades post a 288-179-15-22 regular season record serving as an assistant coach for seven seasons. Struch joined the Pats at the start of the 2014-15 campaign as an assistant coach working on the bench with Paddock and was later given the role of assistant general manager.

    Together on the bench from 2014-18, the Pats posted a 165-89-21-13 regular season record over four seasons.

    Struch played a major role in helping the Pats achieve the success they did over that time that included a magical 2016-17 campaign that saw the Pats top the WHL regular season standings with a 52-12-7-1 record.

    The Pats advanced to the WHL championship series falling in six games to the Seattle Thunderbirds that season. That Regina side contained a host of stars that included the likes of Adam Brooks, Sam Steel, Dawson Leedahl, Connor Hobbs, Nick Henry, Austin Wagner, Josh Mahura, Filip Ahl, Jake Leschyshyn and Tyler Brown.

Dave Struch appears set to enjoy better times as the Pats head coach.

    Struch played a huge part in helping the Pats reach the final of the 2018 Memorial Cup tournament as the host side fell 3-0 to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

    The 49-year-old Struch hasn’t lost the magic touch behind the bench. As a WHL head coach, he has helped below average players become average or better than average players.

    When the Pats pick Bedard, Struch will get the chance to make a star player reach new heights as a person and player that athlete never thought were possible.

    Combined with some of the higher end younger talent the Pats have gained in their rebuild, the veteran bench boss will finally have a way more realistic shot to find success in the wins department as a head coach.

Hilltops swarm CJFL all-decade team on offence, other notes

Jared Andreychuk (#5) fires a pass downfield for the Hilltops in 2016.

    Having won nine of the last 10 Canadian Junior Football League titles including the last six in a row, it comes as no surprise that five members of the Saskatoon Hilltops were named to the circuit’s all-decade team on offence.

    The CJFL had been determining its all-decade team via a fan vote over the last four weeks for the period of years from 2010 to 2019. The Hilltops won three straight CJFL titles capturing the Canadian Bowl from 2010 to 2012 and the last six straight championships starting in 2014.

    On Saturday, the offensive members of the all-decade team were announced via the CJFL’s Instagram account.

    Jared Andreychuk was selected at quarterback garnering  54 per cent of the fan votes, which were the most for that position. Andreychuk played for the Hilltops from 2012 to 2016.

Kirk Simonsen, middle, pass protects for the Hilltops in 2017.

    He was a backup signal caller during the Hilltops 2012 CJFL championship campaign and was the starting quarterback for three straight Canadian Bowls from 2014 to 2016. Andreychuk posted a perfect 9-0 record in his CJFL post-season career and was a classic composed “this is how things are going to get done” leader.

    At running back, the Hilltops took two out of three selections with Logan Fischer and Andre Lalonde finding their way on to the all-decade team. Fischer collected 48 per cent of the fan votes, and Lalonde had 41 per cent of the fan votes.

    Fischer played for the Hilltops from 2013 to 2017 and was a member of four straight CJFL championship teams from 2014 to 2017.

    Lalonde, who is now a Hilltops running backs coach, picked up 41 per cent of the fan votes playing for the team from 2009 to 2013. He was a member of three straight CJFL championship wins from 2010 to 2012.

Mason Ochs (#73) gets set to make a block last season.

    In 2013, Lalonde set the Hilltops record for most rushing yards in one regular season that still stands carrying the ball 182 times for 1,367 yards and seven touchdowns in eight regular season games. He was the CJFL’s offensive player of the year and a first team all-Canadian all-star that season.

    Right tackle Kirk Simonsen and left tackle Mason Ochs were the final two Hilltops members named to the CJFL’s all-decade team on the offensive side of the ball.

    Simonsen collected 36 per cent of the fans votes. He played for the Hilltops from 2014 to 2018 and was part of the first group of eight Hilltops players to win five straight CJFL titles.

    Ochs is still an active member with the Hilltops helping them win CJFL titles in each of the past four seasons. He attended training camp with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders last year. Ochs has one year of CJFL eligibility remaining.

• The WHL continued to list its major award winner online. On Thursday Dylan Guenther, who is a 16-year-old left-winger with the Edmonton Oil Kings, was named the rookie of the year for the Eastern Conference collected 26 goals, 33 assists and a plus-26 rating in the plus-minus department in 58 regular season games. Logan Stankoven, who is a 16-year-old centre from the Kamloops Blazers, took home honours as the Western Conference rookie of the year. Stankoven had 29 goals, 19 assists and a plus-25 rating in 59 regular season games. On Friday, overager Czech import Jiri Patera was named the Eastern Conference goaltender of the year. Patera posted a 24-12-4 record, a 2.55 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and five shutouts playing 41 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Dustin Wolf of the Everett Silvertips was named the Western Conference’s goaltender of the year. As an 18-year-old last season, Wolf posted a 34-10-2 record, a 1.88 goals against average, a .935 save percentage and nine shutouts.
• The Prince Albert Raiders continued to roll out their team awards this week. The Lionel Diehl Memorial Award as the hardest working player went to 18-year-old centre Matthew Culling on Thursday. Also on Thursday, the Best Conditioned Raider award went to 17-year-old left-winger Evan Herman. On Friday, the Ches Leach Award as the most improved player went to 19-year-old centre Spencer Moe and the Best Defensive Forward award went to co-winners in overage right-winger Brayden Watts and 18-year-old right-winger Reese Vitelli. On Saturday, the George Cowie Award as rookie of the year was handed out to 18-year-old centre Ilya Usau, and the Jim Neilson Award as most valuable defenceman went to co-winners in overage captain Zack Hayes and 17-year-old sophomore Kaiden Guhle.
• On Thursday, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan announced its 2020 program has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival was slated to start in the middle of June and run through to the end of August. There is hope some late in the season programming could be held.
• On Friday, the organizers of the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival said this year’s event has been postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Saskatchewan Jazz Festival is held annually in Saskatoon and was slated to be held July 3 to 12 this year in “The Bridge City.” Organizers are hoping to hold a music festival later in the year.
• On Thursday, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported Saskatoon Minor Football cancelled all of its spring programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A City of Saskatoon order has suspended all sports field rentals and won’t approve any outdoor special events up to June 30.
• On Thursday, Softball Canada announced it was extending the suspension of all its activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic until May 31. Softball Canada started its suspension of activities on March 16. On Thursday, Softball Saskatchewan extended the suspension of all its sanction activities until May 15. Softball Saskatchewan posted a question and answer sheet online that can be found right here.
• As shutdown measures have been instituted in Canada and North American since March 11, it appears and emerging theme in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis appears to see the health officials finding themselves at odds with the economists. The health officials want to save as many live as possible and want shutdown to go on foreseeably into September of 2021. For the economists, a shutdown to September of 2021 can’t realistically happen noting there will be massive closures of businesses and massive amounts of people heading to poverty long before getting to September of 2021 adding things can become dire in three to five months time. On the health front, that scenario will likely lead to an increase of suicides and domestic violence. Right now, officials are trying to find the route that is the least bad one, but there will be “bad” with any route that is taken.
• On Saturday, the Saskatoon Contacts announced Dale Lambert has been hired as the team’s new head coach. Lambert, who is 60-years-old, had a lengthy playing career in England. He replaces long time Contacts head coach March Chartier.

    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 playoff return marks sweet night at SaskTel Centre

Max Gerlach (#9) hugs goalie Dorrin Luding after Saturday’s win.

    Two recent near misses made Saturday night that much more sweet for the Saskatoon Blades and their fans.

    On Saturday, the Blades ensured they will make their long awaited return to the WHL playoffs locking up a post-season berth with a 4-3 regular season victory after a tiebreaking shootout over the visiting Kootenay Ice at the SaskTel Centre. Saskatoon will be part of the WHL post-season for the first time since 2013.

    Going into that contest with the Ice, the Blades and their fans knew they would clinch a playoff berth with a win and either a regulation loss that night by either the Brandon Wheat Kings or the Red Deer Rebels.

Dorrin Luding (#31) stops the final shooter in the shootout.

    The Wheat Kings were in Prince Albert taking on the Raiders, while the Rebels were hosting the Edmonton Oil Kings in Red Deer.

    Due to the fact we live in an age when people can get instant information on their mobile phones, it is safe to say most of the 4,334 in attendance at the SaskTel Centre knew the Wheat Kings were getting drubbed by the Raiders 7-1.

    The Blades were up on the Ice 3-1 going into the third period only to have the Ice rally to tie things up at 3-3 and force overtime. As fate would have it, the standings point the Blades gained going to extra time would give them a playoff spot. The fact Rebels fell to the Oil Kings 5-2 cemented that scenario.

Chase Wouters was floating on air after Saturday’s win.

    Still, it made the celebrations of returning to the post-season feel that much better for those in the building, when the Blades pulled out the win taking a tiebreaking shootout 1-0 on a goal from rookie left-winger Kyle Crnkovic.

    Had the Blades lost in extra time to go to the post-season, it would have made the night feel incomplete. People would have likely dwelled on the fact the Blades still ultimately lost.

    After getting the win, it seemed like everyone was in a type of joyful mood that hadn’t been seen for some time in a Blades game at the SaskTel Centre. The moment had a special feeling in the air.

    For the current Blades players, coaches, trainers, hockey staff and front office staff, there was a sense of accomplishment. Getting to the playoffs is one of those tangible pieces of proof that validates all the hard work it took to get to that point.

Kirby Dach turns up ice for the Blades on Saturday night.

    The Priestner family had to be feeling all sorts of emotions, when the Blades locked down their playoff berth.

    Edmonton product Mike Priestner bought the Blades from Jack Brodsky before the start of the 2013-14 campaign. The new regime faced a major rebuilding project due to the fact the Blades’ future was mortgaged to stock the team with a roster worthy of hosting the Memorial Cup in 2013 and a major trade that brought star hometown product Brayden Schenn to the club in the 2010-11 campaign.

    Mike’s son, Colin, began working with the team almost immediately and took over the role of general manager before the start of the 2016-17 campaign.

Blades fans participate in a game during a stoppage.

    It was almost a given the first couple of seasons would be lame duck campaigns as the rebuild got underway under Mike Priestner’s ownership. In the 2013-14 season, the Blades finished with a 16-51-2-3 record for 37 points in the standings. The road back to respectability was going to be a long one.

    The first legitimate chance the Blades had to return to the playoffs came in the 2016-17 season.

The Blades celebrate a goal from Reece Harsch (#52).

    They posted a 28-35-7-2 record to sit five points behind the Calgary Hitmen (30-32-8-2) for the second and final wildcard berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference in that campaign after a slump inside of the team’s final 11 games.

    The 2017-18 campaign proved to be more heartbreaking. The Blades posted a 35-33-3-1 regular season record to fall three points shy of the Prince Albert Raiders (32-27-9-4) for the second and final wildcard berth in the Eastern Conference. Again struggles in the final 11 games of the regular season caused a playoff berth to be missed.

Zach Huber, middle, breaks in on a scoring chance.

    The memories of those disappointments made Saturday’s win over the Ice that much more sweet.

Blades mascot Poke Check was posing for pictures with happy fans.

    Blades captain Chase Wouters, who is in his third full season with the Blades, seemed to be walking on air after the game. His wide smile was infectious.

    The moment was a great one for Blades 19-year-old netminder Dorrin Luding. Last June, the Blades acquired Luding in a trade with the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Clayton Kroeker rocks an “Uncle Gary” T-shirt.

    He knew he was coming in to backup sophomore star Nolan Maier, but Luding was pumped to be on a team that had potential to do great things. He became popular in the dressing, and as a huge bonus, he started against the Ice making 34 saves over 65 minutes and turning away all three shooters he faced in the shootout to get the win.

    Right now, Luding wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but Saskatoon.

    Crnkovic, who turned 17-years-old earlier this month, seemed to still be wide-eyed taking in the realization of what went down on Saturday during post-game interviews.

    Even first year head coach Mitch Love allowed himself exit his coached focused persona to loosen up and say he was excited about the fact the Blades will be back in the playoffs.

Ryan Hughes sets up for a scoring chance for the Blades.

    What might be even cooler is the fact the Blades aren’t just scraping into the playoffs. At 38-14-8, they currently sit fourth overall in the WHL standings. They are one of the WHL’s elite clubs.

Since bringing back their traditional Pac-Man jerseys as their full-time look before the start of the 2017-18 campaign, the Blades are 73-47-11-1.

    For the longest time during the lean years in the rebuild, Blades president Steve Hogle received a tonne of credit for helping create some great promotions around home games. The hockey side of the team’s operations longed to have the good on ice product to go with those promotions.

    Now, the Blades have a total package. They also have a very likable and great group of players to follow too, and six of them have cool novelty T-shirts for fans to buy too.

    Another thing that will make things fun is going to the playoffs and taking in the experiences will feel new once again. The Blades will write their own story on a clean slate. Most with the club don’t have any links to past post-season forays.

The Blades celebrate locking up a playoff berth on Saturday.

    The first new experience will be tuning up for the playoffs over the team’s last eight regular season games. That beings on Tuesday, when the Blades host the Lethbridge Hurricanes at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    No matter what happens going forward, those linked with the current Blades will always remember how good Saturday’s post-season clinching win over the Ice felt at the SaskTel Centre.

    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 deliver stirring tribute to Gordon, Broncos leave with opening night win

Chris and Bruce Gordon embrace during a Blades pre-game ceremony.

    The Saskatoon Blades gave a spectacular night to former captain Bruce Gordon and brought a work ethic that was a fitting tribute to the retired 28-year member of the Saskatoon Police Service.

    The work ethic on the ice wasn’t enough to deliver a victory on the opening night of the WHL regular season. The visiting Swift Current Broncos displayed their battle toughness from last season’s playoff run, where they went to a deciding Game 7 in a second round series before bowing out to the Regina Pats.

    Swift Current entered the second period of Friday’s clash training 2-1 and rolled off four straight goals – including two into an empty net – to come away with a 5-2 victory.

    Broncos 17-year-old left-wing Riley Stotts netted the equalizer at the 3:43 mark of the third converting a pass from star right-winger Tyler Steenbergen that came across the face of the Saskatoon net to force a 2-2 tie. At the 12:21 mark, Broncos right-winger Kaden Elder slipped a pass from the deep right corner of the Saskatoon zone to overage centre Conner Chaulk in front of the net. Chaulk promptly buried what turned out to be the winning goal giving the Broncos a 3-2 lead.

Bruce Gordon shakes hands with current Blades captain Evan Fiala.

    Swift Current captain Glenn Gawdin and Russian defenceman Artyom Minulin each scored empty-net goals to complete the Broncos third period surge.

    The Broncos prevented the Blades from putting a sweet cap on what was a special night, but the night was still special for the host side despite the final outcome of the contest.

    A total of 7,460 spectators came to the SaskTel Centre, and it was pretty apparent they came to pass along a thank-you to Gordon, who is battling terminal Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. When it came time to start the 25-minute pre-game tribute to Gordon, pretty much everyone was in their seats.

    Gordon came to the Blades in a trade with the Medicine Hat Tigers early in the 1980-81 campaign, and the grinding winger became the club’s captain in 1981-82, which would be his final campaign in the major junior ranks.

Bruce Gordon drops the puck for the ceremonial faceoff.

    He moved on to build a distinguished career with the Saskatoon Police Service starting out on regular patrol, becoming a detective sergeant in the sex crimes unit and then to major crimes. Gordon became well-known for cracking cases that appeared to be unsolvable.

    At age 50, he retired from policing to study law at the University of Saskatchewan with the goal to become a defence lawyer. Gordon graduated from law school last spring, but on June 8, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. On June 29, a special ceremony was held at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatoon to call the 54-year-old to the bar.

Chris Gordon, left, speaks to the crowd at the SaskTel Centre.

    This ceremony is traditionally held in autumn, but an exception was made in Gordon’s case to hold the ceremony earlier due to his cancer diagnosis.

    Gordon was never the most talented player on the ice, but he stood out due to his hard work, determination and his ability to step in and protect his teammates. In 112 regular season games with the Blades, Gordon collected 17 goals, 53 assists and 552 penalty minutes.

    Winnipeg Jets play-by-play voice Dennis Beyak was the Blades assistant general manager during Gordon’s years, and he returned to Saskatoon emcee the pre-game ceremony. A total of eight former teammates paraded out to centre ice wearing the Blades tradition Pac-Man logo and blue and gold colour scheme the team returned to on a full-time basis this season.

The Blades push home a greasy goal to go up 2-1.

    Also on hand was former Blades coach and general manager Daryl Lubiniecki and former Blades owner Jack Brodsky.

    Once all the alums were introduced, Gordon made his way on to the ice along with his wife, Chris, son, James, and daughter, Jillian Bodnar. When Gordon appeared, the crowd immediately rose to their feet to deliver a warm standing ovation.

    Former teammate Brian Skrudland, who went on to have a lengthy playing career in the NHL, and Saskatoon Police inspector Patrick Nogier, who was a former WHL goalie with the Kamloops Blazers and Broncos, both delivered heartfelt speeches.

    After Skrudland and Nogier were done speaking and a rousing ovation went up from the crowd, Chris Gordon came up to the podium to deliver a thank you to the crowd on behalf of the family. Originally, the plan for the tribute ceremony was to allow the members of Gordon’s family to enjoy the festivities without having to speak to the crowd.

Tyler Steenbergen set up the goal that sparked a Broncos’ rally.

    Due to the warm emotional atmosphere, Chris went on to thank the crowd for making that night special, and she told everyone to live life to the fullest.

    The pre-game ceremony concluded with Brodsky and current Blades owner Mike Priestner presenting the Gordon family with a framed jersey, a “Be Like Bruce” banner was unveiled in the rafters of the SaskTel Centre, and Bruce dropped the puck for the ceremonial faceoff. Bruce actually felt well enough that he and his family remained at the game until about the midway point of the second period, which turned out to be one of his longest outings in public in recent days.

    On the ice, the current day Blades took the cue. They controlled much of the first period and exited the frame with a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from right-winger Caleb Fantillo, who scored on a knuckleball shot.

    After Gawdin scored 58 seconds into the second period to tie things up at 1-1, Blades 19-year-old right-winger Brad Goethals batted the puck into the Broncos goal off a greasy battle in front of the net to put the hosts up 2-1. That set the stage for the Broncos rally in the third period.

Conner Chaulk celebrates his winning goal for the Broncos.

    Joel Hofer turned away 23 shots to earn the win in goal for the Broncos.
    Ryan Kubic stopped 27-of-30 shots to take the loss in the Blades net.

    The Broncos return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Regina to take on the Pats (7 p.m. local time, Brandt Centre).
    The Blades are off until Friday, Sept. 29, when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers at 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

    While the Broncos came away with the win on Friday night, the Blades can feel proud they delivered a special night to a former captain in Bruce Gordon, who will forever be a community hero in Saskatoon.

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

Sweet homecoming for Molleken

Lorne Molleken (centre) mans the Vancouver Giants bench.

    Lorne Molleken emerged from the Vancouver Giants dressing room and had to immediately start hugging SaskTel Centre staffers who saw him.

    It was pretty easy to see the 59-year-old Regina product, who is the Giants head coach, spent 14 seasons in the Bridge City with the Saskatoon Blades as either the team’s head coach, general manager or holding both titles. Besides meeting building staffers after the Giants 5-4 overtime victory on Sunday over the host Blades, Molleken had a large number of family and friends waiting to see him including former Blades owner Jack Brodsky. Brodsky was waiting for his long-time pal outside the Giants dressing room in a golf shirt and jeans as opposed to the suit and tie he usually wore to games as the top boss of “the Bridge City Bunch.”

    Molleken admitted it was different being on the visitor’s bench at the SaskTel Centre, but he said he had been around so long a familiar feeling would come back no matter where he was in the building noting there was a time the current visitor’s bench was the Blades bench.

    “For a long time, we used this dressing room as our home dressing room back in the early 90s,” said Molleken, who is the Blades all-time career leader in coaching victories at 539 and winning percentage at .591. “This city has always treated myself and our family extremely well, especially the Brodsky family that I worked for, for a long, long time.

    “To sort of comeback and walk through the doors of this building, it is special, because I’ve got lots of great memories here with this rink.”

    The veteran bench boss was with the Blades during two stints from 1991-95 and 2004-2014. For most of the second stint, Molleken was both the club’s head coach and general manager, but he gave up the head coaching role following the 2012-13 campaign, when the Blades hosted the Memorial Cup.
    During the 2013 off-season, the team was sold by the Brodsky family to the Priestner family, and Molleken stayed on for one last campaign before mutually parting ways with the new ownership group, who wanted to go in another direction with management and coaching.

    After a year out of the major junior ranks, Molleken became the head coach of the Giants this past off-season. While he arrived at the SaskTel Centre with a different team, Molleken said being in the Blades long-time home brought back a lot of good memories of the quality players and people he coached.

    The list of players he worked with included the likes of Norm Maracle, Rhett Warrener, David Struch, the late Wade Belak, Frank Banham and Andy MacIntyre in his first stint to Devin Setoguchi, Derek Hulak, Braden Holtby, Connor Cox, Darren Dietz and Nelson Nogier in his second stint. That list of names could obviously be much more lengthy.

The scrum occurs in front of the Giants net.

    “I look back and I look up in the rafters and teams that I’ve coached, we have some banners up there,” said Molleken, who guided the Blades to Game 7 setbacks in the 1992 and 1994 WHL championship finals. “I look back, and I had a chance to visit Daryl Lubiniecki before the game. He was a great general manager here (during Molleken’s stint in the 1990s).

    “He provided us with a lot of real character hard working players. That is the way our team played here for a lot of years, and it was very successful.”

    Molleken admitted the big pain from those years was the fact the Blades never won the league title and the Memorial Cup. His second stint guiding the team was littered with first and second round playoff exits.

    While the big trophies were never won, those looking in from an objective standpoint would have to conclude Molleken put in a true and honest effort to build a team in Saskatoon that went all the way. He knows that in the world of sports ultimate victory might not be achieved, even if you put in the honest effort.

    Even knowing that, Molleken said those ultimate victories of winning a league title and a Memorial Cup, which never came, feel like those missing things.

    “For the city and the Brodsky family, it would have put the icing on the cake,” said Molleken. “Winning in this league is very difficult.

    “The disappointing part was when we had some teams that we thought that we could be real successful with, (and) we didn’t have any success in the playoffs. That is the disappointing part when I look back, and I know how disappointed our fans were also.”

    On Sunday, Molleken’s current team and former team battled in a back-and-forth contest, where each side carried play for lengthy stretches before 3,506 spectators. At the 1:50 mark of overtime, Giants left-winger Jakob Stukel potted the winning goal on a beauty of an individual effort.

    Carter Popoff, Matt Barberis, Dakota Odgers and Ty Ronning netted singles for the Giants in regulation. Lukas MacKenzie, Jake Kustra, Cameron Hebig and Ryan Graham replied with singles for the Blades. MacKenzie and Kustra potted their first career WHL goals, and Graham scored the equalizer that sent the contest to overtime with 20.8 seconds to play in the third.

    Cody Porter made 39 stops to earn the win in goal for the Giants, while Brock Hamm turned away 32 shots to take the overtime setback for the Blades (1-0-3).

    The Giants were 1-for-4 with the power play, while the Blades were 2-for-8 with the man advantage.

    Vancouver improved to 3-0-1 with the win, and Molleken’s career regular season coaching record including time spent with the Moose Jaw Warriors and Regina Pats grew to 606-391-73. His win total is the second highest in WHL history trailing only the 742 victories put up by Ken Hodge, who guided the original Edmonton Oil Kings/Portland Winterhawks franchise.

The Giants celebrate their OT winning goal against the Blades.

    During his career, Molleken developed a reputation for being one of the classiest persons in the league, who always gave a solid and accurate post-game interview win or lose that often recognized that fact two teams were out there trying to win a game. That characteristic was on display again following Sunday’s clash between the Giants and Blades.

    “It was an exciting afternoon, obviously,” said Molleken, who was given a video tribute by the Blades early in the contest. “We win the hockey game, but more so, I thought that our guys played pretty well five on five.

    “We took some penalties tonight that hurt us, (but) give Saskatoon a lot of credit. They are team that kept battling and battling and battling. We were fortunate to find a way to win a hockey game.”

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

The curious case of the Saskatoon Blades

The Blades celebrate a goal earlier this season.

            A heartbreaker.

            On Saturday at the SaskTel Centre, the Saskatoon Blades were locked in a 4-4 draw with the visiting Regina Pats. In the dying seconds of the third period, Pats winger Braden Christoffer goes end-to-end, dekes through three Blades and slips home the winning goal with 3.3 seconds to play in the frame.

            The goal gave Regina a 5-4 victory, while the Blades had lost their 10^th in a row. For the 4,552 spectators in attendance at the Sasktel Centre, the last-second setback was the last vision they have of the Blades going into the WHL Christmas break.

            The Blades officially skated into a nine-day rest period with an 11^th loss in a row falling 5-2 to the Broncos in Swift Current on Wednesday. At 7-25-2-1, Saskatoon sits last in the entire WHL with 17 points.

            Heartbreaking losses have been a theme for the Blades this season. Despite playing in a number of tight contests, there is a feeling they will find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

            The struggles for the Saskatoon franchise at this point in time are expected. The Blades basically sold the farm dealing away a number of high draft selections to acquire talented older players to gear up as the host squad for the 2013 Memorial Cup.

            Besides having to recover from that campaign, the Blades are still feeling the effects of trying to lock in for a long post-season run in 2011. Before the WHL’s trade deadline in that campaign, they acquired Brayden Schenn in a blockbuster deal with the Brandon Wheat Kings, which saw another pile of draft picks get sacrificed.

            Saskatoon finished first overall in the WHL, but would bow out in the second round of the playoffs being swept away by the eventual league champion Kootenay Ice.

            A day after Saturday’s gut-wrenching loss to Regina, the Blades continued the rebuild trying to restock their supply of high WHL Bantam Draft picks. They sent 18-year-old defenceman Nelson Nogier, who was their only NHL drafted player, 18-year-old right-winger Austin Adamson to the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for 17-year-old winger Mason McCarty, a first round selection in the 2016 Bantam Draft and a second round selection in the 2015 Bantam Draft.

            Thanks to that move, the Blades have four first round picks over the next two Bantam Drafts. At the time of the 2013 WHL trade deadline, the Blades did not hold any first round selections for the next three Bantam Drafts they were to enter. They didn’t have any first or second round picks in their system from the three previous Bantam Drafts from that point in time.

The Blades work to hold off the Regina Pats.

            When Edmonton product Mike Priestner bought the Blades from Jack Brodsky before the start of the 2013-14 campaign, it was beyond an understatement to say the cupboard was bare. Realistic supporters of the hockey club knew there were going to be rough times ahead for an extended period.

            Since the end of the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament in Saskatoon, those that have been part of the team’s management have to be given credit for building a stockpile of first round Bantam Draft pick for the next two years.

            On the ice this season, the team has been more competitive than its last place record would indicate. They are not getting hammered like 7-1 on the scoreboard on a regular basis. They have actually had a realistic shot at victory in most of their games dropping 12 contests by two or fewer goals.

Before the start of the campaign, Bob Woods was brought in as the team’s new head coach and general manager, and he came to the club along with new assistant coach Dean Brockman. With the roster they have, the Blades might actually be overachieving.

            It is fair to say the Saskatoon roster contains a number of players who shouldn’t be in the WHL. Those players ended up in the league due to the fact the Blades are in an unprecedented serious rebuilding state.

            If a dynamic first line scoring trio was part of the Bridge City Bunch, it might have actually been possible to sneak into the post-season. It wouldn’t be a given, but it would have been close.

            With the struggles, the Blades have averaged 4,229 spectators per game. That figure is has to be considered quite respectable considering the club’s lack of victories. When the team was 7-52-11-2 in the 2003-04 campaign, average attendance was 3,361 spectators for home games.

            The fans that do go to the games seem patient. When the Blades are trying their hardest like they did in the loss to Regina, the faithful in the stands were into the game. The Sasktel Centre, which traditionally lacks an atmosphere, felt electric at times in that contest.

            When Priestner bought the Blades, he brought in son, Colin, to be the managing partner and Steve Hogle to be the president an alternate governor from the Alberta capital. Since arriving in Saskatoon, they have all put in a good effort to be part of the community.

            Before the first home game of the regular season, the team gave donations to a number of local charities and sports organizations during pre-game ceremonies. Colin and his wife, Alanna, have appeared at a few charitable functions.

Last act as a Blade. Nelson Nogier gives his stick to a fan.

            Hogle, who had a long career at CTV in Edmonton, is always meeting and visiting fans in the concourse of the Sasktel Centre during game days. On a day to day basis, he does a stellar job in representing the team, which makes you want to go to games.

            The cynics are still there. On a recent poll regarding the Blades conducted by Saskatoonhomepage.ca, the response that received the most votes regarded being fed up all together with the team going back to when the club wasn’t able to make any long runs in post-season appearances from 2009 to 2013.

            Over that five year span, the Blades were eliminated from the playoffs three times in the first round and twice in the second round despite finishing first in the East Division three times. The toughest pills to swallow were the second round exit in 2011, when the Blades were 56-13-1-2 in the regular season, and the first round exit in 2013 as the Memorial Cup host.

            The new owners and management of the team seem to have the best intentions to rebuild the Blades and run the team the right way. If they can put a winner in the rink one day, it is possible to image people turning out at the Sasktel Centre in droves.

            It just won’t happen this season and that vision might likely be at least three seasons down the road. For the moment, all of the team’s fans need to give the new regime a real opportunity to rebuild the team.

Follow “Taking Note” for everything WHL

            While I covered the WHL for 15 seasons, I tend to shy away from writing full blog entries about the league.

            I believe coverage of the league has fallen as a whole over the last five years due to budget cuts in the Canadian media industry, especially in Western Canada. Even with the drop in coverage, the league as a whole does get better coverage than most other minor sport bodies do. In relative terms, there are a lot of people out there talking about the league.

            One blog stands above all others, when it comes to keep tabs on the WHL. That would be “Taking Note” written by former Regina Leader-Post and late Kamloops Daily News sports editor Gregg Drinnan. He keeps tabs on that league with a passion that is unmatched by anyone else, and he also acts as a conscience on tough topics like concussion injuries.

            If you want to know what the hot topic is of the day for the league, you definitely have to check out Drinnan’s blog at http://gdrinnan.blogspot.ca/.

If you have any feedback on this blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.